"In The Mood For Love" Film Analysis
About the Movie
"In The Mood For Love" is a Hong Kong romance drama directed by Wong Kar Wai that came out in 2000. The film revolves around two married couples who rent rooms adjacent from each other. The focus of the film lies upon Mr Chow and Mrs Chan, when they find out that their spouses are cheating on them with each other. The two individuals then come together to deal with the pain of the matter.
French Impressionism
This film heavily applies concepts and techniques from French impressionist films. French impressionism kicked off between 1919 and 1928. Films from this category often focused on giving psychological depth to the narration and portraying the character’s state of mind, concerns or fantasies. These are achieved through cinematography and several editing techniques.
Superimpositions are one example of cinematography used in this movie. In almost every scene involving the two main characters is captured as a frame within a frame. The main characters are framed not only by the borders of the film, but by smaller internal shapes in the frame such as doorways, corridors, curtains and other objects. This gives off the feeling of entrapment. Furthermore, the locations in the film are limited with the scenes being captured in relatively similar angles in repeated locations. This makes it feel like we are returning to the same place again and again, which gives off a feeling of isolation. Both are a reflection of the restriction of action Mr Chow and Mrs Chan face in 1960s Hong Kong, where they face the threat of gossip by their landlords and the community around them.
Moreover, a lot of the scenes in the movie are doubly framed. This is done through the placement of objects in the foreground close to the lens. Not only does this technique further provide emphasis on Mr Chow and Mrs Chan’s feelings of being under surveillance but also the feelings of the audience, as the ones observing them. It gives off the feeling that what is being viewed is not meant to be viewed, painting the two of them as if they are being secretive and have something to hide, which they do.
Another thing that French impressionist films tend to do is manipulate the timing of the plot. The narrative skips and jumps forwards through time, as if they are being recalled through memories. Flashbacks are also commonly used. With this, the viewers can sometimes be confused initially as to how much time has actually passed after the transition of each scene. One way the film shows the progression of time is through the changing of outfits.
An example of this would be a scene that takes place at the restaurant Mr Chow and Mrs Chan dine at when they first meet and . Due to smooth transitions and continuity, the interaction between them appears to take place over the course of a single night, starting at the restaurant and ending with a car ride back home. However, upon closer inspection it can be seen that Mrs Chan’s cheongsam changes in design about 3 times throughout this particular encounter. This indicates that these scenes take place over the span of a few days. The information being fed to the audience that the “affair” between the two characters has taken off.
French impressionist films visually portray the mental states of the characters in the film through cinematography and editing. These visuals are achieved through the use of irises, superimpositions and masks which hint towards a character’s thoughts and feelings. Smooth camera movements which are often captured by attaching the camera to an object that can move it around smoothly also aid is capturing the character’s state of mind. Sometimes, the visuals in the film can even be put through a filter, distorted or captured through unstable character movements to emulate the feeling of dizziness or drunkenness. Lastly, POV shots and rhythmic editing can also allow us to experience situations in the film through the eyes of the characters.
POV shots and rhythmic editing in the film can be seen in moments where the shot appears to hold on to Mr Chow or Mrs Chan for a rather long time. Most of these scenes are actually capturing the two of them deep in their own thoughts. The pacing of the scenes with Mr Chow are especially slow. There are also moments where it cuts to him smoking his cigarette. These scenes are meant to reflect the confusion and conflict in his mind when he thinks about the disloyal actions of his wife while also contemplating his repressed feelings for Mrs Chan.
The explanations above barely touch the surface of the amount of detail that went into this film. At first glance, I thought the film seemed rather mundane, almost boring. However, upon analyzing it we slowly start to uncover meaning from the information conveyed through every frame of the film. Though I have watched romance dramas before, I don't think I've ever watched one quite like "In the mood for love". In the end, Mr Chow and Mrs Chan seem to have gone their seperate ways an yet somehow find themselves back at the apartment that they rented out when they lived next door to each other. However, they end up just missing each other, twice. This mere possibility of them coming across each others paths again is what comforts them now. Even by the end of the film, we aren't given any blatant clues as to whether or not they actually cross paths again. Instead we are left to wonder for ourselves what happens next for them. This is further driven forward by the song playing over these scenes, a Spanish song titled "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" which directly translates to "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps", as in maybe their paths will indeed cross again.
"In The Mood For Love" is a Hong Kong romance drama directed by Wong Kar Wai that came out in 2000. The film revolves around two married couples who rent rooms adjacent from each other. The focus of the film lies upon Mr Chow and Mrs Chan, when they find out that their spouses are cheating on them with each other. The two individuals then come together to deal with the pain of the matter.
French Impressionism
This film heavily applies concepts and techniques from French impressionist films. French impressionism kicked off between 1919 and 1928. Films from this category often focused on giving psychological depth to the narration and portraying the character’s state of mind, concerns or fantasies. These are achieved through cinematography and several editing techniques.
Superimpositions are one example of cinematography used in this movie. In almost every scene involving the two main characters is captured as a frame within a frame. The main characters are framed not only by the borders of the film, but by smaller internal shapes in the frame such as doorways, corridors, curtains and other objects. This gives off the feeling of entrapment. Furthermore, the locations in the film are limited with the scenes being captured in relatively similar angles in repeated locations. This makes it feel like we are returning to the same place again and again, which gives off a feeling of isolation. Both are a reflection of the restriction of action Mr Chow and Mrs Chan face in 1960s Hong Kong, where they face the threat of gossip by their landlords and the community around them.
Moreover, a lot of the scenes in the movie are doubly framed. This is done through the placement of objects in the foreground close to the lens. Not only does this technique further provide emphasis on Mr Chow and Mrs Chan’s feelings of being under surveillance but also the feelings of the audience, as the ones observing them. It gives off the feeling that what is being viewed is not meant to be viewed, painting the two of them as if they are being secretive and have something to hide, which they do.
Another thing that French impressionist films tend to do is manipulate the timing of the plot. The narrative skips and jumps forwards through time, as if they are being recalled through memories. Flashbacks are also commonly used. With this, the viewers can sometimes be confused initially as to how much time has actually passed after the transition of each scene. One way the film shows the progression of time is through the changing of outfits.
An example of this would be a scene that takes place at the restaurant Mr Chow and Mrs Chan dine at when they first meet and . Due to smooth transitions and continuity, the interaction between them appears to take place over the course of a single night, starting at the restaurant and ending with a car ride back home. However, upon closer inspection it can be seen that Mrs Chan’s cheongsam changes in design about 3 times throughout this particular encounter. This indicates that these scenes take place over the span of a few days. The information being fed to the audience that the “affair” between the two characters has taken off.
French impressionist films visually portray the mental states of the characters in the film through cinematography and editing. These visuals are achieved through the use of irises, superimpositions and masks which hint towards a character’s thoughts and feelings. Smooth camera movements which are often captured by attaching the camera to an object that can move it around smoothly also aid is capturing the character’s state of mind. Sometimes, the visuals in the film can even be put through a filter, distorted or captured through unstable character movements to emulate the feeling of dizziness or drunkenness. Lastly, POV shots and rhythmic editing can also allow us to experience situations in the film through the eyes of the characters.
POV shots and rhythmic editing in the film can be seen in moments where the shot appears to hold on to Mr Chow or Mrs Chan for a rather long time. Most of these scenes are actually capturing the two of them deep in their own thoughts. The pacing of the scenes with Mr Chow are especially slow. There are also moments where it cuts to him smoking his cigarette. These scenes are meant to reflect the confusion and conflict in his mind when he thinks about the disloyal actions of his wife while also contemplating his repressed feelings for Mrs Chan.
The explanations above barely touch the surface of the amount of detail that went into this film. At first glance, I thought the film seemed rather mundane, almost boring. However, upon analyzing it we slowly start to uncover meaning from the information conveyed through every frame of the film. Though I have watched romance dramas before, I don't think I've ever watched one quite like "In the mood for love". In the end, Mr Chow and Mrs Chan seem to have gone their seperate ways an yet somehow find themselves back at the apartment that they rented out when they lived next door to each other. However, they end up just missing each other, twice. This mere possibility of them coming across each others paths again is what comforts them now. Even by the end of the film, we aren't given any blatant clues as to whether or not they actually cross paths again. Instead we are left to wonder for ourselves what happens next for them. This is further driven forward by the song playing over these scenes, a Spanish song titled "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" which directly translates to "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps", as in maybe their paths will indeed cross again.
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