In the Mood for Love only if Wong Kar-wai has defined it

In the Mood for Love

In the Mood for Love | 2000 | Wong Kar-wai | Melodrama

Wong Kar-Wai’s 2000 masterpiece. “In the Mood for Love” is a master class on filmmaking with an intimate story and an emotionally charged visual aspect. A film spawned from a co-production between Hong Kong and France is at the mark of my film discoveries. “In the Mood for Love” is not only a visual ecstasy, but also a quiet tale of melancholy.

The film follows two married couples who move into two adjacent apartments in Hong Kong in the 1960s. One day, neighbors Su Li-Zhen and Chow Mo-Wan find out that their husband and wife are having an affair with each other. The two bond over their mutual loneliness and find comfort in each other’s presence.

‘’We will never be like them.’’

• Su Li-Zhen

It is a film which is not originally from the West and yet is known as one of the best films in the history of the 21st century (Parkes, 2020). For me, this in itself was a discovery because mostly western films belong to that list. Since the year 2000, the role of non-Western cinema has increased. Films shown in Europe and the United States are more often international.

In Hong Kong in 1997, the film industry released many films to make a quick profit because the future was uncertain. There was also room to film unusual projects, including art films (Thompson & Bordwell, 2021). Wong Kar-Wai was a former screenwriter for soap operas before making his debut as a director with the crime drama “As Tears Go By”. He quickly dusted off the extreme action films of the 1980s. Wong likes sleazy scenes and wistful images reminiscent of French impressionist cinema (Thompson & Bordwell, 2021b). This makes his films not fit into any specific movement. As a filmmaker, he does belong to the 5th generation of makers who emerged after the 1980s in Chinese cinema. He also belongs to the new wave for its improvisation, subjective symbolism and use of experimental photography techniques (Kalorth, 2020).

Wong has a distinctive signature of his own that sets his films apart from other makers of the period. He became Hong Kong’s most artistically respected director. His films made use of big stars, pop soundtracks and romance. Those elements were made poetic with a lyrical style which makes his work unique (Thompson & Bordwell, 2021c). The film “In the Mood for Love” was created with vibrant colors, artistic frames and melancholy, which brought a lot of innovation in popular genres.

In the Mood for Love

Thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s distribution company, Wong Kar-Wai’s film ‘’Chungking Express’’ was released in North America and thus the filmmaker’s distinctive style was recognized by every film fan (Peter, 2021). Both the film ‘’In the Mood for Love’’ and filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai have both had an extensive influence on multiple films inspired by its narration and capture. That influence can be felt in a film like Barry Jenkins’ ‘’Moonlight.’’ The aspect of unrequited love and characters longing to be loved comes from the influence of ‘’In the Mood for Love.’’ Both films use string instruments as the underlying sound with vibrant colors and slow-motion effects to depict actions of the characters in an operatic manner (Daniels & Daniels, 2018).

Wong Kar-Wai’s screenplay-less film has an everyday story with universal themes, including secrets and intuition (In the Mood for Love (2000), s.d.). The director reveals the themes in the form of tender sensations of the love story.

Narrative ambiguity and fragmentation take place in the invisible waltz between Mr. Chow and Ms. Chan. Both find themselves alone at home, their spouses often traveling for work leaving Chow Mo-Wan and Su Li-Zhen behind.

In Robert McKee’s structure triangle, “In the Mood for Love” comes between miniplot and antiplot because it takes on the structure of a memory. Both characters attach themselves to each other and jump into a different moment each time (Murthi, 2015). Therefore, the film has elements of internal conflict and non-linear time. It is a film composed of gestures, such as accurately observed glances between characters and moments. The collection of those moments coupled with the use of elaboration where certain actions extend time and slowly propel the story represent the character’s internal conflict. Eventually, they both discover that their spouses are having an affair with each other. As a result, the threads of their own platonic relationship begin to blur. Su Li-Zhen and Chow Mo-Wan play the roles of each other’s spouses. The intimate gestures that remain far from physical. In the film, little is told in dialogue because creator Wong Kar-Wai felt body language was very important for this film. More is told in movement to the rhythm of the music than verbally. What seems to happen between the characters originates in those movements, so the subtext remains subtle throughout the film. Even though the mood is set and the love is there, Mr. Chow and Ms. Chan cannot bring themselves to act accordingly. In the end, they keep missing each other constantly. Therefore, the catharsis comes from separation rather than coupling in the final emotion at the end of the film (Eggert, 2020). The pain of being denied love as if they were prisoners, silently suffocating in a world where even walls cannot hide secrets.

A consistent cinematic style where the importance of the theme is a big part of it comes across well in the cinematography. The confidence behind long shots that portray the intimacy of secrets. In certain scenes, they are sometimes obscured by people or objects, showing the ebb and flow of their growing attachment and isolation from the world around them as they comfort heartbreak and loneliness in each other. In the film, there are several shots that fall under frame within a frame. This is characteristic of Wong Kar-Wai films. In this way, he creates layers in his frame by placing a foreground and background around the characters. The slow motion scenes show the complex and sometimes uncomfortable facts of reality.

In the Mood for Love

To express the internal world of the characters in mise-en-scène, emphasis is placed on the clothing and environment where the characters are. They are depicted through the choices of certain garments how the characters feel inside or what is going through them. For example, Su Li-Zhen has worn twenty dresses (Okwodu, 2020). Each dress for a new scene. Also, the color pallet and patterns in fabrics of both characters become more similar as their relationship becomes tighter. The ever-occurring sets and environments give the film its tranquility and sense of melancholy.

The busy Hong Kong slips out of focus, even though it was shot in the vibrant locations in Hong Kong. Wong creates an unrealistic world through the moments where he rests, absorbs the emptiness and cherishes it in his images. There are also scenes that are claustrophobic because of the space inside that makes the apartment seem even more cramped. Two of the most important semiotics in the modern classic are the partners and the well-known soundtrack “In the Mood for Love” by Michael Galasso. The partners of both characters are never fully portrayed. Only portions of them are shown by filming them from behind or from the side or left out of the frame altogether and audible only by sound off-screen. This choice enhances the story by portraying the married couples as even more distant from each other, giving the lovelessness an evocative meaning. The beautiful atmosphere is given emotional value by the soundtrack. The music helps create a hazy, dreamy atmosphere that feels like evoking an intense but tender memory from the past (Atx, 2022). It signals that something is about to happen and attracts attention in a subtle way.

In the time when the characters are together, soft light is used to romanticize their interaction and togetherness. While there are also scenes where the light is darker and the narrative perspective takes a different turn. The camerawork is used as espionage from a hidden view to capture the intimate moment between Mr. Chow and Ms. Chan.

Color is one of the important parts of the characters’ story. Red abounds and makes the whole thing sensual and seductive. This makes the platonic relationship feel more than friendship. The sensual red comes from deep loneliness, a void that their respective marriages could not fill.

Wong Kar-Wai used slow-motion several times in the film “In the Mood for Love.” This digital effect makes the scene more cinematic and creative. It emphasizes the characters and their emotions while remaining in photorealism because nothing is added that could not be there in reality. This technique creates a sense of emotional intensity and desire because the viewer can linger on the expressions and movements of the characters (Janolo, 2021). Another aspect of cinematography combined with vfx is the use of tracking shots. In one scene where the characters are in their own apartment, a tracking shot was used to slide between the two spaces (Rogers, 2013). The wall is used to represent the separation in their lives, but also allows for an accurate solution to camera movement, which might not be possible in reality due to a space that is too cramped (Visionage vfx, 2020). When the image goes black because of the wall, cuts can be made without it being noticeable.

The restaurant scene is an important plot point in the story because during the formal dinner, the characters acknowledge that their spouses are having an affair with each other. The images were shot in reality and no layers from other images were applied as in comp, but motion blur was used. This encourages a realistic effect of blur, which is part of animation (Jordan, 2009).

In the Mood for Love

‘’Feelings can creep up just like that. I thought I was in control.’’

-Chow Mo-Wan