BFI Top 50: In the Mood for Love, Released in 2000, Directed by Wong KarWai

What I know going in

I know the film tracks the relationship between two people whose spouses are cheating with each other. I’ve seen one other Wong KarWai film, The Grandmaster, so I know the director prefers a contemplative, non-linear style.

 

Immediate reaction

In the Mood for Love ends with the following quote concerning Mr. Chow, Tony Leung’s character: “He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane, the past is something he could see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct.” After watching the film I wracked my mind trying to come up with the correct words to describe its cinematography and editing. Various phrases such as hazy, refracted, fractured, and jumbled kept flitting through head. These descriptors fit, and would seem congruent with the film’s last words, a reading of In the Mood Love’s style as a cinematic representation of memory. With this in mind, the film can be seen as a collection of fragmented reflections about the romantic, but not sexual, affair between two people.

 

Several unusual aspects of the film fit with this analysis. First, the cheating spouses are never fully seen. We get brief glimpses of Chow’s wife from behind and Mr. Chan is never seen, his only presence is an auditory one. At the end of the film, it is apparent that both main characters eventually left their spouse. If they were to reflect on their past, it would make sense for them to erase the thoughts of their unfaithful other and focus on the intense emotional bond that developed between them.

 

Second, the events of the film do not occur in a strictly linear manner. For example, near the end of the film, Chow moves to Singapore in part for business, but mostly to separate himself from the pain of being around Mrs. Chan, played by Maggie Cheung. We see Chow enter his room, search around for something, and glance at a cigarette stained with lipstick. He leaves the room and asks his landlord if anyone had been inside recently. It is not until a few scenes later that it is revealed what actually happened. We see that Chan went to Singapore in hopes of rekindling their relationship, but panicked after calling him. She leaves in a rush, taking the slippers that had ended up with Chow (the item he had been looking for) and leaving the incriminating cigarette. Again, this non-standard method of advancing the plot reflects the kind of half-formed, unstructured way most of us reflect on our memories.

 

Even without the analysis, the film is just plain gorgeous and is a deeply painful look at an unfulfilled relationship. Many scenes are shot in this gauzy, dreamlike haze. The camera will frequently linger on cigarette smoke, the longing glances between its main characters, and the spots they interact in. It is also incredibly sorrowful. There is a deep sadness to the way Chow and Chan try to ignore their romantic feelings due to a misplaced sense of obligation to their partners. They both eventually try to overcome this barricade, but fail due to missed connections or from the fear of societal repercussions. Put simply, it is one of the more affecting romantic films I have seen in quite a while.

 

Further thoughts

I actually had to watch In the Mood for Love again to clarify some of my thoughts on the film. The most significant aspect I noticed on my re-watch is how its form perfectly expresses its themes. In the Mood for Love is largely a film about isolation, repression, and loneliness. This theme is imparted by shooting its main characters in tight corridors, through windows, and reflected in mirrors or windows. They become trapped within the frame of the film. In one scene they are literally trapped when Chan has to spend a day in Chow’s bedroom for fear of being discovered by her mahjong-marathoning neighbors. This deliberate form even extends to the apparel of the characters. Chan’s dresses are beautiful and expressive, but also restrictive, and almost appear to be choking her. Chow is always dressed in a nondescript gray suit and white shirt combo and has extremely rigid, pomade-filled hair.

 

The second thing I noticed was how content In the Mood for Love is to just let the viewer soak in its atmosphere as it slowly unspool its story. For example, Chan and Chow eventually come out and accuse their spouses of cheating, but it is easy to suss out what is going on far before our leads start chatting. There is even a subplot that I entirely missed on my first viewing. It turns out Chan’s boss was actually having an affair with a much younger woman. The first hint of this comes when Chan tells her husband to buy two handbags for her boss. Her husband questions her and she states “you know why.” During the scenes where Chan and Chow try to recreate the beginning of their spouses’ affair, practice accusations, or rehearse tearful breakups, the reality of these shots is often blurred, only to be clarified a few beats later. The film is unhurried and unfolds in a very patient manner.

 

Why is the film on the list?

In the Mood for Love is a perfect marriage of style and content. Its tale of a repressed, emotional affair is conveyed expertly through dreamy cinematography, tricky editing, and nuanced performances. It makes sense for this formalist masterpiece to be one of the few modern films on the list.