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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ryan Gilbey

20 greatest Venice film festival Golden Lion winners – ranked!

Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, directed by Luis Buñuel.
Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, directed by Luis Buñuel. Photograph: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty Images

20. Lust, Caution (2007)

Ang Lee already had a Golden Lion for Brokeback Mountain when he won another for this slow-burning espionage drama (featuring headline-hogging sex scenes between Tony Leung and Tang Wei) about a patriotic theatre group in wartime Hong Kong plotting to bring down the collaborationist Chinese government. One resonant line – “If you pay attention, nothing is trivial” – feels like a manifesto for cinema or art or life itself.

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