History YMMV / InTheMoodForLove

-->'''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110629135828/http://www.laweekly.com/2001-02-15/film-tv/unforgettable/2/ Wong]]:''m Actually, the role of Tony in the film reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}''. There is a dark side to this character. I think it's very interesting that most of the audience prefers to think that this is a very innocent relationship. These are the good guys, because their spouses are the first ones to be unfaithful and they refuse to be. Nobody sees any darkness in these characters -- and yet they are meeting in secret to act out fictitious scenarios of confronting their spouses and of having an affair. I think this happens because the face of Tony Leung is so sympathetic. Just imagine if it was John Malkovich playing this role. You would think, "This guy is really weird." It's the same in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}''. Everybody thinks Jimmy Stewart is a nice guy, so nobody thinks that his character is actually very sick.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.
** [[spoiler:Whether Chan and Chow ever consummated their love and if Chan's son in the ending is fathered by her husband or Chow. Chan and Chow actually did end up having sex with each other in a deleted scene.]]

** [[spoiler:Whether Chan and Chow ever consummated their love and if Chan's son in the ending is fathered by her husband or Chow.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.

* GeniusBonus:
** The Shanghainese culture employed in the film often flies by the heads of international audiences and thus are left unaware that the story is actually set in a Shanghainese enclave, rather than any ordinary place Hong Kong. It furthers the feelings of isolation the main characters experience. They are not only lonely because their spouses are being unfaithful to them but they are also living their lives in a new place, away from their origins and have had to adapt to these differences such as learning a new language (Cantonese in this case). This can be especially painful from a Chinese perspective as it separates one from their "ancestral home". On the meta-level, the film can be seen as tribute to Shanghai's past glory days which have now long faded. This setting was specifically chosen to mirror the director's own alienated childhood growing up in Hong Kong as a Shanghainese immigrant.
*** The most explicit clue to the Shanghai-ness of the film is a landlady who speaks a large amount of Shanghainese. Chinese languages not from the same family are unintelligible so the usual Hong Konger would not have no idea what she is saying, but all the characters in this film understand her perfectly because they are all actually Shanghainese. The things she says also doubles as a BilingualBonus.
*** The Chinese title, Huayang Nianhua is a metaphor - translated "the age of blossoms" or "the flowery years" - but more accurately meaning “those wonderful varied years”, is suggestive of period nostalgia. It is the title of Chinese pop song from the ’40s sung by the Shanghainese singer-actress Zhou Xuan. It creates the association of Shanghai's iridescent, kaleidoscopic age of bygone elegance and diversity.
*** The martial arts serials that Chow writes with input from Su recall the methods of the “old school” writers of martial arts fiction in ’30s and ’40s Shanghai.
*** Many of the female characters wear {{Qipao}} because it is a dress which originated from Shanghai. The qipao was brought to Hong Kong by fleeing Shanghainese immigrants. Su is dressed up in a similar fashion to Shanghainese songstresses of the 1940s.
** In the Mood For Love was inspired in many ways by the old Chinese film, 'Spring in a Small Town'.

* GeniusBonus: The Shanghainese culture employed in the film often flies by the heads of international audiences and thus are left unaware that the story is actually set in a Shanghainese enclave, rather than any ordinary place Hong Kong. It furthers the feelings of isolation the main characters experience. They are not only lonely because their spouses are being unfaithful to them but they are also living their lives in a new place, away from their origins and have had to adapt to these differences such as learning a new language (Cantonese in this case). This can be especially painful from a Chinese perspective as it separates one from their "ancestral home". On the meta-level, the film can be seen as tribute to Shanghai's past glory days which have now long faded. This setting was specifically chosen to mirror the director's own alienated childhood growing up in Hong Kong as a Shanghainese immigrant.
** The most explicit clue to the Shanghai-ness of the film is a landlady who speaks a large amount of Shanghainese. Chinese languages not from the same family are unintelligible so the usual Hong Konger would not have no idea what she is saying, but all the characters in this film understand her perfectly because they are all actually Shanghainese. The things she says also doubles as a BilingualBonus.
** The Chinese title, Huayang Nianhua is a metaphor - translated "the age of blossoms" or "the flowery years" - but more accurately meaning “those wonderful varied years”, is suggestive of period nostalgia. It is the title of Chinese pop song from the ’40s sung by the Shanghainese singer-actress Zhou Xuan. It creates the association of Shanghai's iridescent, kaleidoscopic age of bygone elegance and diversity.
** The martial arts serials that Chow writes with input from Su recall the methods of the “old school” writers of martial arts fiction in ’30s and ’40s Shanghai.
** Many of the female characters wear {{Qipao}} because it is a dress which originated from Shanghai. The qipao was brought to Hong Kong by fleeing Shanghainese immigrants. Su is dressed up in a similar fashion to Shanghainese songstresses of the 1940s.

* GeniusBonus: The Shanghainese culture employed in the film often flies by the heads of international audiences and thus are left unaware that the story is actually set in a Shanghainese enclave, rather than any ordinary place Hong Kong. This setting was specifically chosen to mirror the director's own alienated childhood growing up in Hong Kong as a Shanghainese immigrant. It also furthers the feelings of isolation the main characters experience. They are not only lonely because their spouses are being unfaithful to them but they are also living their lives in a new place, away from their origins and have had to adapt to these differences such as learning a new language (Cantonese in this case). This can be especially painful from a Chinese perspective as it separates one from their "ancestral home".
** The most explicit clue is a landlady who speaks a large amount of Shanghainese. Chinese languages not from the same family are unintelligible so the usual Hong Konger would not have no idea what she is saying, but all the characters in this film understand her perfectly because they are all actually Shanghainese.

** The Chinese title, Huayang Nianhua (translated in the subtitles as “Full Bloom” but more accurately meaning “those wonderful varied years”), is more suggestive of period nostalgia and the Shanghai association, pointing to an iridescent, kaleidoscopic age of bygone elegance and diversity (and it is actually the title of a Chinese pop song from the ’40s sung by the late singer-actress Zhou Xuan who popularized the song in a 1947 Hong Kong Mandarin movie). In Wong’s hands, the genre itself and the period of the ’60s is a stage of transfigured time that isn’t fixed diachronically. His ’60s happens to coalesce around other synchronic recollections of the memorabilia of earlier periods (such as the ’40s or the ’50s), through the evocations of popular culture as a whole that largely recalls the glories of Shanghai: in music (citing the songs of Zhou Xuan, for example)
** Novels (the martial arts serials that Tony Leung writes with input from Maggie, that recall the methods of the “old school” writers of martial arts fiction in ’30s and ’40s Shanghai), and the cinema (the unstated allusion to Spring in a Small City).

* GeniusBonus: The Shanghainese culture employed in the film often flies by the heads of international audiences and thus are left unaware that the story is actually set in a Shanghainese enclave, rather than any ordinary place Hong Kong. This setting was specifically chosen to mirror the director's own alienated childhood growing up in Hong Kong as a Shanghainese immigrant. It also furthers the feelings of isolation the main characters experience. They are not only lonely because their spouses are being unfaithful to them but they are also living their lives in a new place, away from their origins and had to adapt to these differences such as learning a new language (Cantonese in this case). This can be especially painful from a Chinese perspective as it separates one from their "ancestral home".
** The most explicit clue is the large number of {{Qipao}} worn by the female characters because it is a dress which originated from Shanghai. The introduction of the qipao into Hong Kong only came about after many Shanghainese people fled to it.
** The Chinese title, Huayang Nianhua (translated in the subtitles as “Full Bloom” but more accurately meaning “those wonderful varied years”), is more suggestive of period nostalgia and the Shanghai association, pointing to an iridescent, kaleidoscopic age of bygone elegance and diversity (and it is actually the title of a Chinese pop song from the ’40s which we hear played on the radio, sung by the late singer-actress Zhou Xuan who popularized the song in a 1947 Hong Kong Mandarin movie). In Wong’s hands, the genre itself and the period of the ’60s is a stage of transfigured time that isn’t fixed diachronically. His ’60s happens to coalesce around other synchronic recollections of the memorabilia of earlier periods (such as the ’40s or the ’50s), through the evocations of popular culture as a whole that largely recalls the glories of Shanghai: in music (citing the songs of Zhou Xuan, for example)

* GeniusBonus: The Shanghainese culture employed in the film often flies by the heads of international audiences and thus are left unaware that the story is actually set in a Shanghainese enclave, rather than any ordinary place Hong Kong. This setting was specifically chosen to mirror the director's own alienated childhood growing up in Hong Kong as a Shanghainese immigrant. It also furthers the feelings of isolation the main characters experience. They are not only lonely because their spouses are being unfaithful to them but they are also living their lives in a new place, away from their old homes.
** The most explicit clue is the large number of {{Qipao}} worn by the female characters because it a dress which originated from Shanghai.

* {{Narm}}/[[NarmCharm]]: The gratuity of slow-motion would make Creator/ZackSnyder blush, but whether or not it works is up to the viewer.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.
* FetishFuel: If you like to see women wear form-fitting [[{{Qipao}} qipaos]], this movie's for you.
** Or well-dressed men for that matter.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The [[WordOfGod director]] has stated that he finds it curious that the main characters are seen as virtuous, when they actually have a very strange relationship. He likens Chow to Jimmy Stewart's character in {{Vertigo}}, and says that his sympathetic face disguises the darkness inside him.