In The Mood For Love

NARRATIVE FORM IN WONG KAR WAI’S In the Mood For Love
By Ashley Akunna


Wong Kar Wai’s film In The Mood For Love, is a film about two people finding love in the midst of heartache, and ultimately not acting upon these feelings. Chow Mo Wan is a journalist who has just moved into a boarding house with his wife, who is constantly working. Next door, is a lonely woman, So Lai-zhen, who lives with her husband who is continuously working. As the story unfolds we learn that both Chow and So’s significant others are having an affair with each other. The direction in which In The Mood For Love takes, affects the narrative form of the story, in an unexpected way.
The use of fabula, events that are implied but not overtly represented, can be seen extensively throughout the film. When Chow first gets his apartment, we know he views the apartment, but we never see him agree to live there. The next seen we see is of him moving his belongings into the apartment. This technique was most likely used to compress time.
A big omission in this film, are the faces of the spouses who are cheating, their faces are never revealed to the audience. This is done intentionally by Wai to emphasize the unimportance of them. The affair itself, and what the adulterers are doing is not supposed to be important to the audience. However, the way in which this affair affects Chow and So, and ultimately brings them together, is what the story is about. This choice is bold because, not only are we as audiences used to films where there is a big confrontation scene, but you find yourself waiting for one. Only to realize that this is not the direction in which the film is going. We never see Chow ask So out on a date. However, we see them out on date for the first time, after many nights of solitude and loneliness.
I would classify this film as an episodic narrative. In the book “Film” by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Walls episodic narrative is defined as, “Events that are not tightly connected in a cause and effect sequence. Character actions may appear to be unmotivated, with hours or days unfolding in a spontaneous flow and the movie may seem to digress. An episodic structure emphasizes the repetition of everyday events rather than the dramatic accumulation of tension toward a moment of crises.” The film seems to be various moments between the couple in which they spend time together, eating, or contemplating what they would say if they were to confront their spouses. However, a confrontation never occurs on screen. Also, we never see a consummation of their relationship on screen, and the nature of their relationship is left ambiguous. This omission of sex on screen is done to emphasize the fact that the act itself is not what is important, but the emotions of the two and ultimate refusal to act on these emotions is what is intentionally being focused on. An episodic structure brings attention to the repetition of everyday events, which is clearly stated in this film. We continually see the pair together, discussing the affair, as well as spending time with each other and away from their neighbors. The film is left open ended, without a resolution, the pair do not get together, and we are left with many questions. Is So’s child a result of her relationship with Chow, and not her husband? Is that why she is not with her husband at the end of the film?