In The Mood For Love (Special Edition)

Mr. Chow ( Tony Leung Chiu Wai ) and Mrs. Chan ( Maggie Cheung ) are neighbours in a communal abode whose respective spouses' constant absence from their lives - long work hours are always a giveaway - signal marital unrest. Director Wong and cinematographer Chris Doyle artfully heightens this sense of absence and alienation with the literal non-appearance of the spouses - voices offscreen, backs in soft focus and silhouetted telephone excuses. Mrs. Chan, a secretary is familiar with such signs given that she concocts alibis to hide her boss' infidelity. Their realization of the adultery comes with subtly nuanced hints to the painfully obvious - Mrs. Chow gives Mr. Chow imported ties, which resemble those of Mr. Chan and she has a handbag identical to that of Mrs. Chan, all items unavailable in HK. In an instance too close for comfort Mrs. Chan suspects and almost discovers the adulterous couple in the Chow quarters, via hear-through walls.

The protagonists' parallel solitary lives intertwine with their close everyday physical and emotional proximity - he dines alone at the nearby noodle stall, while she takes away (declining neighbourly invitations fearing the shame of having to explain her husband's absence) passing (and brushing) each other along the way. It is only after a while that they reach out - but awkwardly and with much mannered restraint. They eventually dine together in his room but are trapped there overnight as the neighbours return unexpectedly to a long mahjong session. Stretched out on Chow's bed, they are stiffly poised, almost mannequin like, mindful of violating social mores and jointly determined not to be adulterous.

Theirs is a seemingly innocent platonic relationship - they end up collaborating on a martial arts novella, she as his muse, all the while wary of neighbourly gossip. And the emotional and seductive undercurrents, which threaten to consume them are artfully suppressed by the actors, with a sweet sadness. Their interaction is both tepid and erotic at once, the most touching and expressive coming in moments of play acting spousal confrontations, ending up in the comfort of each others' arms. Is there perhaps, more between them? Sensing Chan's reluctance to leave her husband, Chow takes a posting in Singapore as a foreign correspondent.

With an onscreen prologue that times have changed, he returns to HK years later, following a period of social unrest, to find that the residents of the communal apartment have moved - and a lady with her young son are the new tenants next door. We see that she is Chan but as fate would have it, he does not. In keeping with the Chinese title of the film (which comes from the standard by Chou Xuan), their time for a love like a lotus blossom in full bloom has passed.

Tony Leung is well deserved of his Cannes award for Best Actor, playing Chow with a quiet, understated cool, clad in thin lapelled suits with thinner 60's ties that are making a comeback now. Those unmoved by his pained faraway gaze while eating a dumpling, as if choking on his own solitude may as well be brain dead. And Maggie Cheung shows that she is a peerless star of HK cinema. Elegantly beautiful, she plays Chan with an allure that is both strong (in her resistance to succumb) and vulnerable at once.

But it is Wong Kar Wai and Chris Doyle's stylistic signatures that are the true stars here. To this viewer at least, every element is executed without flaw. The camera tracks and caresses the actors in stylish slow motion. In many instances, they move dance-like to the lilting sounds of tango-infused melancholy strings which forms the score and the rich tenor of post jazz trio Nat Cole in Latin mode. Often, with Maggie, it lingers on her feminine grace - the small of her back, a curved elbow, her lithe calves and cinched waist - enhanced by the variety of exquisitely patterned and brocade silk cheongsam that is sure to enhance the popularity of chinoiserie even with the most jaded fashionista. Also, in typical Wong and Doyle fashion, the atmospherics are literally smoke and mirrors - the protagonists are seen through smoky reflections/refractions of lead and neon light. In one scene, Tony Leung is pictured in two segments - face and neck reflected in a mirror, arm and torso in another. The editing is clever - Tony asks Maggie to spend some time together and when rebuffed, retorts that someone has to make the first move. Flashback, same preceding scene and it is Maggie doing the honours coquettishly but still in vain.

The icons of the period art deco industrial design (used to full effect in The Days Of Being Wild) are present - a large Siemens wall clock, a clear reference to the Leslie Cheung watch seduction scene, bakelite telephones, atmospheric diner banquettes and most of all the curved elliptical crevices that serve as frames within the cinematic frame through which the actors are so exquisitely shot. The spot lit, colourful stucco tiled hallway, with surreally billowing red drapes, which leads to the hotel room where the couple meet to write, has a Starck influenced vibe.

In this time and age of full-blown indulgence and expression in matters of the heart, this rich soulful canvass emphatically brings home the lesser known truth that love spoken is good but that which is sometimes unspoken is better. Wong underscores this in the closing scene at the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat where Chow performs the folkloric ritual of whispering untold secrets into a hole in a wall and filling it up - a counterpoint to an earlier conversation with a boorish colleague who chides him for being too introverted, saying that it is better simply to get laid! In this sense, the film's English title is paradoxical - there is perhaps no lovemaking here at all and yet it still manages to put one, sweetly and sadly, In The Mood .......