In The Mood For Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)

Introduction
This journal will be mainly discussing about French Impressionist Cinema. It was popular from year 1919 to year 1928. The films produced usually exposed audience with in-depth psychological cognitive activities, which is very much different from 21st century's films. Majority of the modern films consist of hard-core action or hilarious elements which satisfied with vast audience's taste whereas French Impressionism was a generation where films explore the psychological causes of the narration. Therefore, its generation faded as it failed to retain the audience and the production costs rose.

Theory Discussion
French Impressionist Cinema concerns on mental states of the actors. It also visually depicts mental states through cinematography and editing, which is very much fitted in the film "In The Mood for Love" by Wong Kar-Wai. For example, the the rhythmic editing and POV editing are used to display characters' experience in particular situation. Cam movements is usually smooth, without steamy scenes that will create excitement. Visuals are usually filtered or vertiginous to show the dizziness or the emotions of the casts.

Synopsis
In The Mood For Love (2000) is a film which tells about two unfortunate individuals which are betrayed by their own spouses. Mrs Chan, who works as an executive assistant, and Mr Chow, who works as a newspaper reporter, are tenants who coincidentally rented rooms in apartments next to each other in the crowded Hong Kong of 1962 (Ebert, 2001, para.3). Since both the protagonists are always working til late night, their spouses seize the opportunity to have adultery affair behind them. After they had discovered such incident, they meet to practice and imagine how did their other half cheat on them. From the shared agony of adultery, Mrs Chan and Mr Chow have slowly developed a unique bond between themselves (Saleh, 2011, para.2). The film showed the dilemma of upholding their moral values and falling in love with each another.

Analysis
As mentioned earlier, this film is more focusing on the emotional and mental state of the casts, instead of showing them out directly. Follow by, there are some scenes which I personally find it interesting to analyze based on the theory of "French Impressionist Cinema".

First of all, throughout the film, audience could barely see the faces of the protagonists' spouses. It is either their backside or their shadows. This filming technique of Wong Kar-Wai's is a fantastic way in displaying the absence of the spouses in their lives. It is always bidding farewell and feeling lonely. For example, there was one scene when Mrs Chan was chit-chatting with Mr Chow's wife at the doorstep of her staying. Throughout the conversation, there was only Mrs Chan's face shown in the scene. Though Mrs Chan pretended to have no ideas about the adultery affair in front of Mr Chow's wife, but it is clear that her eyesight had overwhelmed with despair and grief.

Besides filming technique, the cam movement in the entire film is slow. Slow movement can best depict the emotional perspective of the characters. This is best shown when Mrs Chan was helping Mr Chow in his martial arts writing at his room. The cam movement is very slow and shows the inner feeling of both the protagonists. When Mr Chow is focusing on this pieces, Mrs Chan stared at him with a sweet smile on her cheek. This also shows that both the protagonists wish to freeze the time and remain at this very moment of happiness.

Mentioning about emotional aspect, rhythmic editing also plays an important role in this film. It is shown in multiple shots when Mrs Chan going up and down the stairs, back and forth the corridor. These scenes reflect the frantic thoughts of her inner struggles on whether she should or should not meet Mr Chow at his hostel room (Thinkinghut, 2016, para.12). Audience are brought into her state of mind whether she should be firm of her moral principle or summon her courage to meet her "Mr.Right". Rhythmic editing therefore indirectly triggered the audience's expectation.

Rhythmic editing appears not only for visual but also soundtracks. Yumeiji's Theme appeared eight times throughout the film, mostly accompanied with scenes which showed Mrs Chan's and Mr Chow's daily routine. Strolling down the street, walking down the stairs, having noodles at the stall and passing by each another are the things that happen over and over again. Both of them are looking fine on the outside but are swallowed by solitude day by day. This song contains sense of melancholy which shows the sorrow of the protagonists covertly.

Not only that, the costumes and the setting of the film disclose the psychological aspect of the characters too. Since the stereotypes and gossips are overwhelming around the neighborhoods, the characters choose to keep everything to themselves. For example, the clothing the protagonists wear are always tightening and suffocating, the hallway of the apartment is very narrow, and the facial expression of the protagonists are always moody. These elements metaphors the generation where people are narrow-minded, privacy are hard to be kept and gossips are here, there and everywhere. Therefore, when the landlady advised Mrs Chan not to go out too often and ought to retain her husband, she decided not to have frequent contact with Mr Chow to avoid from gossips.

Conclusion
In The Mood For Love is by far the most artistic romance film I had ever watched. It is very much different from modern film as you have to think and decode the meaning behind every scene. The path they chose are definitely not a perfect but a beautiful ending. The film very much reflects the reality where you have to sacrifice something, or even someone you love. It gets better every time you watch it!

Reference
1. Ebert, R. (2001). In The Mood For Love. Retrieved from:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-the-mood-for-love-2001

2. Saleb, R. (2011). DFI Film Review. In The Mood For Love (2000). Retrieved from:
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/blog/dfi-film-review-in-the-mood-for-love-2000

3. Thinkinghut (2016). In The Mood For Love: French Impressionism and Plot Analysis. Retrieved from:
https://thinkinghut.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/in-the-mood-for-love-french-expressionism-and-plot-analysis/