For a film titled “In the Mood for Love,” this has got to be the loneliest interpretation of love I’ve ever seen. The color red, unspoken words, and the intimacy of being seen play a major role in this Hong Kong classic, which has yet to be fully appreciated by a Western audience. The story of love that cannot be and almost never existed to anyone else but the two main characters ends with no clear words, just as it started. I think the little details of this film are so impactful to the watcher because when looked at from the outside, nothing at all happened between the two. However, when examined further, the small signs of something more begin to show. 

One example is that, throughout the film, these two characters, when around anyone other than each other or alone, have perfectly put together appearances. Their false faces hide what they feel from the world, and no one notices besides them. When together, however, they become alive. My favorite example of this is Mrs. Chow and her high heels, which she always seems to wear except for the one moment around Mr. Chow, when she wears her slippers. This minuscule detail emphasises how comfortable they are around each other and the intimacy that’s between them, despite it having nothing at all to do with sexual feelings. It also shows how, at times, just how isolated they are from each other or anyone in their lives. Even between one another, they never utter the other’s first name.  

The line about secrets only ever going away when whispered into a hole far, far away really shows the yearning and incomprehensible idea of the characters ever having any type of relationship at all. It’s almost as if a wall separates them, never allowing them to dare think what they truly feel, and only weakens with brief eye contact shared while looking into a mirror. How depressing to think about. So while the film is about their love, it is also not at all. Instead, it more accurately depicts a foggy dream covered in misty, red light that’s hard to recall, which leaves one with an empty loneliness — just like that of the two characters and their endings in the film.