In The Mood For Love essay

Wong Kar-wai’s direction of In the Mood for Love is done so in a way that the claustrophobic environment mimics the tightly composed shots of the characters in the film. Many times in any given scene only one character is shown on the two dimensional screen. However, inside the three dimensional space of the scene there is another character present that is not shown two dimensionally. The direction for the limited and ambiguous viewpoints is done so purposely, and is a visual motif throughout the film.

In the scene where Chow Mo-wan, Tony Leung, approaches Mr. Chan about the purchase of a rice cooker, the camera only shows one side of Chow Mo-wan, but never reveals Mr. Chan. Mr. Chan is in the scene but never on the screen. This scene is parallel to another when Su Li-zhen, Maggie Cheung, knocks on the neighbor’s door looking for her husband. The audience is shown a woman answering a door, but our view is limited. It is not known which woman is answering the door until the audience is shown Su Li-zhen at the other side of it. The camera focuses solely on Su Li-zhen and never reverts back to Mrs. Chow, even though she is standing in front of Su Li-zhen in the scene. It is revealed that Mr. Chan is also in this same scene, but only because Mrs. Chow speaks to him. Mr. Chan is never shown on the screen, Mrs. Chow is only shown in fragments or from behind, and yet both character interact with several other characters in the earlier scenes of the film. Of the six married characters (the two main couples and the boss of Su Li-zhen) none of them are ever shown in the same frame as their respected spouse. Visually, each of them are disconnect from the other.

However Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen are consistently connected and framed on the screen. The stairways to the noodle stand, the taxi cab, and in the flats are many examples of both characters being in the same scene and also together on the screen. This visual rhythm, and the audience’s expectation, is tested in the rehearsal scene between Shun Li-zhen and Chow Mo-wan. The beginning shot looks over a male shoulder towards Shun Li-zhen. She inquires about a mistress and the audience is lead to believe that she is speaking to her husband. Even though she has never been in the same scene, nor framed together with him on the screen, the framing reflects the same behind the back shots of Mrs. Chow in the limited times that she was shown. The audience is tricked and the surprise is in the reverse shot when it is revealed that she in fact is speaking to Chow Mo-wan.

The editing and direction of In the Mood for Love, is done so carefully that even with the time and space of the cinema being fragmented the audience is still aware of the scene that surrounds what is shown on the screen. Though most of the characters and locations being framed are limited and ambiguous, there are enough references to other locations and characters that the audience is aware of the vast world beyond the boundaries of the small canvas known as the screen.