In the Mood for Love - Essay Example

Mise-en-scene in 'In the Mood for Love' In the Mood for Love In the Mood for Love is a book repeatedly hailed as the best of the books that Wong Kar-wai has written in time memorial, and in the same proportion, the best film in the recent times. The scene is in Hong Kong in the 1960s, it is all about the intimacy between married couples experiencing a futile romance where the 2 spouses of the partners are cheating on them with each other’s husband and wife. Chow Mo-wan’ husband and Li-Zhen’ wife discover spouse are cheating, and start sharing this reality with each other, and in this fight to come to terms with what is happening to them form a relationship with an affectionate borders. Nonetheless Wong is being considered as creating a passionate drama; Wong’s precise sense of aesthetic and style of direction conveys an almost art fabrication film rather than being commercialized. He lays focus on the themes intimacy like secrets, nostalgia, loneliness, secrets and love, offering this film the desired global charm. In the 1990s, Hong Kong would go through profound modifications, specifically as a way of getting rid of colonization which ultimately ended in the year 1997, when power was finally handed from the British hands to China as a state. Hong Kong unexpectedly was set up as the focus center culturally, socially, and politically emerging as “betrothed in founding a new united national identity” (Lo 261). Nevertheless, it also went into an era of financial ambiguity as a consequence of the power hand-over. In contrast to the happenings in the global economy though, the film industry of Hong Kong flourished, it’s “production elevated in excess of 200 features annually” (Bordwell and Thompson 658). It all started to work with a “distinguishing nationwide appearance after the year 1997” (Lo 261), a single stimulated a feeling of accord both cinematically and culturally. This feeling was essentially apparent, as cinema of Hong Kong by that time really progressed into a multinational commercial in relation to audiences, styles, narration, directors, and genres. In the Mood for Love is, at its utmost undeveloped level, a ‘wenyi pian’, that is in comparison to the Chinese correspondent of the soap opera of the Western nations. Both fields try to find an emotional vent for their corresponding followers and in general purpose to impart restriction by means of morals which the actors ought to acquire in a tough way. In the same manner, as the Western equivalent, the followers of wenyi pian see particular essential themes and tropes; on the other hand its actors are on traditional basis with models of myth. These actors might use ample time flirting and gallivanting with the notion of committing a social deviance or being unfaithful, but finally they maintain their integrity of moral by an inevitable feeling of obligation and habitually coupled with intimidating shames. So and Chow become friends in the hope of managing to cope with their spouses’ infidelity, swearing that they would not become like them, but as they spend more and more time together it becomes evident that they are growing attached to one another. In the end, Chow realizes his infatuation is threatening to destroy their friendship, so he has himself transferred to Singapore, but he gives So a chance to escape with him. So decides to remain faithful to her cheating husband, but later regrets her decision, as she goes looking for Chow in Singapore; the two never meet again however, and Chow’s love goes unrequited. Interesting to consider is that the film has several deleted scenes, one of which has the protagonists meet again in a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia. Ultimately, Wong decided on the ending that appears in the theatrical version, as it is the most effective in sustaining the idea that their relationship could only have exist in their imagination, or in a different life. Contrary to melodrama tradition, Wong makes several scenes of the film ambiguous, namely when it comes to the protagonists and their relationship: it is never made explicit whether So and Chow ever consummated their romantic friendship –Chow definitely indicates his interest in So several times throughout the film— or if they always remained platonic toward each other and faithful to their own cheating spouses. The film hints to the latter, but the audience can never be completely certain, and it is in that uncertainty that rests the ambiguity. The cinematic representation of emotion, on the other hand, is quite unambiguous: the melodrama tends to be very direct about its characters’ feelings, in that audiences will immediately understand a given situation or a character’s emotional state, even if it is not explicitly stated by film either diegetically or non-diegetically. Wong often frames his actors in a way as to pick up minute details in their expressions and gestures, all of which clearly signal their state of being; in the same way, he likes to focus on the characters’ wedding rings, to remind audiences that no matter how fated their encounter seems, their potential relationship is still illicit; the rings themselves are both signs of regret and betrayal. In the Mood for Love may be using the commercial genre of the melodrama at its core, but the film structure itself is highly stylized; even the narrative receives an art house treatment. That said, Wong is fond of creating moody atmospheres through a combination of mise-en-scene, cinematography and his own directing style. The framing serves to magnify the isolation that the characters feel, but also the particularities and emotional reactions of his actors, especially Maggie Cheung’s. The cramped apartments and narrow streets that sees the to and fro of the protagonists serves to highlight the claustrophobia of their actual environment, which in turn highlights the loneliness of their existence. At the same time, the same cramped spaces inspire a sense of intimacy: for instance, the constricted stairway which leads to the street noodle stand often forces Chow and So to move well within each other’s personal space whenever they happen to cross each other –one going down, the other returning to their apartment. At times, several planes will come into focus or shift from one another, drawing attention to a character or to an action which is occurring in either the foreground or the background –these shifts do not always bear relevance to the plot, but are aesthetically pleasing and fit the mood of a given scene. Wong frequently isolates Chow and So within shots in such a way that the second person in a conversation is never visible. Namely, he chooses avoid focus on the physicality of Chow’s and So’s respective spouses: they are noticeably absent from the film, as they tend to their own affair with each other. Their absence in the scene helps in fulfilling 2 main aims: the first, being to free the 2 of them from their respective partners; they are persons who are in existence in a different dimension, both physically and emotionally. The second aim, it shifts the attention entirely on the characters that have been cheated upon, focusing on their reaction to the betrayal and how they deal with it. Though it concerns the taboo concept of infidelity and desire, the film is sensual without being overtly sexual. So’s beautiful cheongsams emphasize her slim figure without making her appear provocative; rather, they give her a regal and solemn beauty which cannot be tainted by infidelity. The film’s true sensuality however is chiefly expressed through the shots of Maggie Cheung walking around in slow motion to the sound of Shigeru Umebayashi’s “Yumeji’s Theme” –this is the same song which comes to represent the characters’ loneliness and ill-fated love. Music and silence play a large part in the film, particularly since the soundtrack is very limited compared to other films: of that, there are a select few songs which are played repeatedly at similar instances, in that the audience comes to recognize their connotative meanings. There is the above mentioned “Yumeji’s Theme”, then there is “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” by Nat King Cole –which means “who knows” in Spanish and aptly fits the idea that perhaps, if So and Chow had met earlier in life, their lives would have been different. On the other hand are the silences. Actually, there is no such thing as complete silence in a film: whenever there is no dialogue or music, Wong carefully picks up on minute sounds, such as the noises from eating, from walking, or from action in the background. Because these are the only sounds, they are amplified in the relative silence of the scene, and echo the emptiness and isolation in the characters’ lives. Though the melodrama is a commercial genre, Wong has created an art film through his unique style, which can be described as “aesthetic abstraction” (Teo) that does not advance either plot or characterization. He generally prefers to explore the past and capture sensations over structuring a cohesive and definite, close-ended narrative. Furthermore, Wong set In the Mood for Love in the 1960s because for him it was a very memorable time. He essentially wanted to recapture his recollections of the period in as much detail as possible, from the housing problem and mass emigrations from Hong Kong, to the simplest daily life occurrences, like buying noodles from a street vendor. The film that resulted from the combination of his directing style and personal memories garnered international acclaim for its captivating romantic story, poetic cinematography and haunting musical score. ——————————————————————— Bibliography Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film History: An introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Brunette, Peter. Wong Kar-wai. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2005. Lo, Kwai-cheung. “Transnationalization of the Local in Hong Kong Cinema of the 1990s.” Yau, Esther C. M. At full speed: Hong Kong cinema in a borderless world. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998. 261-276. Teo, Stephen. “Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love: Like a Ritual inTransfigured Time.” Senses of Cinema (2001):http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/13/mood.html. Read More