Taiwanese director Ang Lee's latest hit Lust, Caution (Se Jie) has been confirmed to open this year's Venice Film Festival. Two years after Brokeback Mountain won him the Golden Lion in 2005 (at the 62nd Venice Film Festival) and an Oscar for Best Director, Ang Lee's much-awaited return is sure to draw attention from audiences the world over. The 64th Venice Film Festival will kick off on August 29. This year is the 75th birthday of the festival.

Lust, Caution stars Tony Leung, Joan Chen, Tang Wei, and Wang Leehom. Newcomer Tang beat out a handful of well-known actresses, including A-list Taiwan stars Hsu Xi-yuan and Hsu Chi, and mainland stars Zhou Xun and Liu Yifei, for the female lead role. Hong Kong "king of film" Tony Leung plays the male lead. New York-born pop singer Wang Lee-Hom plays a comrade of the young woman.

Based on Eileen Chang's (Zhang Ailing) story by the same name, which was inspired by true life, Lust, Caution is about a young woman assigned to seduce and assassinate an intelligence officer working for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai, during the World War II era. After realizing she has fallen in love with the man, she does something she's not supposed to do.

During the early days of shooting, Lee was worried about whether Tang and Wang would be able to get their performance right. Now he is very satisfied with the two youths' performance. Shooting ended in early February, and post-production is in process.

Se Jie, written during Chang's late years, is not her most famous novel. Ang Lee, however, considers it his favorite.

"It's very short and simple, but clever and profound," he says.

Also Wang Hui-ling, the screenwriter, had furnished Lee with several relevant anecdotes about Chang's life. "We added many logical and sensitive details to enrich the original novel, in order to make it seem more realistic," Lee adds.

The reason he chose this film, says Lee, is that it is an espionage thriller from a special perspective, a woman's, which makes it interesting and exciting. Lee interprets the title of this film from a Buddhist view: "Se" not only represents beauty or the female, but sensibility as well; meanwhile "Jie" represents rationality. "Se Jie" is an interpretation of life, combining sensibility and rationality.

The emotions and desires of various people in different eras and circumstances is always the driving theme of Ang Lee's movies.

Besides Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, the Japanese Sukiyaki Western Django by Takashi Miike, the Chinese The Sun Also Rises by Jiang Wen, and the Taiwanese Help Me Eros by Lee Kang Sheng will also compete for the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival. Other Asian movies entering the Out of Competition section are: Beyond the Years by Im Kwon Taek (Korea), Glory to the Filmmaker! by Kitano Takeshi (Japan), and Blood Brothers (Tian Tangkou) by Alexi Tan (Taiwan).

(Source: xinhua and Beijing News,etc., edited and translated by KANG TAIYI)