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Synopsis
The new
film from Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of "Brokeback
Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." A startling
erotic espionage thriller about the fate of an ordinary
woman's heart, it is based on the short story by revered
Chinese author Eileen Chang, and stars Asian cinema icon
Tony Leung opposite screen newcomer Tang Wei. Shanghai,
1942. The World War II Japanese occupation of this Chinese
city continues in force. Mrs. Mak, a woman of sophistication
and means, walks into a cafe, places a call, and then sits
and waits. She remembers…how her story began several years
earlier, in 1938 China. She is not in fact Mrs. Mak, but shy
Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei). With WWII underway, Wong has been
left behind by her father, who has escaped to England. As a
freshman at university, she meets fellow student Kuang Yu
Min (Wang Leehom) Kuang has started a drama society to shore
up patriotism. As the theater troupe's new leading lady,
Wong realizes that she has found her calling, able to move
and inspire audiences - and Kuang. He convenes a core group
of students to carry out a radical and ambitious plan to
assassinate a top Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee (Tony
Leung). Each student has a part to play; Wong will be Mrs.
Mak, who will gain Yee's trust by befriending his wife (Joan
Chen) and then draw the man into an affair. Wong transforms
herself utterly inside and out, and the scenario proceeds as
scripted - until an unexpectedly fatal twist spurs her to
flee. Shanghai, 1941. With no end in sight for the
occupation, Wong - having emigrated from Hong Kong - goes
through the motions of her existence. Much to her surprise,
Kuang re-enters her life. Now part of the organized
resistance, he enlists her to again become Mrs. Mak in a
revival of the plot to kill Yee, who as head of the
collaborationist secret service has become even more a key
part of the puppet government. As Wong reprises her earlier
role, and is drawn ever closer to her dangerous prey, she
finds her very identity being pushed to the limit...
- Focus Features
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