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The Chinese film title of "In the Mood for Love" is "fa yeung nien wah." It can be interpreted as "those blossoming years (that once were)."
The whole film is a well-composed piece. A complex love story told in simple visual approach. Writer-director Wong Kar-Wai has choreographed a dancing of the hearts - it's she, it's he, it's love. I can hear Galasso's theme: dum dum-dum, dum dum-dum, and the strings - almost like heartbeats. A piece with prelude, stanzas, and epilogue.
Director optimized the use of music (Michael Galasso's score, Nat King Cole singing in Spanish, and Chinese songs/tunes). The rhythm and lyrics prompt viewers to what she and he is feeling/thinking rather than verbal dialogs. I can hear Nat King Cole giving us the clues: "Aquelloojos verde" (that thing, fling, eyes green) plays when the two meet, and "Quizas, quizas, quizas" (perhaps) when she's undecided.
Nostalgia pervades throughout the film. Design details plentiful: handbags and ties; Japanese rice-cooker novelty; the ridged pattern green glass cups & saucers and plates (I remember Dad treasured those at home); mahjong session; kitchen area; bedroom furnishings; the thermos for the take-out noodles that she swings when she walks. Maggie Cheung, slender and shapely, looks exquisite in those fashionable patterns & colors of the traditional Chinese woman clothing - 'cheung sam'. Every change of her dress denotes another day, another time in the story. Wong Kar-Wai is resourceful that way.
The scenes may be of the same place, but it's of a different mood, advanced to the next stanza. Up and down the stairs to the won-ton noodle stand. Standing by the wall around the corner to the apartments as the rain pours. Along the corridor, back and forth, to his writing corner.
Trivia: So she helps him with his writing of his martial arts novel. Maggie would be able to help as she's been in kung fu/martial arts movies. "Eastern Three Heroes" 1992 is a fun action movie with Maggie Cheung (Thief Catcher Chat), Michelle Yeoh and Anita Mui as three super heroes fighting evils.
If you appreciate Tony Leung's performance, don't miss "Chungking Express" 1994 (in the second segment - romance rhythm with a difference), and "Happy Together" 1997 (an intense, emotionally colorful painting of friendships, faith, and fate), both written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai.
Being able to understand the Cantonese and Shanghainese dialects, and having visited the official site, I realized the epilogue was not quite completely translated. Here's sharing my version of the Chinese captions:
It was kind of an unbearable encounter All along she has kept her head lowered Giving him a chance to get closer He didn't have the courage to be closer She turned around, walked away.
That time and place had come to past. All that belonged, no longer exist. _______
Those vanished years, seemingly separated by a glass gathering dust, can see, yet cannot grasp.
All along he has longed for all that's past If he can break through that dust-gathered glass He will walk back into the times long vanished. ________
Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" brings to mind the simple poetry and wisdom of Rumi, the Sufi philosopher - the 'inner and outer,' the 'spirit and body' of life, love and living.
[Resend. Revised. ruby_fff 2/22/01]



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