Hong Kong Streets and Alleys
One of the greatest challenges to production was finding spaces to satisfactorily recreate the Hong Kong neighborhoods, alleyways, noodle stalls, and general street life that Wong remembers from his childhood, growing up in a family like the ones portrayed in In the Mood for Love—Shanghainese transplants who moved to Hong Kong after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The streets and alleys that Chow and Su traverse are almost maze-like and create a sense of interior, even when they are outside. The spaces contribute to an overall sense of claustrophobia that pervades the film. The imagery also firmly establishes the historical and geographical context of the narrative.
Narrow Hallways, Claustrophobic Domestic Spaces
From the start of the film, Chow and Su are living in extremely close proximity. Wong establishes a common domestic dynamic of Shanghainese transplants in Hong Kong in the 1960s, tightly knit networks of families that are isolated from the local Cantonese culture. The narrow hallways and bustling living rooms and kitchens emphasize the difficulty of keeping secrets and having a private or hidden life. Keeping secrets is a prominent theme of the film, and the claustrophobia of their living quarters underscores the feeling of being constantly surveilled, a feeling that particularly applies to Su, who as a woman is held to much stricter standards with regard to the company she keeps and the amount of time she spends outside the home.
Angkor Wat
A stark juxtaposition to the urban claustrophobia of the apartment buildings, streets, and alleyways of Hong Kong comes at the end of the film, with sweeping shots of Angkor Wat. The emptiness of the temple provides visual relief from the closely packed quarters in Hong Kong; however, the emptiness is far from optimistic—the timing of the film's conclusion, 1966, immediately precedes a devastating period of civil war in Cambodia, where the temple is located.
Workplaces
In the Mood for Love hovers mostly in domestic spaces, and when it ventures outside of the home, it goes either to the narrow alleyways where Chow and Su purchase noodles from stalls, or to Chow and Su's places of work. Chow works in the male-dominated industry of print news. The press is dark and full of smoke and familiar conversation between men. Chow has friends there, he can speak freely, but he chooses to conceal his inner life, i.e. his feelings for Su and his marital troubles. Su's workplace, on the other hand, is much quieter. She works in close proximity to her boss, Mr. Ho, whose personal calendar she manages. The clock which Wong shows at various points in the film to emphasize a sense of stasis hanging over the entrance to Su's office.
