Actress or spy? Gong Li unveils hidden layers in 'Saturday Fiction'

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Li Gong and Jean-Michel Jarre pose. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Chinese actress Gong Li portrays a film and stage star with a hidden agenda in "Saturday Fiction", a black and white historical spy drama set in the run up to the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Gong plays acclaimed actress Jean Yu, who, in the first week of December 1941, returns to wartime Shanghai apparently to star in her former lover's play "Saturday Fiction" at the city's Lyceum Theater.

Around her is a fight for intelligence between the Allies and the Axis powers during World War Two, and many soon begin to suspect the actress' motives, especially with her ex-husband in the hands of Japanese forces in the city.

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Li Gong poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, sees Yu's links to the Allied forces revealed in the run up to the attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii, and the actress soon finds herself enveloped in a web of mistrust.

"Making this film really was not easy," Gong, known for "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Farewell My Concubine", told a news conference.

"I think this film is a very personal one for our director and has a lot of his characteristics but we actors were allowed a lot of liberty, the director gave us a lot of freedom to express ourselves."

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Pascal Gregory, Actor Mark Chao, Actor Huang Xiangli, Actor Li Gong and Jean-Michel Jarre pose with the cast. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

In production notes, director Lou Ye describes how he would visit his parents at the Shanghai theater, where they worked backstage, and watch actors take to the stage.

"The backdrop to this story was a time that was very chaotic and dangerous," he told reporters.

"It has this big backdrop and this important timing, one week away from an important event but what I was mostly interested in this context was each individual person, I wanted to focus on their troubles against such a troubling backdrop."

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Li Gong looks at a fan's phone. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

"Saturday Fiction" is one of 21 films competing for the Venice Film Festival's top Golden Lion Prize, whose winner will be announced on Saturday.

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala and Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alison Williams)

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Mark Chao poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Huang Xiangli poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Pascal Gregory poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Model Giulia Salemi poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Influencer Elisa Taviti poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Model Catrinel Marlon poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Screening of the film "Saturday Fiction" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 4, 2019 - Actor Carola Pojer poses. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw