Review of In the Mood For Love

Introduction

In the Mood For Love is the latest film by acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, whose previous films, such as “Days of Being Wild” and “Chungking Express” have driven critics wild with praise, and delighted (and sometimes confused) audiences. In the Mood for Love is no different.

Set in Hong Kong in 1962, Chow (Tony Leung) is a newspaper editor whose wife is always working late, and Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) is a secretary whose husband is always away on business. They move into adjoining apartments and slowly, ever so slowly, discover that they spouses are cheating on them and, in fact, the spouses are having an affair with each other. Chow and Li-zhen are drawn together, first out of some shared pain and then out of love. However, this is a love that is never, can never, be acknowledged.

Video

Unfortunately, this disk is given a 4:3 letterboxed transfer, with burnt in subtitles. This is unfortunate because this is a truly sumptuous looking film and an anamorphic transfer would have elevated the image to exceptional. As it is it is just very good. There is the occasional blemish (that will probably be in the source) but overall, the image looks gorgeous. Colours are magnificent being both muted (with a 60s noirish feel) and bright and vibrant (red curtains swaying in the wind, all of Maggie Cheung’s fabulous dresses).

Director Wong Kar-Wai and cinematographers Christopher Doyle and Mark Li Ping-Bin have created a truly magnificent looking movie. Every scene is a treat for the eyes. Highlights are the aforementioned dresses, the distressed look of the walls of the alleys, Cheung swaying in slow motion through the streets with a noodle can in her hand, and the wisps of smoke gently rising from Leung’s cigarette. All fabulous and all reproduced almost to perfection on the disk.

They have worked wonders in their evocation of 60s Hong Kong. Obviously, I have no idea what it was like but what is on display here feels right. This is lovely but also just a detail, because the film would work as well in any setting, be it New York or Paris. The plot and film is timeless and transcends any particular location. This perhaps makes the effort and care expended in the visual recreation of the Hong Kong location all the more remarkable.

Audio

The soundtrack is straight DD 2.0 stereo but still sounds great. Dialogue is spare but sounds suitably clear (didn’t really pay much attention to it, to be honest). Much of the soundtrack is taken up with either Michael Galasso’s superb score or some 60s pop songs, mostly by Nat King Cole and sung in Spanish. All the music is highly evocative and wholly appropriate to the on screen action.

Features

The disk is depressingly free of extra features. You get 2 trailers (UK and Hong Kong), a text based review (interesting but a bit academic) and some filmographies. Better than nothing but just barely.

Initially, I felt that this film, laden as it is with symbolism and unspoken thoughts, was crying out for an insightful commentary but now I’m not so sure. Much of the film’s charm is in its subtlety and ambiguity. A commentary would probably detract from it.

One thing worth commenting on is the menus. I don’t believe that I have ever seem less intuitive or uglier menus. This is ironic given that this is one of the most beautiful films of recent years.

Conclusion

Beguiling. Lovely. Exquisite. Ravishing. Sumptuous.

It sounds corny but no words of mine could fully convey the sheer beauty of this film and the emotions that it evokes. It is easily the best film I have seen so far this year and one of the best I have ever seen.

Everything about it is perfectly judged, from the plot through music, cinematography and direction, to the performances from Leung and Cheung. It looks gorgeous, sounds gorgeous and the plot is achingly poignant.

On the DVD box, it is billed as a romance and a love story. And it is, but if you are looking for sweeping passion and requited love, you won’t find it here. This is an altogether more rarefied love, as much about despair as desire, the desire for love rather than love itself and shared intimacies rather than intimacy. Chow and Li-zhen begin a relationship based on their partners’ shared infidelity. The relationship that develops is intended to be the complete antithesis of their partners’ sordid liaison – “we’ll not be like them”, they say. Nor are they. And that is the tragedy here. Chow and Li-zhen have so much in common that you feel they would be perfect for each other. But they keep themselves apart through their morality and their perception of what they think the other would want. Chow says, “You’ll never leave him”. But she would if only he would ask rather than articulate his perception.

If you analyse it, the plot is pretty simplistic. Two people are brought together by their partners’ shared infidelity, they fall in love and never actually do anything about it. That’s pretty much it. But the thing isn’t the story; it’s how its told. And it is told and acted beautifully. The performances from Leung and Cheung are splendid. The dialogue is sparse and much of the communication is conveyed by glances, gestures and body language. This is true acting rather than just reciting lines. Cheung, one of the most beautiful actresses in the world, is especially fine, speaking volumes with a single look or the way in which she sashays past Leung on her way to the noodle shop.

In the end, the love isn’t consummated and seems to dissipate but the lovely ending (not happy, as such, but certainly satisfying) perhaps offers a different view. That in being unable to act on their feelings they have preserved them forever.

This isn’t the best DVD you are going to buy but it is one of the best films, and deserves a place in every cinema fan’s collection. You’ll be glad you bought it and you’ll watch it many times, revelling in the visuals and the nuances of the performances. I guarantee it.