Perhaps, it is strange to say that the distinct nature of this movie is in its “movieness”. In other words, it is not surprising that a movie director use the primary advantage of cinematograph – its visual qualities – in such a great deal. Every movie can be characterized by quite a significant role of details, colors, and costumes. However, it seems to be the very case with “In the Mood for Love”, for Wong Kar Wai makes the visual qualities of his movie nearly the only medium to impart its whole idea, which appears as not clear from the first sight. During the whole movie – it is almost two hours – nothing really happens, nothing is really talked about. The movie seems extremely slow; during seemingly not connected scenes the characters hardly move or perform any action; their short and random conversations do not suggest any clear idea of what it is all about. The idea of the movie is encoded in its title – it shows, or, more prominently, imparts the spectators the mood, the emotional state, the very feeling of being in love. In this case, words or actions can hardly matter; the feelings and emotions of the characters are shown through the details of the world around them.
Time changes for the one in love. Every single moment with or without the one beloved seems as an eternity. In books it can be described or expressed by words. Paintings would suggest a specific palette. Cinematograph can synthesize both of these. Wong Kar Wai stops the time. Throughout the whole movie we observe long minutes of cigarette smoke and droplets of rain, noodle steam and the grill of a small metal fan. Through seeing these insignificant details in a slow mode we start realizing how much is happening in such a short period of time, how much can be felt in the short moment of a raindrop falling on the ground.
The feeling of being in love is constantly with one. From morning till night, at work or in a restaurant, it stays. It is not always the same; it can have its own shades and slight variations, but it never changes. To impart this concept, Wong Kar Wai chooses a totally unexpected symbol – dress. Throughout the whole movie the main female character changes 24 dresses – all identical, different only in color. Throughout the whole movie we observe her as constantly being in the same dress, the same emotional state, the same mood of being in love, which may have slight shades and variations. The feeling always stays with her – 24 hours a day.
We all are used to using language. If we do not understand something, we ask and get an answer. If we need something, we name the thing and get it. We do not have any doubts that the sky is blue – everybody says so, that is how it is described. If in a movie two people say they love each other, we trust them. Moreover, we expect movie characters to explain us what is going on. Wong Kar Wai wants to break these conventions. He makes his movie a piece of purely visual art. He does not give us any verbal instructions of what we have to see, understand, and feel – he makes us do so. He develops his own way, or style, of presenting ideas on the screen, which in turn presupposes the distinct nature of the performance. He wants to show not what one feels – it is clear from the title, but how they feel it. Words can be helpful in terms of ‘what’. However, they become something too indefinite and too formal when trying to describe the very nature of human feelings.