Film Criticism of Looking for the Mood of Love

This is a movie that will be very heavy after watching, and it is also a movie that will be thoughtful after watching. Many people see it only because of its gorgeous cheongsam. Indeed, when 26 sets of elegant cheongsam tightly wrap Maggie Cheung's exquisite curve, it is indeed a kind of beautiful enjoyment. But if you watch this movie just to appreciate the beauty of clothes, it's a bit of a waste of a good movie.

A good movie is like a cup of green tea. At first glance, it has no taste, but after careful tasting, a refreshing fragrance will unconsciously float into your internal organs. In the Mood for Love is such a movie. Whether it's the exquisite close-up in the lens, the soft light cast by the dim street lamp in the drizzle, or the bright level of the whole picture color and eye-catching tone matching skills, it's the profound skill of director Wong Kar-wai and photographer Du Kefeng. I have to mention the sound art in the film, even the sound effect of raindrops falling to the ground is so infectious, not to mention the main theme of the film, which is accompanied by the hero and heroine meeting in the corridor many times-lyrical with a melancholy violin music. These hardware facilities of the film are perfect, and what is more commendable is the soul of the film-the content plot, which is as ingenious as described by Wong Kar-wai.

This is like a scene that often appears in movies: Yun is eating wonton noodles at a noodle stand, and the scene at this time is fixed on his face for a long time. His eyes are full of pain and loneliness-for his wife who will never come home. At this moment, Su Lizhen appeared on the wet stone road, holding a delicate thermos. The camera was photographed by her slender hand and gradually moved up to her chest, but her face was never seen. This open composition can stimulate the imagination of the audience. She came to the noodle stall, the same wonton noodles, with a thoughtful and melancholy expression on her face-for her husband who didn't come back. Another couple is enjoying love. This couple is just eating their own food in wonton noodles. I have to say that at this moment, the director used a method of interweaving light and dark lines to express two love concepts: implicit and introverted. And this kind of artistic conception can only be understood by repeated careful taste, which can be described as a classic plot of the film.

There is also an unforgettable clip in the middle and lower part of the film. Zhou Mu Yun finally got up the courage to express his pent-up feelings to Su Lizhen. But Sue avoided it with silence. Zhou saw that it was impossible for two people to be together. So, he asked Su Lizhen to do something for him-refuse him and let him practice suffering. Sue agreed. But when Zhou said "Take care in the future" and then let go of her hand and walked away without looking back, Sue began to feel surge of emotion. At this time, a long lens was used, showing that Sue's hand twitched at the moment of release, and then clung to the other arm, and the veins stood out on her hand, and a pain suddenly appeared on her hand. Then the camera moves to her face: unbearable, sad, impulsive, depressed ... all kinds of expressions meet at one place. As a result, there was a scene of crying on Zhou's shoulder. Zhou's hand kept patting her on the shoulder, consolingly saying, "All right, all right, just acting, just acting ..." The pent-up emotion suddenly broke out, but the director did not deliberately stir up feelings, but expressed it elegantly with skillful camera language, but he got the successful effect of "telling more silently than they did with sound". This alone can make many actors shout "I love you!" Study hard, my director.

At the end of the film, after Zhou Mu Yun left Hong Kong sadly, Su Lizhen came to his room, lit a cigar, didn't smoke it, just left it there to let its smoke linger, hover and disperse. A smell she used to know. She sat in the chair and tears began to fall. Drop by drop, finally connected into a piece. At this point, all the background sounds in the movie disappeared. After a moment of loneliness, a man's voice rang in Sue's heart and echoed in the audience's ears-

If there are extra tickets, will you go with me? "

Have nothing to say ......

Maybe everything should be an English translation of the movie: In the Mood for Love.

Just that kind of "emotional love", in that kind of lost mood. ......

In the Mood for Love is a nostalgic classic. As far as the stories told in the film itself are concerned, they are all platitudes and nothing new. It's just a love story about an extramarital affair. As far as the plot of the film is concerned, it is neither tortuous nor wonderful, and it can be said to be simple and plain. Then, why can such a film with an ordinary story and a simple plot be called a classic? The key lies in the ingenious and unique expression used by director Wong Kar-wai in the film. Through these artistic techniques, this ordinary story is endowed with a profound, novel and refined theme, which makes the film achieve the perfect combination of form and content.

First, the implicit beauty of the film theme.

The beauty of art lies in implication, and film art also has this artistic law. Implicit expression enriches the connotation of works of art and makes the theme of the whole work more attractive and memorable. In the Mood for Love has such artistic features. Wong Kar-wai, the director, used a metaphor and symbolic expression to add inner charm to the film. Just like a misty poem, every word, including every punctuation mark, has its symbolic meaning, and like a freehand painting, every line implies metaphor. The use of distinctive metaphors and symbolic expressions makes the theme expression of this work both implicit and profound. The film not only reflects the misfortune that Yun and his lover cheated, but also reflects their sincere feelings, and also reflects the common emotional life and moral concepts of that era and society.

(1) Metaphorical expression of movie themes.

The theme of an excellent film is not directly told to the audience, but implied in every detail, which depends on the audience to understand. In In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai used metaphor montage and repeated montage to convey the theme of the film implicitly and naturally, which not only expressed the emotional changes of the hero and heroine, but also implied the real situation of Hong Kong society in the 1960s, endowed the film with the color of the times and social significance, and enhanced the artistic value of the film. For example, by calling the boss and buying gifts for his wife (his wife) and Miss Yu (his lover), the film shows that the boss is also going back and forth between his lover and his wife. Combined with the whole story, we virtually felt the real life and emotional status quo of the petty bourgeoisie in Hong Kong in the 1960s. It's not just the husband and Yun's wife who are "out of the wall". Many people, like them, have lovers outside, all sneaking around. In In the Mood for Love, the director uses a series of metaphorical expressions, implying the emotions, characteristics of the times and cultural connotations of the characters in every detail, deepening the theme and making it have implicit beauty in expression.

Metaphorical montage is an artistic skill in performance montage. Metaphorical montage is "a montage that connects scenes with different images to produce contrast, symbol and hint in the lens combination" [1], which can give people a vivid and intriguing feeling. In In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai used metaphor montage for many times to deal with the details of the film, which greatly enhanced the artistic appeal of the film and increased the implicit beauty of the film. For example, there are many scenes of "dim street lamps" in the film, and this street lamp seems to be Su Lizhen's lonely heart. Husband is always away from home, and she is the only one who goes to the noodle stand for dinner every day. Such as streets and roads. , lonely. For another example, the appearance of several empty scenes of "wall clock" in the film makes it easy for the audience to feel the passage of time and the ruthlessness of time, which is very metaphorical. There is also the scene of a tree in the movie when Zhou Muyun left Hong Kong for Singapore. The director shot from the perspective of looking up, and the picture composed of a blue sky and a thin and tall tree explained the transformation of the scene from Hong Kong to Singapore and the time from 1962 to 1963. But more importantly, it implies that the relationship between and is getting farther and farther away, and their love can't last forever. In In the Mood for Love, the use of these metaphorical montage techniques in detail processing has increased the implicit beauty of the film theme, mobilized the audience's emotions and thoughts, and made the audience feel the helplessness and sadness of two married men and women living in Hong Kong in the 1960s.

In addition, in In the Mood for Love, the images of the protagonist Yun and walking from home to the noodle stall and from the noodle stall to home appear repeatedly. This picture appears repeatedly, which is an expression of the protagonist's life on the surface. In fact, Wong Kar-wai used "the montage technique of repeatedly showing the same content in the film to highlight and emphasize the symbolic meaning of this content" [2], that is, the repeated montage technique. The reason why the director uses this expression at the beginning of the story is that he wants to use the pictures of them going up and down the stairs, going in and out to symbolize their lonely and deserted living conditions, laying the groundwork for the extramarital affairs of his wife and husband, and also suggesting that there will be stories between them. In this film, another clever use of repeated montage is that Yun rented a room in a hotel to write a novel. When Su Lizhen knew about it and went to the hotel to see him, Sue hurried up the hotel stairs, and then hurried down the hotel stairs. The repetition of Su Lizhen's up and down, up and down, up and down the stairs can easily make the audience feel the fierce psychological struggle of the heroine. This is a contradictory metaphor. I have feelings for Yun in essence and want to see him, but I avoid "being like them" because I am a wife and bound by morality. The repetition effect here skillfully and aptly shows the contradictory psychology of the characters and also reflects the moral concept of the society at that time. When the director conveys these ideas to the audience, he does not tell the audience directly, but hides them in the constant repetition of the picture, which increases the charm of the film.

(2) The hint of light and shade and color on the theme.

Although the light and shade and color of the film are not the main elements to express the theme, they also play an important role. In In the Mood for Love, light and shade and color are endowed with special significance, and the dim colors and the changing clothes colors of the heroine have played a certain role in suggesting the theme expression of the film.

In In the Mood for Love, most of the pictures taken by Wong Kar-wai are very dim. The use of such a tone in the film implies the flavor of the times, the reality of life and the emotional theme in the story, resulting in a dark, low, depressed and sad atmosphere. The use of dark tones in In the Mood for Love makes people feel nostalgic and sad. In the film, characters are placed in dark stairs, corridors, dark rooms and dark streets ... The gloomy picture effect casts a shadow of the times on the film, and it is easy for people to feel the social situation in Hong Kong in the 1960 s and the emotional regrets of the two protagonists in the film. It implies that neither cloud nor cloud can break the "dusty glass", and ultimately cannot cross the moral bondage in the heart. Moreover, the whole movie is basically set in a gloomy tone, which makes the theme appear heavy, deep and depressing, brings the audience's thoughts into a "sad" state, makes people feel the sad result of the movie, and makes people feel the truth of a love story that happened in Hong Kong in the 1960s.

In this film, the most expressive color is the cheongsam on the protagonist Su Lizhen. The constant change of Su Lizhen cheongsam indirectly reflects the development of the story and the change of the characters' mood. The director showed the heroine's psychological changes with the change of cheongsam color. As far as the color of the cheongsam worn by the heroine in the whole film is concerned, for example, when moving, watching her husband play mahjong at Mrs. Sun's house, trying the rice cooker with Mrs. Sun, asking her husband to bring his wallet to the boss, or going to work in the company, or at other times, it is generally black with a white background, blue with a white background and light yellow with a white background. Qipao in these colors can be seen everywhere in Su Lizhen. These plain clothes are in harmony with the gloomy tone of the film and the surrounding environment. However, several times in the film, when Su Lizhen took a lunch box to the noodle restaurant to buy rice, she wore a dark cheongsam, suggesting her loneliness and inner loneliness; When they decided that their lover was having an affair, Su Lizhen went to the hotel to meet Zhou Mu Yun. She was wearing a red cheongsam, which was her usual dressing style, in sharp contrast to the color of her favorite clothes. Here is actually a metaphor for their love. When the landlord is away from Zhou Muyun's house, Su Lizhen wears a yellow cheongsam, which symbolizes their happiness and warmth together. When she decided to go with Yun, her clothes turned green. Green is full of vitality and symbolizes life. This is a metaphor for the determination to start a new life with the cloud. However, when it arrived at the hotel, the cloud had already left. The green representing hope is set off by red curtains, red beds and dark red walls, which makes people feel a great sense of loss. It stands for "color is a lyric symbol of film and television pictures, which can convey feelings and express the feelings that artists want to express" [3]. The ever-changing color of Su Lizhen's cheongsam not only reflects the subtle psychological changes of the characters, but also enhances the lyrical meaning of the film theme.

The ever-changing color of cheongsam is in sharp contrast with the dim picture tone, and the color change of cheongsam is more expressive and metaphorical against the gloomy tone. Through the change of color, it is a metaphor for the psychological change and emotional change of the characters, which deepens the theme indirectly rather than directly. The dim colors of this painting set off the theme. Make the theme of the film more subtle and hazy.

(3) The symbolic meaning of props.

There seems to be nothing superfluous in this film. Every shot, every picture, every dialogue, every piece of music, including every prop, has irreplaceable symbolic significance in the film. Wong Kar-wai didn't let go of every detail in the theme. The cheongsam, embroidered slippers and other props in the film have both national characteristics and symbolic significance. It not only adds national flavor to the film, but also adds the meaning of the theme.

Cheongsam is the most symbolic prop in In the Mood for Love. Su Lizhen's beautiful cheongsam has been replaced 27 times, which implies multi-layer symbolic significance. In In the Mood for Love, the director used cheongsam as a metaphorical prop, which virtually conveyed the information of the story and the emotional changes of the characters to the audience and played a role in shaping the artistic image. "Cheongsam is a traditional dress in China, symbolizing elegance" [4], and the heroine's clothing styles in the film are all cheongsam. Wong Kar-wai, the director, takes such a noble and elegant costume as the only costume of the heroine, which can be described as ingenious. In the film, cheongsam symbolizes Su Lizhen's noble personality. She always says to herself and Yun, "We won't be like them", which shows her noble personality. Moreover, cheongsam is a traditional costume in China, and in a certain sense, cheongsam is also a symbol of traditional ideas in the film. It is precisely because of the influence of Su Lizhen's "noble" personality and traditional moral thought that she can't overcome herself and break through the moral bondage to pursue her true love. This is the main reason for their "silent love".

Su Lizhen's embroidered slippers appeared four times in In the Mood for Love, which is of great symbolic significance in the film. When the landlord suddenly came back, he was accused of living in Yun's home. In order to avoid suspicion, she pretended to wear shoes that Mrs. Zhou had just come home from work, so she left his embroidered slippers at Yun's home. Yun has always treasured this pair of embroidered slippers. Even when he left Hong Kong for Singapore, he took them with him. This gives this pair of embroidered shoes special significance. It symbolizes the pure and sincere love of Yun and the beautiful love between them. Later, Su Lizhen went to Mu Yun Zhou's Singapore residence. She didn't see Mu Zhouyi. She stayed in Zhou's room silently for a while and then left. When she left, she quietly took those embroidered slippers ... to describe her fruitless love with Zhou. Clouds rummaged through the room, but never found this pair of embroidered slippers. It disappeared forever. The disappearance of embroidered slippers symbolizes that their love will never bear fruit.

Secondly, the simplicity of narrative form strengthens the theme.

"The film is essentially a narrative story, or it exists because of narrative" [5]. Like novels, characters and plots are essential elements of a movie. Generally speaking, the tortuous storyline and rich characters attract the audience the most. In In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai tells the story with highly simplified plot, highly omitted characters and extremely refined dialogue, which is a bit like diluting the narrative characteristics of the plot and characters in French New Wave movies. The effect of this narrative form is that the whole film is concise and clear, which plays a prominent role in the theme, making people feel that there are no redundant elements in the narrative process of the film, and every detail is closely related to the theme.

(a) highly simplified plot.

The plot of In the Mood for Love is very simple, with no ups and downs from beginning to end. The highly simplified plot in the film makes the whole film look very neat and clean from beginning to end without any redundancy. For example, from renting a house and sleeping in Su Lizhen to their moving. Behind the picture of renting a house is the picture of moving, and there is no other plot in the middle. When Yun went to look for a house to rent, Mrs. Sun told him, "Sorry, the house has been rented to that lady just now." She told him that there was an empty room next door for him to see, and then there was a photo of two people moving. The transition between scenes is extremely simple and tight. Such a rapid transformation may sometimes bring some difficulties to the audience's understanding of the plot, which makes people feel sudden and inexplicable. However, if we appreciate it carefully, we will find that this transition has a very significant effect on the theme of the film, which can effectively strengthen and highlight the theme. Just like China's Tang and Song poems, the language is concise but the artistic conception is far-reaching. In In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai simplified how Zhou Muyun's wife and Su Lizhen's husband "started" and highly simplified other plots and contents except the main line. All the plots and shots are closely around the emotional changes of the hero and heroine, and go straight to the theme. In the film, after Yun found out that his wife was having an affair with her husband, and that her husband was having an affair with Yun's wife, both of them were psychologically uncomfortable and unwilling to face the facts. At this time, the scene of the film suddenly switched from the apartment to the cafe, and the scene of the hero and heroine in the cafe suddenly appeared. They want to know "how did they start" in the cafe? Then the picture suddenly turned to a narrow street. They simulated how Zhou's wife and her relationship began. Who took the initiative? From the apartment to the coffee shop, and then to the simulation picture of two people on the street, the plot jumps strongly. Another example is Yun writing a novel in a hotel room and going to see him. Just after the picture of Su Lizhen going upstairs, there was a picture of two people saying goodbye at the door, omitting the content after Su Lizhen entered the room. The whole film omits some transitional plots, but only retains the main plot that can best express the theme, which effectively highlights the theme. This simplification of the plot has caused a gap between the plot and the plot, and also left people with unlimited imagination space, which makes people constantly reminisce about the ideological intention to be conveyed by the film.

Moreover, this simplification of the plot invisibly strengthens the expressive force of the erratic and complex subtle changes of the characters' inner moods in the film, which makes the film have a strong lyricism. Every shot, every picture and every detail in the film, including music and color, can express emotions and show the complexity, contradiction and subtle changes of the characters' psychology. One night before he left, Zhou Mu Yun met Su Lizhen in a dark and silent street. Zhou said, "I know you won't leave your husband." I fell on Zhou's shoulder and cried. Then there is a picture of them leaving in the car. Sue said in the car, "I don't want to go home tonight" without telling them where to go or what to do. There is just a scene of a wall clock, and the sound of clouds is outside the picture. "It's me. If there are extra tickets, will you go with me? " . Then, Zhou and Su appeared in different places, listening to Su's husband singing In the Mood for Love on the radio at the request. This series of plots changes quickly, vividly depicting the complex psychology and subtle change process of the hero and heroine's inner regret, helplessness, sadness and loss. Giving priority to the minor highlights the emotional change process of the hero and heroine, increases the expressive force of the film, and enables the audience to firmly grasp the main theme of the film.

(2) Highly omitted numbers.

In the Mood for Love, in addition to the simplification of the plot, there are also omissions of characters. In addition to the hero and heroine, there are several characters closely related to the theme, and there are almost no other idle characters. Even Yun's wife and husband didn't actually show up, but there were several figures and voices. Some people call Wong Kar-wai's technique "the absence of characters", but in fact, from the perspective of the characters appearing in the whole movie, it is more appropriate to use "the omission of characters". As far as the whole film is concerned, there are only ten characters who can see clearly and have lines, including porters and landlords in Singapore, and even the landlord, Mrs. Gu, has only appeared once, with only one line. Only Mrs. Sun and her servants appeared in the landlord's house, but Mr. Sun and the rest of Mrs. Sun's family did not appear at all. Mrs. Sun is not the only one in the family. From the sentence "Wang Ma, let's eat, third brother, they are all hungry", we can see that there are other people in their family, but they don't appear in the film. In addition, the film also omits boss He's lover and wife, Mr. Gu's family, other colleagues in the newspaper where Yun works and other colleagues in the company where he works. The absence of so many roles designed by the director is not only the "absence" of the characters, but also the omission of the characters.

This way of omitting a large number of characters enhances the hero's image-building and the development of inner feelings, and makes the story develop closely around Zhou and Su, which undoubtedly plays a great role in highlighting the psychological changes between the protagonists and strengthening the theme of the film.

(3) Highly concise character language.

Dialogue is the most important element in movie sound. "It helps to understand the characters' personalities and emotions and provides clues for the development of events" [6]. In In the Mood for Love, the lines of the characters are very concise, and the dialogue of the characters is often only a short sentence or even a few words. For example, when Yun and Li Zhen took a taxi to leave after their last meeting, only the phrase "I don't want to go home tonight" appeared in the film. When Yun was ready to go to Singapore, he called. He just said, "it's me. If there are extra tickets, will you go with me? "To show his inner desire to be with Su Lizhen. After Zhou Muyun's words, it is the hotel room where Zhou Mu Yun lives and the plot where Zhou stands at the window waiting in pain and then quietly leaves, followed by the scene of rushing down the stairs and sitting quietly on the bed. After a long time, a sentence appeared, "It's me. If there are extra tickets, will you take me with you? " There is no other dialogue between and, only background music. In just two sentences, the audience realized the psychological state of the two of them, one in the painful choice and the other in the painful waiting. Another example is that when Zhou Muyun's wife called Su Lizhen's husband, there were only two short sentences: "Did you tell your wife? "? Don't call me in the future. "There is no Su Lizhen's husband's voice. These two simple sentences vividly show the character modality of two extramarital lovers. Concise and concise character language is a major feature of this film. Sometimes, what the film wants to express is properly expressed in a few simple sentences. Although there are not many words, each sentence has a profound meaning, which makes the whole movie full of lyrical meaning.

The film uses highly omitted artistic techniques to simplify the plot, language and characters, leaving a lot of imagination for the audience. Take its impurities and keep its essence to make the theme more prominent and distinct.

Third, the gentle and balanced rhythm makes the theme of the film more lyrical.

"The film is not only a machine that is good at telling stories, but also a sign to express feelings." [7] Although the plot transition of In the Mood for Love is very simple, the whole film is very balanced in narrative rhythm, which makes the film have a strong lyrical meaning. The audience is like sitting on a train running at a constant speed and gently, looking at the beautiful scenery all the way, which triggered a series of feelings and thoughts in the process of watching. From the time when the hero and heroine moved into the same apartment, to the time when his wife and her husband had an affair, to the time when they had feelings, and then to the time when the hero left, this series of plots all proceeded in the same rhythm, without any ups and downs from beginning to end. It is precisely because of this gentle narrative rhythm that the film has enough time to depict the details, better express the rich and complicated psychology of the protagonist, and increase the lyricism of the film. At the same time, give the audience time to imagine and think.

The movements of the characters in the film are perfectly matched with the theme music. Under the slow three-beat rhythm of theme music, when going out to buy food, a person walks with a lunch box, the facial movements of the cloud when eating at a stall, the actions of sitting in the office and writing, and so on. Whenever the theme music rings, the movements of the characters move slowly with the triple beat of the music, just like dancers dancing in the music, elegant and in tune, which is intoxicating. Wong Kar-wai used slow motion to perfectly combine the movements of the characters with the theme music of the film, and the movements and music were perfectly coordinated. It strongly expresses the inner world of the characters. Listening to the theme music and watching Su Lizhen walk slowly in the dark and narrow corridor, we can't help but feel her inner loneliness and depression. Seeing a series of actions that Yun silently left the hotel room, we all deeply felt the pain and helplessness in his heart. There are also two people writing novels together in the hotel room in slow motion, which are also presented in a soothing rhythm under the melody of the theme music, showing the wonderful time they spent together. The director filmed these movements in slow motion and released them according to the melody of the music, which had a strong sense of soothing rhythm. It increases the lyricism and artistic appeal of the film. Under the gentle rhythm, we feel the emotional thoughts expressed in the film and the love process from loneliness to love and then to parting. I don't know if it's right or wrong.

In the Mood for Love has created a novel, refined, rich and ambiguous theme from a new angle. It shows "that era", the contradiction between morality and emotion, the conflict between colonial culture and traditional culture in the 1960s, and the complexity and subtlety of human nature. The love story of Zhou Su who wants to "love" but doesn't want to "love" makes people feel the complex relationship among humanity, society and morality, giving people a faint regret and helplessness. Wong Kar-wai didn't just pay attention to the love between men and women, but added the color of the times, nationality and humanity to it through a series of unique expressions, which is the success of this film.