I didn't know married life would be so complicated

Continuing my trip down Empire’s top 100 films of the century so far…

  • #90 - Crouching TIger, Hidden Dragon
    One of the first DVDs I ever owned - I so have to watch it again on my big telly!

Which brings us to In The Mood For Love - a unique film in this list because it was the only one I'd never heard of before.  To be honest, I was quite surprised there were any such films on the list, but I'm very happy to be educated.  Empire describes the film as "achingly sad and mesmerisingly gorgeous, akin to Brief Encounter - but with far fewer cups of tea" and, although I've never seen Brief Encounter, this film is almost exactly what I imagine it to be like (but with far fewer cups of tea.  And slightly more Asian actors).  It's a poignant story, beautifully shot and well acted - Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are both excellent as the leads, pretty much carrying the whole film by themselves.


In a lot of ways, it's a reasonably straightforward plot (some might argue threadbare) but there are some interesting stylistic choices made along the way around time order and multiple versions being presented which make it slightly more challenging to watch.  Or, as my eldest put it when she was in the room for 5 minutes - "Dad, what is actually going on?!?".  Her other input to this review was "Why wouldn't you just watch a film that's in English?!?" - there's no hope for her, I tell you!  


Another interesting aspect to the film is the recurring motifs - not an uncommon device in film-making, but this film made more use of them than most.  I noticed borderline pathological obsessions with doors, windows, mirrors, corridors, shoes, food and telephones - it's quite surprising they found time for as much plot as they did!  Having said that, they all contribute to the overall atmosphere of yearning that runs throughout the film - you suspect it's not going to end well, but you're obviously going to hang around to find out (and I'm obviously not going to tell you).  It's also interesting that two of the main characters in the film don't appear other than as voices shown off-screen - and it works surprisingly well.  One quibble I do have is that I wasn't entirely convinced about the setting for the final scene - it felt a bit like they had an opportunity to go somewhere interesting, so decided they'd do the end of the film there.  It doesn't ruin the film, but just felt a bit incongruous.


WIkipedia basically has a lot to say about the film, but all it really says is "this film is ace" and I'd struggle to argue.  Given that it's a foreign language, arthouse romance it won't be for everyone but if you're a cultured sensitive type like me, then you'll probably appreciate it. (OK - you can stop laughing now, kids)






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