In the Mood for Love

producer lineage

the casting of maggie cheung and tony leung together provided an opportunity to pick up a narrative thread from days of being wild, where both appeared but never shared a scene. wong described in the mood for love as what days would look like if made ten years later.

“I will say that if I was to make Days of Being Wild now, the film would look like In the Mood for Love”

referenced

wong adapted structural and thematic elements from liu's 1972 novel about two parallel stories that intersect without the characters meeting. the film begins and ends with text adapted from the novel, and wong published a companion book combining film stills with an abridged translation of liu's work.

“But there was also a novel by Liu Yichang that fascinated him.”

sampled

the recurring main theme, yumeji's theme, was originally composed by shigeru umebayashi for suzuki's 1991 film. wong lifted the cue wholesale and used it nine times throughout in the mood for love as a waltz-like musical motif.

“Shigeru Umebayashi: "Yumeji's Theme" (originally from the soundtrack of Seijun Suzuki's Yumeji)”

referenced

wong took the english title directly from ferry's cover of the jazz standard. the film was originally called secrets until wong heard the song late in post-production and changed it.

“In the Mood for Love would eventually grab its title from a Bryan Ferry song”

referenced

the film's chinese title comes from zhou's 1946 song, which appears in the film and inspired the original title. the song is a metaphor for youth and lost time from the solitary island period of shanghai.

“The title track "Hua Yang De Nian Hua" is a song by famous singer Zhou Xuan from the Solitary Island period.”

referenced

wong cited vertigo as a primary influence, structuring the film as a suspense piece about characters recreating scenarios. he compared tony leung's obsessive character to james stewart's and adopted hitchcock's method of letting events happen outside the frame.

“Wong states he was influenced by Hitchcock's Vertigo while making this film and compares Tony Leung's character to James Stewart's”

visual reference

doyle's cinematography takes cues from ozu's minimalist compositions, particularly the use of frames within frames, negative space, and static camera positioning. the blocking and staging of shots were noted to recall ozu's methods.

“Doyle's cinematography takes cues from the minimalist compositions of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu”