In the Middle of Nowhere Lust, Caution directed by Ang Lee has been recognized as a sensational film with a high degree of sexuality. However, a solid plot of the film has captivated spectators who was initially allured by a rumor that the film contains numerous sexual scenes. In addition to the solidity, the movie includes an esoteric ideology and a complicated psychology of two protagonists. Therefore, appreciating the movie once may not able us to catch messages that Ang Lee conveys. After watching the film several times, concentrating on the narrative and formal elements that build themes of the film, I could finally recognize some of purposeful messages that Lee hopes us to catch. In the sequence (2:21:38~2:25:30), a scene right after Mr. Yee madly runs to his car when Wang Chia-chi tearfully murmurs to Mr. Yee to escape, a professional combination of formal elements, especially mise-en-scene and cinematography, effectively builds two themes in Lust, Caution - a destined life of one woman and her sacrifice. The sequence begins with a long shot of Wang Chia-chi exiting Chandni Chowk Jewellers by explicitly displaying her anxiousness. The camera track shots Wang Chia-chi as she cannot find an empty rickshaw. Looking around restlessly with an uneasy look, slightly withered and stumbling body, and even wandering fingertips are recorded intact. The reason of this uneasiness if because she has finally broke the frame of the play she has played in and has faced the reality. According to previous scenes, we see Wang Chia-chi is passionate in acting. She has dedicated herself so much in the play that she recognizes herself as a whore. However, she is no longer in the play and her lover has left her. Would not a person whose goal has been totally vanished look similar to Wang Chia Chi? Lee thoroughly plots out and catches every little detail to portray shaky figure of an abandoned woman. Second shot focuses on Wang Chia-chi’s reflection on display windows and mannequins inside stores, each representing Wang Chia-chi in the reality and Wang Chia-chi in the play. The shot begins with a medium shot of a mannequin placed inside a store, and Wang Chia-chi walks to it. Her eyes looking at the mannequin is reflected on the show-window. She keeps walking, looks at another mannequin in another store, walks again, and she sees another mannequin. The repeated camera movement from the mannequins to the show-windows is to emphasize Wang Chia-chi as a fabricated identity acting in a play of assassinating Mr. Yee. In other words, the mannequin represents her schemed appearance, not her true identity, and the show-window indicates the boundary of the play and the reality. Previously in the film, Wang Chia-chi always looks outside through a window. However, she finally looks into the windows from outside which means she has finally shattered the boundary of window, stepped out from the play, and faced the reality. While Wang Chia-chi stares at the window of the last store, she sees an empty rickshaw and shouts, “Taxi!” She gets on the taxi, fiddles with her skirt, and wonderingly looks around. Here, once again, swish pan shot and her acting demonstrate her feeling of insecurity and effort of pretending to remain calm. The most important scene in the sequence, a shot of both the diamond ring and the drug on Wang Chia-chi’s hand, senses her destined death. This scene follows after several shot/reverse-shots of Wang Chia-chi and the rickshaw. As the road gets blocked and the rickshaw driver tell her that it will be a long wait, Wang Chia-chi’s slight smile is extremely closed up. Then the camera moves down to her neck. Her hand wearing the dazzling diamond ring plucks out the drug that Old Wu gave her in the beginning of the mission. When Wang Chia-chi first meets Old Wu, she memorizes everything Old Wu said within a few seconds. She is extremely brilliant that Wang Chia-chi foresees her death when Old Wu tells her that previously trained agents got killed as Mr. Yee sniffed them out. She combines pieces of future that even after she successfully carries out this mission; she will be put into another risky mission and will eventually die. However, knowing her destiny, it is so painful to see Mr. Yee, who she dearly loves, die as well. A string of inner conflicts whether to assassinate Mr. Yee or forgo the plan continues until Wang Chia-chi receives the diamond ring. The diamond ring that reflects 100% pure love of Mr. Yee towards Wang Chia-chi, leads Wang Chia-chi to make a final decision- sacrifice her life for Mr. Yee. Facing her foreseeable destiny in either case, Wang Chia-chi chooses the ring over the drug. The last scene of Wang Chia-chi slowly raising her eyes and flashbacking to the beginning of this corruptive play illustrates her deep-rooted rancor against her colleagues. The reminiscence of her innocent appearance back then, contrasting to her appearance now, shows how miserably Wang Chia-chi’s life has changed. She implicitly resents her fellows who cowardly hide behind and try to achieve the great work by dragging her down to the very bottom. At the end of the movie when Wang Chia-chi and her colleagues get executed, we know that she did not take the drug in the last scene of the sequence. Would not it be Wang Chia-chi’s little revenge of not swallowing the drug but sharing the moment of death with her friends? The film somberly and sorrowfully portrays the hopeless love of Mr. Yee and Wang Chia-chi who cautiously but passionately love each other on the edge of the boundary. In the specified sequence, Lee’s intended themes are hair-raisingly expressed through the use of mise-en-scene and cinematography. Especially, emphasis on symbols such as the mannequins, show-windows, diamond ring and drug trigger us to rethink about the meanings of each. Through the professional combination of formal elements in the sequence, Wang Chia-chi’s tragically destined life and the sacrifice for her love is heart-strikingly put into the screen.