In the Mood for Love Essay Questions

Explain the significance of the confusion that occurs when Chow and Su are first moving into their respective rooms. How does this confusion foreshadow the relationship that develops between them?

When Chow and Su first move into the building at the very beginning of the film, they are having to repeatedly redirect the movers, who take Chow's things to Su's apartment and vice-versa. Su ends up with some of Chow's wife's shoes, the movers bring a dresser to Chow that belongs to Su and her husband, and so on. In a way, all of these possessions being moved into a space represent the shared lives of each of these married couples, and by having the movers repeatedly misallocate the possessions, Wong indicates that there may be some shifting and swapping of roles. When Su and Chow learn that their spouses are having an affair together, they start to roleplay as each other's spouses, thus fulfilling the prophetic confusion that occurs when they first moved in next to each other.

Su and Chow start to work on martial arts serials together. What does this type of narrative indicate about Chow and Su's values?

Martial arts narratives about martial heroes, also known as wuxia, mythologize a certain code of chivalry. These stories uphold traditional values and morals that reflect Chow and Su's romantic sensibilities and commitment to honor. The martial arts narratives also indicate a strong sense of nostalgia for a bygone era, which is paralleled by Wong's own project with In the Mood for Love, which is an ode to a Hong Kong that no longer exists.

Clothes and costuming play a prominent role in In the Mood for Love. Give three examples of how clothes contribute to the plot or offer symbolic meaning in the narrative.

Su and Chow learn a lot about their spouses through their clothing and accessories. A major turning point in the plot is when Su and Chow meet at the diner for the first time, and they ask each other about their clothing. Chow asks Su where she got her purse, and Su asks Chow about his tie. In both cases, their spouses purchased them in Japan. In both cases, their spouses also purchased similar items for each other in Japan. This is how Chow and Su confirm their suspicions that their spouses are having an affair together. Another instance of this is when Su notices that her boss is wearing a tie purchased for him by his mistress. She comments on it before he goes to dinner with his wife, and he changes the tie, worried that his wife would notice, too.

Aside from being an indication of relationships, clothing also tells us a great deal about a character. Su's qipaos, ornate and traditional in their intricacy, reflect her own traditional values. The qipaos are tight and high-necked, restricting her movement, but she wears them every day, no matter the occasion, because she values elegance.

Wong Kar-wai has expressed that he was not specifically interested in making a movie about an affair, but rather that he intended for the movie to be about a period of time in China. How does Kar-wai engage with history and position this film in the political world of Hong Kong in the 1960s?

In the Mood for Love is an atmospheric film and, true to its title, is shaped by the mood of its setting. The mood is set not only by the architecture of 1960s Hong Kong, recreated in old neighborhoods in Bangkok, but also by Wong's subtle infusion of the anxiety of the times into the dialogue, and finally by visual cues, footage of Angkor Wat, and documentary footage of Charles de Gaulle visiting Cambodia thirteen years after the country's independence was declared from France. Another allusion to the political upheaval occurring at the time is Chow's new apartment number, 2046, which refers to the projected end date of the "One Country, Two Systems" constitution established between China and the U.K. regarding the governing of Hong Kong.

In the Mood for Love revolves around its two central characters, but it also develops minor characters who act as important foils to Chow and Su. Discuss a secondary character and their significance to the narrative.

Chow's associate at the newspaper in Hong Kong, and later at the Singapore Daily, Ping, is an important foil to Chow. Ping is a hedonist who loves to gamble, have sex, and drink. He doesn't worry about the consequences of his actions until they are upon him, and he has no real qualms about his business being aired out in public. Chow and Ping often share lunch together at taverns near their workplace, and there they discuss their different approaches to life. Early in the film, Ping pleads for money from Chow to pay back a sex worker to whom he gave his government ID as collateral for payment. When he failed to pay, she waved his ID around in public, demanding he pay her. Ping isn't too concerned about his reputation, and he has no interest in keeping secrets. When Chow describes a traditional method of "burying" secrets by going to the top of a mountain, carving a small hole in the bark of a tree, whispering the secret in, and filling the hole with mud, Ping responds, "What a pain! I'd just go get laid" (1:20:50).