Performing the Political in Lust, Caution

Abstract

Examining three dramatic scenes of performance in Ang Lee’s 2007 film Lust, Caution, based on Eileen Chang’s short story of the same name, this essay proposes to read Lee’s film as an epilogue to a long-running narrative highlighting the intersection of performance and politics in twenty-century China. It argues, through a close examination of Lee’s creative use of such elements as popular music, political theater, and leftist cinema from the 1930s, that nationalism and revolution staged an intriguing comeback in Lust, Caution, intensified, rather than negated, by its intricate intertwinement with sexuality and ethics. In particular, the two popular film songs from the 1930s with lyrics penned by Tian Han quoted in the film, and their fascinating afterlives in contemporary popular culture represented by Leehom Wang, highlight the power of performance in shaping a complex range of gender, ethical, and political identities. The intersection of performance, politics, and popularity works magic throughout the film. It enables Lee’s film to go beyond Chang’s story in reinvigorating the political through the performative and the popular.