In the Mood for Love (Traditional Chinese: 花樣年華; Simplified Chinese: 花样年华; Pinyin: Huāyàng niánhuá; Jyutping: Faa1joeng6 nin4waa4, literally "The Age of Blossoms," which is a Chinese metaphor for the fleeting time of youth, beauty and love) is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung.
The film's original Chinese title derives from a song of the same name by Zhou Xuan from a 1946 film. The English title derives from a Bryan Ferry cover of the song "I'm in the Mood for Love" that is also used in the film.
The movie forms the second part of an informal trilogy, together with the first part Days of Being Wild (released in 1991) and the last part 2046 (released in 2004).
Plot
The movie takes place in Hong Kong, 1962. Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung), a journalist, rents a room in an apartment of a building on the same day as So Lai-zhen (Maggie Cheung), a secretary from a shipping company. They become next-door neighbours. Each has a spouse who is working and often leaves them alone on overtime shift. Despite the presence of a friendly Shanghainese landlady, Mrs Suen, and bustling, mahjong-playing neighbours, Chow and So often find themselves alone in their rooms, and they begin to strike up a friendship.
Chow and So finally admit their shared suspicions that their spouses are cheating on them with each other. Chow persuades So to re-enact what they imagine might have happened between their partners' and their lovers, and slowly the line between play-acting and real romance blurs.
Chow invites So to help him write a martial arts series serial for the papers. As their relationship draws closer, people begin to notice. Meanwhile Chow and So are convinced that they are no more than friends and will not end up like their spouses. But as time passes, feelings develop between the two. Chow leaves Hong Kong for a job in Singapore. He asks So to leave with him, but she turns him down and Chow decides to leave on his own.
The next year, So goes to Singapore and visits Chow's apartment where she calls Chow, who is working for a Singaporean newspaper, but remains silent on the phone when he picks up. Later, Chow realises she has visited his apartment after seeing a lipstick-stained cigarette butt on his ashtray.
Three years later, So re-visits her old landlady, Mrs. Suen, with a young son. As Mrs. Suen is about to emigrate to the USA, So requests to be a tenant again, but this time she asks to rent the entire apartment. Later, Chow returns, presumably for a visit. He finds out his old landlord, Mr. Koo, has emigrated to the Philippines. The new tenant tells him a woman and her son are living next door. Chow leaves without realizing So is the lady living next door.
The film ends at Siem Reap, Cambodia, where Chow is seen visiting the Angkor Wat. He whispers several years worth of secrets into a hole in a wall, before plugging the hole with mud - a method he states a secret can be kept, whilst once dining with a friend in Singapore.
Style and themes
Wong states he was very influenced by Hitchcock's Vertigo while making this film, and compares Tony Leung's movie character to Jimmy Stewart's:
- "the role of Tony in the film reminds me of Jimmy Stewart's in Vertigo. There is a dark side to this character. I think it's very interesting that most of the audience prefers to think that this is a very innocent relationship. These are the good guys, because their spouses are the first ones to be unfaithful and they refuse to be. Nobody sees any darkness in these characters - and yet they are meeting in secret to act out fictitious scenarios of confronting their spouses and of having an affair. I think this happens because the face of Tony Leung is so sympathetic. Just imagine if it was John Malkovich playing this role. You would think, 'This guy is really weird.' It's the same in Vertigo. Everybody thinks James Stewart is a nice guy, so nobody thinks that his character is actually very sick."[citation needed]
Title song
The title track Hua Yang De Nian Hua is a song by famous singer Zhou Xuan from the Solitary Island period. The 1946 song, used in Wong's film, is a peaen to a happy past and an oblique metaphor for the darkness of Japanese-Occupied Shanghai. Wong also set the song to his 2000 short film, named Hua Yang De Nian Hua after the track.
- 花樣的年華 The years slipped past like flowers...
- 月樣的精神 the vigorous light of the moon
- 冰雪樣的聰明 bright, clever as glacier snow
- 美麗的生活 our beautiful life
- 多情的眷屬 my affectionate spouse
- 圓滿的家庭 this happy and fulfilled family...
- 驀地里這孤島籠罩著慘霧愁雲 suddenly gloomy clouds and fog loom across this solitary isle
- 慘霧愁雲 clouds of gloom and melancholy
- 啊，可愛的祖國 Ah, my lovely Motherland
- 幾時我能夠投進你的懷抱 when can I go back into your arms
- 能見那霧消雲散 and see these fogs dispel
- 重見你放出光明 and behold you give off light again
- 花樣的年華 as in those flower-like years
- 月樣的精神 and of the moon...
Soundtrack
Cast and roles
- Tony Leung - Chow Mo-Wan
- Maggie Cheung - So Laizhen/Mrs. Chan
- Siu Ping Lam - Ah Ping
- Cheung Tung Cho 'Joe' - Special appearance
- Rebecca Pan - Mrs. Suen, So Laizhen/Mrs. Chan's landlord
- Lai Chen - Mr. Ho, So Laizhen/Mrs. Chan's employer
- Chan Man-Lei
- Koo Kam-wah
- Roy Cheung - Mr Chan (voice)
- Chin Tsi-ang - The amah (female servant)
- Yu Hsien
- Chow Po-chun
- Paulyn Sun - Mrs Chow (voice)
- Wong Man-lei - Mr. Koo, Chow Mo-Wan's landlord
- Julien Carbon - French tourist (uncredited)
Box office
In the Mood for Love made HK $8,663,227 during its Hong Kong run.
On February 2, 2001, the film opened in 6 North American theatres, earning a strong US $113,280 ($18,880 per screen) in its first weekend. It finished its North American run with a respectable US $2,738,980.
The film's total worldwide box office gross is US $12,854,953.
Reception, awards and nominations
The film holds the top spot on They Shoot Pictures Don't They list of The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films[1] and the 344th spot on The 1,000 Greatest Films by They Shoot Pictures Don't They[2]. It was ranked 95th on 100 Best Films from 1983 to 2008 by Entertainment Weekly[3].
Miscellaneous
While set in Hong Kong, a portion of the filming (like outdoor and hotel scenes) was shot in Bangkok, Thailand. The movie also incorporates footage of Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
See also
References
External links
