Lee has always been a director who thinks in pictures just as much as in words. In Sense and Sensibility his first American film, the Dashwood sisters' status as outsiders is communicated just as much through imagery as it is through the spoken word. The camera starts out ahead, initially leaving her to fend for her displaced self in the background. Slowly, she enters the frame yet is never given a comfortable amount of space within it, being relegated to a corner almost throughout. A similar feat is accomplished in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .
Affection is presented through subtlety, with hands gently embracing each other across a table.
The theme of suppressed emotion needing to break free is given metaphorical resonance through the image of a flock of birds exiting a tree in flight. Their departure in the middle of the dark night suggests that, though it is best to express oneself, it will not always be easy to do so. Shots like these have left a permanent imprint on my mind. Similarly, while Yun-Fat is already an established international star, Zi Yi is a newcomer whose light is clearly on the rise. With great consternation, she expresses the strong will of her character through her eyes, almost never taking her sharp focus off of the subjects at hand.