31
96
7
The Butterfly
This review may contain spoilers
"You notice things if you pay attention"
In the Mood for Love delivered an achingly beautiful story of longing and love. The story could be as painful for the viewer as it was for the main characters, Mo Wan and Lai Zhen, as they dealt with their repressed feelings for each other.
Chow Mo Wan and Su Lai Zhen move into adjacent rooms in an apartment complex. The landlady, Mrs. Suen, holds frequent mahjong games and sees all. Lai Zhen asks her husband who is making a business trip to Japan to pick up two purses for her boss, one for his mistress and one for his wife. Mo Wan's wife often works late and takes trips as well. It doesn't take long for Mo Wan and Lai Zhen to compare notes when they both realize that his wife carries a Japanese purse just like Lai Zhen's and her husband wears a tie like Mo Wan's. They commiserate by role playing in regards to their spouses. Gradually, they spend more and more time together while attempting to avoid gossip. They determine to remain platonic so as not to become adulterers like their spouses.
The strength of this film was Tony Leung Chiu Wai's and Maggie Cheung's nuanced performances as they grieved their marriages, exhibited anger over the betrayals, and most of all the subtle build-up of their feelings for each other. It didn't hurt that they looked stunning together and by their every move and word, you could believe their characters. Mo Wan's hooded glances as Lai Zhen gracefully passed him in the hallway or on the way to the noodle shop conveyed a deep appreciation for her. The touch of their hands was seductive and intimate, revealing their desire and need for each other. Like lovers, they longed to see each other and simply be near one another.
Director Wong Kar Wai used a musical theme when they passed each other or when they were at a busy office or loud mahjong gathering to let us know they were thinking of each other. Sultry Nat King Cole's music accompanied many scenes providing a soothing background. His song about green eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes) played when the two revealed they knew what their spouses were doing together. "Quinzas, Quinzas, Quinzas" (Probably, Probably, Probably) played while they decided what to do about their future.
Most of the frames were tight, shots through doorways, windows, narrow hallways, alleyways, and around corners. Though the rooms were small, the images of the two eating alone or sitting alone only emphasized their aloneness and loneliness before finding each other. Whether working together on Mo Wan's martial arts serial in a rented room or trapped in a room with the rowdy mahjong players just outside, the tension and tiny revelations of familiarity bled through. Many of the scenes were in the dark or rain, insulating Lai Zhen and Mo Wan as they sorted through their complicated feelings for their spouses and for each other. As the two spent more time together, the progression of days was often shown by the changing colors of Lai Zhen's gorgeous cheongsams.
As Mo Wan realized that Lai Zhen would not leave her husband and his feelings had grown too strong to control, they began to rehearse their good-byes. I have to admit to not understanding her loyalty to her husband at this point. He and Mo Wan's wife had flaunted their affair with the identical gifts and trysts in the apartment room. It was as if they wanted to get caught or simply didn't care. I'm also not sure if both Mo Wan and Lai Zhen had both truly agreed to not having their own affair. There were times when it seemed he was fishing to see if she'd changed her mind. Eventually, when it was too late, they did seek exits from their marital traps. At that point Wong Kar Wai resorted to cliched misunderstandings and missed opportunities which cheapened this mesmerizing love story for me.
I'm not sure if Director Wong wanted the audience to sympathize with the couple or just be content with watching their story unfold. He never fully developed the characters outside the forbidden relationship and tantalizingly dangled a possible happy ending in front of us and the characters only to snatch it away...repeatedly.
"He remembers those vanished years as though looking through a dusty window pane. The past is something he could see but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct."
Maybe when all was said and done, a beautiful memory of a seemingly perfect relationship was better than reality.
2/14/23
Chow Mo Wan and Su Lai Zhen move into adjacent rooms in an apartment complex. The landlady, Mrs. Suen, holds frequent mahjong games and sees all. Lai Zhen asks her husband who is making a business trip to Japan to pick up two purses for her boss, one for his mistress and one for his wife. Mo Wan's wife often works late and takes trips as well. It doesn't take long for Mo Wan and Lai Zhen to compare notes when they both realize that his wife carries a Japanese purse just like Lai Zhen's and her husband wears a tie like Mo Wan's. They commiserate by role playing in regards to their spouses. Gradually, they spend more and more time together while attempting to avoid gossip. They determine to remain platonic so as not to become adulterers like their spouses.
The strength of this film was Tony Leung Chiu Wai's and Maggie Cheung's nuanced performances as they grieved their marriages, exhibited anger over the betrayals, and most of all the subtle build-up of their feelings for each other. It didn't hurt that they looked stunning together and by their every move and word, you could believe their characters. Mo Wan's hooded glances as Lai Zhen gracefully passed him in the hallway or on the way to the noodle shop conveyed a deep appreciation for her. The touch of their hands was seductive and intimate, revealing their desire and need for each other. Like lovers, they longed to see each other and simply be near one another.
Director Wong Kar Wai used a musical theme when they passed each other or when they were at a busy office or loud mahjong gathering to let us know they were thinking of each other. Sultry Nat King Cole's music accompanied many scenes providing a soothing background. His song about green eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes) played when the two revealed they knew what their spouses were doing together. "Quinzas, Quinzas, Quinzas" (Probably, Probably, Probably) played while they decided what to do about their future.
Most of the frames were tight, shots through doorways, windows, narrow hallways, alleyways, and around corners. Though the rooms were small, the images of the two eating alone or sitting alone only emphasized their aloneness and loneliness before finding each other. Whether working together on Mo Wan's martial arts serial in a rented room or trapped in a room with the rowdy mahjong players just outside, the tension and tiny revelations of familiarity bled through. Many of the scenes were in the dark or rain, insulating Lai Zhen and Mo Wan as they sorted through their complicated feelings for their spouses and for each other. As the two spent more time together, the progression of days was often shown by the changing colors of Lai Zhen's gorgeous cheongsams.
As Mo Wan realized that Lai Zhen would not leave her husband and his feelings had grown too strong to control, they began to rehearse their good-byes. I have to admit to not understanding her loyalty to her husband at this point. He and Mo Wan's wife had flaunted their affair with the identical gifts and trysts in the apartment room. It was as if they wanted to get caught or simply didn't care. I'm also not sure if both Mo Wan and Lai Zhen had both truly agreed to not having their own affair. There were times when it seemed he was fishing to see if she'd changed her mind. Eventually, when it was too late, they did seek exits from their marital traps. At that point Wong Kar Wai resorted to cliched misunderstandings and missed opportunities which cheapened this mesmerizing love story for me.
I'm not sure if Director Wong wanted the audience to sympathize with the couple or just be content with watching their story unfold. He never fully developed the characters outside the forbidden relationship and tantalizingly dangled a possible happy ending in front of us and the characters only to snatch it away...repeatedly.
"He remembers those vanished years as though looking through a dusty window pane. The past is something he could see but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct."
Maybe when all was said and done, a beautiful memory of a seemingly perfect relationship was better than reality.
2/14/23
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