‘Through discipline comes freedom,’ wrote Aristotle. This paradox is at the heart of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Set in Qing dynasty China, the film asks what it means – and what it takes – to be free, contrasting the lives of two female warriors. Where one, Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), is mature, experienced and ruled by an ancient code of honour, the other, Jen (Zhang Ziyi), is young, headstrong and rebelling against the rules of aristocracy. Each grapples with the limitations imposed on her, confronting tensions between desire and restraint, inner life and public duty, and emotional freedom and physical liberty. Ultimately, the film suggests that self-realisation is achieved through balancing these extremes. Where discipline leads to denial, it can cause tragedy. But where passion is without…