In The Mood For Love
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''In the Mood for Love'' is a 2000
romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
film written, produced and directed by
Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure ...
. A co-production between Hong Kong and France, it portrays a man ( Tony Leung) and a woman (
Maggie Cheung Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong former actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983's Miss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and in ...
) whose spouses have an affair together and who slowly develop feelings for each other. It forms the second part of an informal
trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
, alongside ''
Days of Being Wild ''Days of Being Wild'' is a 1990 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. Starring some of the best-known actors and actresses in Hong Kong, including Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and Tony Le ...
'' and '' 2046''. The film premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
on 20 May 2000, to critical acclaim and a nomination for the
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
; Leung won Best Actor (the first Hong Kong actor to win the award). It is often listed as one of the
greatest films of all time This is a list of films considered the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public. Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Voting systems differ, and some surveys suffer ...
and one of the major works of
Asian cinema Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia. However, in countries like the United States, it is often used to refer only to the cinema of East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. West Asian cinema is ...
. In a 2016 survey by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, it was voted the second greatest film of the 21st century by 177 film critics from around the world, saying "never before has a film spoken so fluently in the universal language of loss and desire". In 2022, the film placed 5th in ''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' "Greatest Films of All Time" critics' poll, rising from its previous position of 24th in 2012. It is the highest-ranked film between 1975 and 2022.


Plot


Opening intertitle

The following intertitle begins the film: 那是一種難堪的相對。她一直羞低著頭，給他一個接近的機會。他沒有勇氣接近。她轉身，走了。(As it appears on screen, in
Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
) It is a restless moment. She has kept her head lowered... to give him a chance to come closer. But he could not, for lack of courage. She turns and walks away. (Translation)


Summary

In 1962
British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...
,
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
expatriates Chow Mo-wan, a journalist, and Su Li-shen (Mrs. Chan), a secretary at a shipping company, rent rooms in adjacent apartments. Each has a spouse who works and often leaves them alone on overtime shifts. Due to the friendly but overbearing presence of a Shanghainese landlady, Mrs. Suen, and their bustling,
mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...
-playing neighbours, Chow and Su are often alone in their rooms. Although they initially are friendly to each other only as need be, they grow closer as they realize that their spouses are having an affair. Chow invites Su to help him write a martial arts serial. Their increased time together draws the attention of their neighbors, leading Chow to rent a hotel room where they can work together undistracted. As time passes, they acknowledge that they have developed feelings for each other. When Chow takes a job in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, he asks Su to go with him. She agrees but arrives too late at the hotel to accompany him. The next year, in Singapore, Chow relays a story to his friend about how in older times, when a person had a secret, they could go atop a mountain, make a hollow in a tree, and whisper it into the hollow and cover it with mud. Su arrives at Singapore and visits Chow's apartment. She calls Chow but remains silent when Chow picks up the phone. Later, Chow realizes she had visited his apartment after seeing a lipstick-stained cigarette butt in his ashtray. Three years later, Su visits Mrs. Suen, who is about to emigrate to the United States, and inquires about whether her apartment is available for rent. Sometime later, Chow returns to Hong Kong to visit his former landlords the Koos, who have emigrated to the Philippines. He asks about the Suen family next door, and the new owner tells him a woman and her son are now living there. He leaves without realizing Su is the lady living there. During the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, Chow travels to
Siem Reap Siem Reap ( km, សៀមរាប, ) is the second-largest city of Cambodia, as well as the capital and largest city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old F ...
, Cambodia, around the time of
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
's visit to the country (shown on film), and visits
Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; km, អង្គរវត្ត, "City/Capital of Temples") is a temple complex in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world, on a site measuring . Originally constructed as a Hinduism, Hindu temple dedicated ...
. As a monk watches him, he whispers something unheard into a hollow in a wall there and plugs the hollow with mud. The scene fades out with views of the desolate temple complex.


Closing intertitle

After Chow leaves Angkor Wat, the following intertitle appears and concludes the film: 那些消逝了的歲月，彷彿隔著一塊積著灰塵的玻璃，看得到，抓不著。他一直在懷念過去的一切。如果他能衝破那塊積著灰塵的玻璃，他會走回早已消逝的歲月。(As it appears on screen) 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. (Translation) Those vanished years, as if separated by a piece of dust-laden glass, can only be seen and not grasped. He keeps yearning for everything in the past. Had he shattered through that dust-laden glass, he would have walked back into those long-vanished years. (A more literal translation)


Cast

*
Maggie Cheung Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong former actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983's Miss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and in ...
as Su Li-zhen (Mrs. Chan) * Tony Leung as Chow Mo-wan * Siu Ping Lam as Ah Ping, Chow's co-worker *
Rebecca Pan Rebecca Pan Di-hua (; also Poon Tik-wah, Pan Wan Ching) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. Early life She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931 and moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Career Her singing career began in 1957. One of her songs, which ...
as Mrs. Suen, the Chans' landlady *
Kelly Lai Chen Kelly Lai Chen (; born Hsi Chungchien; September 3rd, 1933 – April 3rd, 2018) was a Hong Kong actor born in Shanghai. He appeared in more than 40 films in the 1950s and 1960s, and was best known for his portrayals of sensitive young men. He wa ...
as Mr. Ho, Su's employer *
Joe Cheung Joe Cheung Tung-cho () is a Hong Kong director, producer, scriptwriter and actor. Filmography As director * ''The Incredible Kung Fu Master'' (1979) * '' Killer Wears White'' (1980) * '' Dan bo dan'' (1981) * ''Pom Pom'' (1984) * ''Feng liu zho ...
as man living in Mr. Koo's apartment * Chan Man-Lei as Mr. Koo, the Chows' landlord *
Chin Tsi-ang Chin Tsi-Ang (February 22, 1909 – October 15, 2007), also romanized as Qian Siying, was one of the earliest martial arts actors of Chinese cinema and its first female star. She debuted in ''South China Dream'' (南华梦, Nanhua Meng) in 1925 a ...
as Suen's amah (female servant) *
Roy Cheung Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung (; born 20 July 1963 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong-based actor, best known on-screen for his roles as Triad gangsters in a number of films. Early life and career As a child, Cheung idolized kung-fu legend Bruce Lee but nev ...
as Mr. Chan (voice) *
Paulyn Sun Paulyn Sun (born Suen Kai-kwan; 11 September 1974), also known as Alien Sun and Pauline Suen, is a Hong Kong-based Singaporean actress. Background She became a Champion of the Miss Singapore Universe and represented Singapore at the Miss Universe ...
as Mrs. Chow


Title

The film's original Chinese title, meaning "the age of blossoms" or "the flowery years" – a Chinese metaphor for the fleeting time of youth, beauty and love – derives from a song of the same name by
Zhou Xuan Zhou Xuan (; born Su Pu (); August 1, 1920 – September 22, 1957), also romanized as Chow Hsuan, was an iconic Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. She was the best known o ...
from a 1946 film. The English title derives from the song "
I'm in the Mood for Love "I'm in the Mood for Love" is a popular music, popular song published in 1935 in music, 1935. The music was written by Jimmy McHugh, with the lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The song was introduced by Frances Langford in the movie ''Every Night at Eigh ...
". Director Wong had planned to name the film ''Secrets'' until listening to the song late in post-production.


Development and pre-production

''In the Mood for Love'' went through a long gestation period. In the 1990s, Wong Kar-wai found some commercial success, much critical acclaim, and wide influence on other filmmakers throughout Asia and the world with films such as '' Chungking Express'' and ''
Fallen Angels A fallen angel is an angel that has been exiled or banished from Heaven. Fallen Angels may also refer to: Film and television * ''Fallen Angels'' (1948 film), a Greek film by Nikos Tsiforos * Fallen Angels (1985 documentary film) by Gregory Dark * ...
'', both set in present-day Hong Kong. His 1997 film '' Happy Together'' was also successful internationally, winning him
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...
at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
and surprising many. It was even popular with mainstream audiences in Hong Kong, despite its then-unusual focus on a gay love story and its having been largely improvised in Argentina, a landscape unfamiliar to Wong. By the end of the decade, with sovereignty of Hong Kong transferred from Britain to the People's Republic of China, Wong was eager to work once more in the mainland, where he had been born. He had been dissatisfied with the final result of his 1994
wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...
epic ''
Ashes of Time ''Ashes of Time'' (Chinese: 東邪西毒) is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and inspired by characters from Jin Yong's novel ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes''. Background The film's story is a prequel to the novel ...
'', which was set in ancient times and filmed in remote desert regions, and decided to deal with a more 20th-century, urban setting. By 1998, Wong had developed a concept for his next film ''Summer in Beijing''. Although no script was finalized, he and cameraman Christopher Doyle had been to
Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (" ...
and other areas of the city to do a small amount of unauthorized shooting. Wong told journalists the film was to be a musical and a love story. Wong secured the participation of
Tony Leung Chiu-wai use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place ...
and
Maggie Cheung Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong former actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983's Miss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and in ...
to star, and with his background in graphic design, had even made posters for the film. He had begun work on script treatments, which since ''
Days of Being Wild ''Days of Being Wild'' is a 1990 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. Starring some of the best-known actors and actresses in Hong Kong, including Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and Tony Le ...
'', he tended to treat as only a very loose basis for his work to secure financing, preferring to leave things open to change during the shoot. It transpired that there would be difficulties securing permission to shoot in Beijing with Wong's spontaneous methods of working and potential political sensitivities in setting his film in mid-20th century China. Wong had come to think of ''Summer in Beijing'' as a triptych of stories, much like his original concept of ''Chungking Express'' (in which the third story had been spun off into the film ''Fallen Angels''). Quickly, Wong decided to jettison this structure, saving only one of the three planned stories, which had been titled provisionally, ''A Story of Food'', and dealt with a woman and a man who shared noodles and secrets. As he reunited with his actors and production team, most of whom had collaborated several times before, Wong decided ''A Story of Food'' would be the heart of his next film. The story would slowly evolve into ''In the Mood for Love'', after transposing its setting away from mainland China and back to 1960s Hong Kong. Wong had set his breakthrough ''Days of Being Wild'' in that time in Hong Kong, when mainland-born Chinese and their memories, including those of Wong, then a young child, had a strong presence in the territory. Still saturated with the sounds of 1930s and 1940s Shanghai singing stars and the ideals they represented, the time also reminded him of the wide array of vibrant dance music floating in over the Pacific from the Philippines, Hawaii, Latin America and the United States, which Wong had used as a backdrop in ''Days of Being Wild''. Wong had regarded ''Days of Being Wild'' upon its release in 1990 as an artistic success, and had planned a sequel to it. However, his producers had been disappointed by its box-office returns, particularly given that its shoot had been prolonged and expensive, with Wong, who had come out of the Hong Kong industry, first attempting to work more independently, including collaborating for the first time with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who favored jazz-like spontaneity in his shooting methods. Despite involving many of Hong Kong's top stars, the film's profits had been modest, so Wong was not given the opportunity to follow it up. Yet as he moved on to other films, he had always retained the dream of doing so. With the impossibility of the original idea of ''Summer in Beijing'', he was now able to pursue it. The cast of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in ''A Story of Food'' (soon to become ''In the Mood for Love'') provided an opportunity to pick up a loose thread of ''Days of Being Wild'', as the actors had appeared in that film, although never together. Leung's few scenes had been left incomplete, awaiting Wong's planned sequel that was never made. '' 2046'', a sequel in its plot to ''In the Mood for Love'', would later serve for Wong as a sequel in spirit to ''Days of Being Wild'', connecting the story of Leung's character in ''Days'' and ''In the Mood''. The writing of ''2046'' essentially began at the same time as that of ''In the Mood for Love''. Because neither film had its plot, structure, or even all its characters, scripted in advance, Wong began working on the ideas that eventually made it into ''2046'' during the shoot of ''In the Mood for Love''. As he and his collaborators made the film in a variety of settings, its story took shape. Eventually, these constantly developing ideas, taken from one of the remnants of ''Summer in Beijing'', were developed too much to fit into one film. Wong discarded most of the footage and story before arriving at ''In the Mood'', later reshooting and reimagining the rest as ''2046''.


Production

Wong's plan to make a film set primarily in Hong Kong did not simplify matters when it came to the shoot. The city's appearance was much changed since the 1960s, and Wong's personal nostalgia for the time added to his desire for historical accuracy. Wong had little taste for working in studio settings, let alone using special effects to imitate the look of past times. Christopher Doyle later discussed the necessity of filming where the streets, the buildings, and even the sight of clothes hanging on lines (as in 1960s Hong Kong) could give a real energy to the actors and the story, whose outlines were constantly open to revision as shooting progressed. While set in Hong Kong, a portion of the filming (like outdoor and hotel scenes) was shot in less modernized neighborhoods of Bangkok, Thailand. Further, a brief portion later in the film is set in Singapore (one of Wong's initial inspirations on the story had been a short story set in Hong Kong, ''Intersection'', by the Hong Kong writer Liu Yichang). In its final sequences, the film also incorporates footage of
Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; km, អង្គរវត្ត, "City/Capital of Temples") is a temple complex in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world, on a site measuring . Originally constructed as a Hinduism, Hindu temple dedicated ...
, Cambodia, where Leung's character is working as a journalist. The film took 15 months to shoot. The actors found the process inspiring but demanding. They required a lot of work to understand the times, being slightly younger than Wong and having grown up in a rapidly changing Hong Kong or, in Maggie Cheung's case, partly in the United Kingdom. Cheung portrayed 1930s Chinese screen icon
Ruan Lingyu Ruan Lingyu (born Ruan Fenggen; April 26, 1910 – March 8, 1935), also known by her English name Lily Yuen, was a Chinese silent film actress. One of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s, her exceptional acting ability and suicid ...
in
Stanley Kwan Stanley Kwan (traditional Chinese: 關錦鵬; simplified Chinese: 关锦鹏); born 9 October 1957) is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Kwan landed a job at TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College. ...
's 1992 film '' Center Stage'', for which she wore
qipao ''Cheongsam'' (, ), also known as the ''qipao'' () and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the , the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often see ...
, the dresses worn by stylish Chinese women throughout much of the first half of the 20th century. It had been Cheung's most recognized performance to date and her hardest, partly due to the clothing, which restricted her freedom of movement. For Wong's film, Cheung, playing a married woman in her thirties who had carried over the elegance of her younger years in the pre-revolutionary mainland, would again wear qipao, known in Cantonese as cheongsam, and spoke of it as the way of understanding her character Su Li-zhen, whose quiet strength Cheung felt was unlike her own more spontaneous spirit. The cinematographer Christopher Doyle, for whom the film was the sixth collaboration with Wong Kar-wai, had to leave when production went over schedule and was replaced by Mark Lee Ping Bin, renowned for his work with Taiwanese filmmaker
Hou Hsiao-hsien Hou Hsiao-hsien (; born 8 April 1947) is a Mainland Chinese-born Taiwanese film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a leading figure in world cinema and in Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice ...
. Both DPs are credited equally for the final film. Some scenes in the final cut are thought to have been shot by each, with some critics noting differences between Doyle's more kinetic style as seen in earlier Wong movies, and the more subtle long shots of Lee framing key parts of ''In the Mood for Love''. Critic Tony Rayns, on the other hand, noted in a commentary on another Wong film that the differing styles of the two cinematographers were blended seamlessly by Wong's own fluid aesthetic. Like all of Wong's previous work, this one was shot on film, not digitally. Doyle's departure did not result from major artistic arguments with Wong. However, despite his agreement with Wong's spontaneous approach to scripting, he found it frustrating to reshoot many of the key moments over and over in environments throughout Southeast Asia until they felt right to the director. He had to turn down many other projects due to the total commitment, without a clear time limit, required by Wong. Several years later Doyle initially signed on to work on the sequel ''2046'', but he also abandoned that project halfway through for similar reasons (being replaced by a range of DPs) and has not worked with Wong since. Tony Leung, on the other hand, returned to work on ''2046'', in which he starred without Maggie Cheung, who made only a brief appearance in already shot footage from ''In the Mood for Love''. Leung also starred in Wong's 2013 film, '' The Grandmaster''. Cheung felt ''In the Mood for Love'' was the high point of her career, and she has worked much more infrequently since, starring in several films soon after but within four years, all but retired from acting, despite winning a Best Actress Award at Cannes for 2004's ''Clean''. The final months of production and post-production on ''In the Mood for Love'', a submission to the Cannes Film Festival in May 2000, were notorious for their confusion. The film was barely finished in time for the festival, as would occur again four years later when Wong submitted ''2046''. Wong continued shooting more and more of ''In the Mood for Love'' with the cast and crew as he worked furiously to edit the massive amounts of footage he had shot over the past year. He removed large chunks of the story to strip it down to its most basic element, the relationship between these characters in the 1960s, with brief allusions to earlier and later times. In the meantime, Wong screened brief segments before the festival for journalists and distributors. Despite the general lack of commercial interest in Chinese cinema at the time by North American media corporations, Wong was given a distribution deal for a limited theatrical release in North America on USA Films, based only on a few minutes of footage. By early 2000, with the deadline for Cannes approaching, Wong was contacted by the director of Cannes, who encouraged him to quickly complete a final cut, and offered a constructive criticism about the title. Although the title in Cantonese and Mandarin is based on a Zhou Xuan song whose English title is translated "Age of Bloom", the international title proved more complex. After discarding ''Summer in Beijing'' and ''A Story of Food'', Wong had provisionally settled on ''Secrets'', but Cannes felt this title was not as distinctive as the film Wong was preparing and suggested he should change it. Finally having completed the cut, but at a loss for titles, Wong was listening to a then-recent album by
Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ' ...
and
Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...
titled ''Slave to Love: The Very Best of the Ballads'', and noticed a resonance in the song "I'm in the Mood for Love", which shared its title with a popular jazz standard of the mid-20th century. Many of Wong's previous English-language titles had come from pop songs, so he found this title particularly appropriate. Wong states he was influenced by Hitchcock's ''
Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
'' while making this film and compares Tony Leung's character to
James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
's:


Title song

The title track "Hua Yang De Nian Hua" is a song by famous singer
Zhou Xuan Zhou Xuan (; born Su Pu (); August 1, 1920 – September 22, 1957), also romanized as Chow Hsuan, was an iconic Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. She was the best known o ...
from the Solitary Island period. The 1946 song is a paean to a happy past and an oblique metaphor for the darkness of Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Wong also set the song to his 2000 short film, named '' Hua Yang De Nian Hua'', after the track.


Soundtrack

*
Shigeru Umebayashi (born February 19, 1951) is a Japanese composer. Once the leader and bass player of Japan's new wave rock band EX, composer Shigeru Umebayashi began scoring films in 1985 when the band broke up. He has more than 30 Japanese and Chinese film sc ...
: "Yumeji's Theme" (originally from the soundtrack of
Seijun Suzuki , born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predo ...
's ''
Yumeji is a 1991 independent Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki. It is a semi-fictional account of poet and painter Takehisa Yumeji. It also forms the final part of Suzuki's Taishō ''Roman Trilogy'', preceded by ''Zigeunerweisen'' (1980) and ''Kage ...
'') *
Michael Galasso Michael John Galasso (1949, Hammond, Louisiana - September 9, 2009, Paris, France) was an American composer, violinist, and music director. Film scores Galasso wrote music for films, including Wong Kar-wai's '' In the Mood for Love'', Babak P ...
: "Angkor Wat Theme", "ITMFL", "Casanova/Flute" *
Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
: "
Aquellos Ojos Verdes "Green Eyes" is a popular song, originally written in Spanish under the title "Aquellos Ojos Verdes" ("Those Green Eyes") by Adolfo Utrera and Nilo Menéndez in 1929. The English translation was made by Eddie Rivera and Eddie Woods in 1931. Span ...
", "Te Quiero Dijiste", " Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" *
Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ' ...
: "I'm in the Mood for Love" (the inspiration for the English title, found on, e.g., the French two-CD soundtrack, not in the film) *
Zhou Xuan Zhou Xuan (; born Su Pu (); August 1, 1920 – September 22, 1957), also romanized as Chow Hsuan, was an iconic Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. She was the best known o ...
:《花樣的年華》 "''Hua Yang De Nian Hua''" (the inspiration for the original Chinese title) *
Rebecca Pan Rebecca Pan Di-hua (; also Poon Tik-wah, Pan Wan Ching) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. Early life She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931 and moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Career Her singing career began in 1957. One of her songs, which ...
: "
Bengawan Solo Bengawan Solo may refer to: *Solo River, Bengawan Solo River, the longest river on the Indonesian island of Java and site of paleoanthropology early hominid remains *Bengawan Solo (song), "Bengawan Solo" (song), a 1940 Indonesian song about the Jav ...
" * All of the traditional '' pingtan'',
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
,
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and Yue operas are historic recordings


Box office and distribution

''In the Mood for Love'' made HK$8,663,227 during its Hong Kong run. On 2 February 2001, the film opened in six North American theatres, earning $113,280 ($18,880 per screen) in its first weekend. It finished its North American run with a gross of $2,738,980. The total worldwide box office gross was US$12,854,953.


Home media

The film has been released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
, most notably by the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
, who released a restored high-definition digital transfer in the United States in 2012.


Reception and legacy

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 8.0/10. The website's critical consensus reads "This understated romance, featuring good performances by its leads, is both visually beautiful and emotionally moving." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 28 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "a lush story of unrequited love". Elvis Mitchell, writing for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', referred to it as "probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film of the year". Peter Travers of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' wrote that "In the hands of a hack, ''In the Mood for Love'' could have been a snickering sex farce. In the hands of Wong Kar-wai ... the film is alive with delicacy and feeling". Peter Walker of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', describing it as his "favourite film", wrote that it provides "profound and moving reflections on life's fundamentals. It's a film about, yes, love; but also betrayal, loss, missed opportunities, memory, the brutality of time's passage, loneliness—the list goes on". David Parkinson of ''Empire'' awarded the film five out of five stars, writing that "the performances are masterly, and the photography beautiful. It's a genuinely romantic romance and makes for sublime cinema." jmc of ''Notes on Cinema'' writes, "Why does Wong Kar Wai begin the end of the film with a brief glimpse at Cambodian foreign relations Cambodia, like the rest of [] Southeast Asia in the 1960s, is a victim of the actions of others[, and] might be trying to put on a brave face when Charles de Gaulle visits; behind its countenance is anger at what others have done to it."


Lists

In 2000, ''Empire'' ranked it number 42 in its list titled "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema". It was ranked 95th on 100 Best Films from 1983 to 2008 by ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
''. In November 2009, ''
Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'' ranked the film as the fifth-best of the decade, calling it the "consummate unconsummated love story of the new millennium." ''They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?'', a review aggregator covering the history of cinema, lists ''In the Mood for Love'' as the 42nd most acclaimed film of all time, making it the most widely acclaimed film released anywhere in the world since its release in 2000. In the 2022 ''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' critics poll, ''In the Mood for Love'' appeared at number 5, making it the highest ranked film from the 2000s and one of only two from the 2000s to be listed in the top 10 of all time, along with
David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
's ''
Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...
''. Wong's film was also the highest ranked film by a Chinese filmmaker. ''In the Mood for Love'' received its placement due to the votes of 42 critics (out of 846) who placed it in their own top 10 lists individually. Three years later,
Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...
credited ''In the Mood for Love'' as her largest inspiration on her
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning film ''Lost in Translation'', which ended with secrets being shared, and made important use of another song by
Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to ' ...
. ''Lost in Translation''s iconic opening shot was inspired by a shot from ''In the Mood for Love''. Coppola thanked Wong Kar-wai in her Oscar acceptance speech. In 2015, the
Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...
ranked the film No. 3 in its Asian Cinema 100 list, behind
Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...
's ''
Tokyo Story is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama about an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. Upon release, it did not immediately gain international recogni ...
'' and
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
's ''
Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and ...
''. In 2016, the film appeared in second place on BBC's list of
100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century The 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century is a list compiled in August 2016 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), chosen by a voting poll of 177 film critics from around the world. It was compiled by collating the top ten films submitte ...
after ''
Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...
''. The film ranked 9th in BBC's 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films voted by 209 film critics from 43 countries around the world. In 2019, ''The Guardian'' ranked the film fifth in its Best Films of the 21st Century list. In 2021 the film was ranked at No. 8 on '' Time Out'' magazine's list of ''The 100 best movies of all time''. In 2022, ''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' ranked the film 5th on its "Greatest Films of All Time" critics' poll.


Awards

*
2000 Cannes Film Festival The 53rd Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 25 May 2000. French film director, screenwriter, and producer Luc Besson was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film ''Dancer in the Dark'' by Lars von Trier. The fe ...
** Won: Best Actor (
Tony Leung Chiu-wai use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place ...
) ** Won: Technical Grand Prize ( Christopher Doyle, Lee Ping-bing,
William Chang William Chang Suk-ping ( zh, 張叔平; born 12 November 1953) is a Hong Kong production designer, costume designer and film editor. Along with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Chang is an important collaborator with Hong Kong film director ...
) ** Nominated:
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
* 2001 Hong Kong Film Awards ** Won: Best Actor (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) ** Won: Best Actress (
Maggie Cheung Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong former actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983's Miss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and in ...
) ** Won: Best Art Direction (
William Chang William Chang Suk-ping ( zh, 張叔平; born 12 November 1953) is a Hong Kong production designer, costume designer and film editor. Along with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Chang is an important collaborator with Hong Kong film director ...
) ** Won: Best Costume and Make-up Design (William Chang) ** Won: Best Film Editing (William Chang) ** Nominated: Best Picture ** Nominated: Best Director (
Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure ...
) ** Nominated: Best Supporting Actress ( Poon Dick-wah) ** Nominated: Best Screenplay (
Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure ...
) ** Nominated: Best New Performer ( Siu Ping-lam) ** Nominated: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle, Lee Pin-bing) ** Nominated: Best Original Score (
Michael Galasso Michael John Galasso (1949, Hammond, Louisiana - September 9, 2009, Paris, France) was an American composer, violinist, and music director. Film scores Galasso wrote music for films, including Wong Kar-wai's '' In the Mood for Love'', Babak P ...
) * 2000 Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards ** Won: Best Actress (Maggie Cheung) * 2001 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards ** Won: Best Director (Wong Kar-wai) ** Won: Film of merit * 2001 Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics (Belgium) ** Won: Grand Prix (Belgian Film Critics Association), Grand Prix * 2002 National Society of Film Critics (USA) ** Won: Best Foreign Language Film ** Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle, Lee Pin-bing) *2001 César Awards ** Won: César Award for Best Foreign Film, Best Foreign Film * 2001 German Film Awards ** Won: Best Foreign Film * 2001 New York Film Critics Circle Awards ** Won: Best Foreign Language Film ** Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle, Lee Pin-bing) *54th British Academy Film Awards, 2001 BAFTA Awards ** Nominated: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Foreign Language Film * 2002 Argentine Film Critics Association Awards ** Won: Best Foreign Language Film * 2000 Asia-Pacific Film Festival ** Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle, Lee Pin-bing) ** Won: Best Editing (William Chang) * 2001 Australian Film Institute Awards ** Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film * 2001 British Independent Film Awards ** Won: Best Foreign Language Film * 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards ** Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film


See also

* List of films set in Hong Kong


References


External links

* * * * * * *
''In the Mood for Love: Haunted Heart''
– an essay by Steve Erickson at The Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:In The Mood For Love 2000 films 2000 romantic drama films 2000s Cantonese-language films 2000s French films 2000s Hong Kong films Adultery in films Best Foreign Film César Award winners European Film Awards winners (films) Films directed by Wong Kar-wai Films scored by Shigeru Umebayashi Films set in 1962 Films set in Cambodia Films set in Hong Kong Films set in Shanghai Films set in Singapore Films shot in Cambodia Films shot in Macau Films shot in Shanghai Films shot in Thailand French nonlinear narrative films French romantic drama films Hong Kong New Wave films Hong Kong nonlinear narrative films Hong Kong romantic drama films Shanghainese-language films