• Post category:Movies
  • Post last modified:November 28, 2020

In the Mood for Love: Romance Over Noodles

FEEL THE HEAT, KEEP THE FEELING BURNING, LET THE SENSATION EXPLODE. 

The middle film in an informal trilogy where Wong Kar-wai’s Days of Being Wild (1990) was first and 2046 (2004) last. All three films are romantic and Maggie Cheung plays the same character in all of them, but In the Mood for Love can certainly be enjoyed on its own. It is the director’s most celebrated film and can frequently be found on cineastes’ lists of the best movies made in the 2000s. Failing to charm me that wildly, I can still definitely see how the visuals may overwhelm you in a theater.

Spouses are often away
Hong Kong, 1962. Journalist Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) rents a room in a building where Su Li-zhen (Cheung), a secretary at a shipping company, also lives. They are both married, but their spouses are often away. After a while, they begin to suspect that their husband and wife are having an affair. Chow and Su start talking to each other, and eating together, imagining what the affair might look like, even staging conversations that they could or should have with their spouses.

Chow and Su’s relationship starts out platonic, and she even begins to help him in his work. But it doesn’t take long for them to grow feelings for each other…

Understated love
It’s easy to fall in love with films where the romance is understated and the lovers’ feelings can’t be recognized for whatever reason. Examples of masterpieces in this genre are Brief Encounter (1945) and The Remains of the Day (1993). In the Mood for Love has similar themes, where every touch between the lovers carries great implications and the conservatism of the time and place helps keep them apart (even though it didn’t stop their spouses). To some extent, Wong Kar-wai reconnected with the Hong Kong of his childhood, even though the city has changed so much since the 1960s that most scenes had to be shot in the less developed Bangkok.

As always, the director worked without a finished screenplay and tinkered with all the bits and pieces right up until the Cannes premiere. Even though he lost his cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, halfway through the film, this is still a drama that looks more solid in its shape than for instance his earlier Chungking Express (1994), which had a more chaotic feel. The narrative is slow, a little dreamy at times, but our feelings for Chow and Su grow as they spend more time together, especially when they begin to acknowledge their feelings but still can’t give in to them. The ending, which takes place a few years later in Angkor Wat, is not only beautifully shot but also very moving; a clue to that scene is cleverly planted earlier in the film. In the Mood for Love is brimming with atmosphere, but not only because of its sumptuous look – the music plays a key role as well, especially a few Nat King Cole tunes in Spanish and a 1940s classic by the singer Zhou Xuan, which inspired the original Chinese title.

Cheung and Leung are both very good; Wong Kar-wai cast the latter because he found an interesting contrast between his innocent looks and the fact that he’s engaging in an extra-marital affair. Few in the audience though will see much darkness in it. When Sofia Coppola made Lost in Translation three years later, she cited this film as her greatest inspiration. Love between people can be expressed in many ways without a conventional, fully realized romance. 

In the Mood for Love 2000-Hong Kong-France. 97 min. Color. Produced, written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan, Mark Lee Ping-bin. Cast: Maggie Cheung (Su Li-zhen), Tony Leung (Chow Mo-wan), Lai Chin (Mr. Ho), Rebecca Pan, Siu Ping-lam, Chin Tsi-ang.

Trivia: Chinese title: Faa yeung nin wa.

Cannes: Best Actor (Leung).

Last word: “We started the film in a different way. At first, we called the film ‘A story about food.’ The story of ‘In the Mood for Love,”’in fact, is actually one of the stories about these two people, neighbors, who are buying noodles all the time. Later on, I realized that the reason I wanted to make this project is only this story, so I expanded it. It was supposed to be a quick lunch and then it became a big feast.” (Wong Kar-wai, Indiewire)

 

IMDb

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