Venice, Italy ? Taiwan-born Ang Lee’s erotic spy thriller “Lust, Caution” won the Venice Film Festival’s top award Saturday, two years after he captured the same prize here with “Brokeback Mountain.”

Brian De Palma won the 11-day-long festival’s award for best direction for his film “Redacted” about the Iraq war.

Lee’s film is set against the backdrop of Japanese-occupied Shanghai during World War II. A young acting troupe in Hong Kong driven by patriotic fervor concocts a naive plot to assassinate a Chinese official collaborating with the Japanese during the war. Their star performer delves into the role of seductress as an escape from the emptiness of her father’s abandonment and mother’s death.

Her pursuit of a cruel, aloof man takes her from Hong Kong to Shanghai at the height of the Japanese occupation – and her deception becomes her reality.

“Lust, Caution,” which contains explicit sexuality, has been given an NC-17 rating in the United States, banning viewers under 17. The film also does not shrink from a graphic portrayal of violence. It is due out in the U.S. at the end of September.

Cate Blanchett won the award for best actress for her role in “I’m Not There,” about musician Bob Dylan. Blanchett played the role of Dylan during his folk-rock incarnation.

Brad Pitt won best actor for playing the legendary outlaw in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”