In the Mood for Love

Watched this film "In the Mood for Love" by Wong Kar-Wai, starring Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. The plot is typical love story actually, so it's not the story that really caught my attention; it's the cinematography. And the music. Although I was truly hooked on the story too, no matter how ordinary it is. It's about a love that wasn't meant to be. Or a love that could not be. Or doomed love.

I had to read the subtitles because the film was in Chinese, by Chinese actors. I would have enjoyed looking at the characters' facial nuances as they said their lines, and more of the details of the cinematography, but I had to concentrate on the words being said so part of my attention was on reading the subtitles.

There is something enigmatic about the face of the woman protagonist. Beautiful, well-proportioned face, with almond eyes and an expression that remains serene with all the sentiments and emotions. Maybe it is the Chinese way of being. They handle emotions in a subtle way, without having to wail out their angst as the westerners do.And so you see her sitting on a stool, alone in her room, silent. Just silent, unmoving, still, the room is as quiet as she is. I think that is a very meaningful scene.The camera does not focus on her face, it focuses on her still body on a stool, in the room. And the silence.

Westerners would say she is repressing her emotions, stuck-up. But I think it's her Chinese blood; she's not repressed or stuck up, she just handles emotions in a serene way. Strong emotions at that. It's the stillness in her that allows those strong emotions to be there and yet not repressed. If she represses her emotions, she would get cancer, which westerners usually do. There is a difference between being still and yet feel ones emotions on one hand, and on the other, repressing ones emotions, trying hard to be still, which means controlling ones emotions. The first is a Buddhist frame of mind, the other is the typical Western way of controlling, even of ones emotions.

This is just a psychological reading of the film of course, because the film is more than this.

And that street corner shot; the angle remains the same even as the time of day changes and other people apart from our protagonists, pass by, and the weather changes too, rain and shine, but the shot remains the same. Our protagonists pass by that street in different moods, in different clothes. The street remains the same all throught the days, but its a different street all the time too, different sun that shines different shades of light depending on the time of day, different rain everytime it rains, different moods of the same people who pass by everyday. And you see the streetwalls in different hues too, depending on the tone of the day. It is such a beautiful way of rendering the essence of time and change and people and the ephemeral nature of it all.

There is that scene where the man finds his way to Cambodia, where a shot of an old temple in ruins, a monk in orange robes sits by, violin playing in the background, and the camera gives us a long while to fully take in this scene. The man finds a hole in the wall and whispers his secrets in there, again several minutes is devoted to this scene, with all the music and the temple ruins and the monk in orange robe flooding our senses. Finally the hole where the man whispered his secrets is shown filled up with mud. The man's lonely, love secret is sealed in there. It is the mud, the earth, the ruined temple, the skies above the temple, that are witness to the unraveling of the secret in the hole. And the beautiful violin music that expresses the scene in sound.

The film opens with lines of love poetry, and ends with more lines of love poetry. How romantic, and yet there is no anguish of tragedy, because the sadness is tempered with a sense of beauty.

Watch the film. So many symbolisms, allusions (watch the clock e.g). I got a copy from a friend who was all too willing to have copies of my film collection.