Ang Lee's new movie got an NC-17 rating.
"Lust" follows a young Chinese woman in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during World War II who becomes the center of a plot to seduce and kill a married enemy collaborator. The trailer for the subtitled Chinese-language film shows lead actors Tony Leung and Tang Wei in various states of writhing passion.
The Motion Picture Assn. of America's ratings board cited the film's graphic sexuality for its decision. A source said too many of the film's sex scenes violated the ratings board's unwritten rules (like the number of allowable pelvic thrusts, for example) to make an appeal possible.
Sources who have seen the film said it contains at least three scenes -- one a long montage -- featuring multiple acts of aggressive sexual activity in different positions. There's no full-frontal male nudity (the source of some NC-17 rulings when shown in sex scenes), but male-on-female oral sex, non-S&M restraints and several nontraditional sexual positions are depicted, conveying the aggression and emotional conflict between the main characters.
When asked if anyone was shown, say, upside down, one viewer said, "It depends on where you're standing. They're very flexible."