This weekend I watched a beautiful movie called ‘In the mood for love’. It is a lovely Korean movie with beautiful cinematography.
When I was in Netherlands, I developed a huge taste for foreign language movies and since then I wanted to watch this one but it took me so long to see it.
The movie is about Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan, who move to neighboring apartments on the same day. He is a newspaper journalist and also writes serials and she is a secretary. Their spouses are also working and are often out of town.
Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan get to know each other, first as neighbors and then as friends who share some common interests. Soon there is something that binds them together – their spouses. They both discover that their spouses are having an affair with each other!
Mrs. Chan’s executive is also running an extra-marital affair; Mr. Chow’s best friend is married but still wants to sleep with Mrs. Chan. Chow frankly yet firmly tells him that she is not ‘that’ kind of a woman. Everyone around them seems to be in the ‘mood for love’.
Slowly, Chow and Chan begin to spend more time with each other as their respective spouses are on a tour to Japan. They both try to ask themselves and each other how their spouse’s affair started. They enact scenes where she confronts her husband about his affair. ‘I didn’t know it would hurt me so much’, she says in one such rehearsals.
Chow and Chan enact the scenes of confronting their spouses
It is imperative that they would fall in love with each other. They actually have. But life in that small, crowded building of apartments is not easy.
As Chow and Chan begin to meet often, there are speculations over how she dresses up even in the absence of her husband and how he tries to meet her often. To extinguish any suck smokey rumors, Chow moves to a hotel and Chan meets him there to keep helping him finish his serial writing.
With time, they both understand and acknowledge that they have feelings for each other. but none of them can take the leap forward. Both have firm belief in the other than themselves and both have set a line of morals between them. Both want to cross it, be together forever but none dares to take the first step.
Chow and Chan meet on streets
‘If we also do what they are doing, it would mean we are no different than them’ they both reason at the same time.
Chow finally decides to leave for S’pore and asks her to come with him but by the time she reaches his hotel, he is gone. Later, she goes to meet him in S’pore but comes back without meeting him.
Years later, Chan rents the same apartment and now lives there with her son. Chow appears there one day to meet his ex-land lord but comes to know that they have moved out. He then asks about the next door owners and is told that some woman lives there with her son. Chow leaves without knowing that the some woman is actually Chan.
Chow and Chan are played by Hong Kong’s super stars and when you watch the movie, you feel that no one could have done these role better. They both are sweet, shy and loveable. They ooze out a chemistry in their scenes together and as an audience, you wish they get together. The movie is about Platonic love, unrequited love and a love that never dies!
They both want to be together but agree to not do so
They want to fall in love and they do fall in love but they are married and their spouses are cheating on them so they do not want to stoop to that level and cheat on their spouses.
Many a times it happens that we fall in love with the right person, with right intentions but at the wrong time. Love is after all not only about love itself. It is a whole gamut of emotions.
I also believe that love is not a destination. It is a journey. Its success does not lie only in being together. It is measured by the memories that you created, the moments that you now cherish.
In the mood for love is a must watch movie for people who think they have failed at or have let go of their love. This movie would make you believe in love and would set you in the mood for love!
Hope to see this movie soon and I feel the movie sure is giving a real meaning of Love.
Sweet movie would like to watch it some day 🙂
This is so creative. Seems like a nice movie. Korean movies are not that much popular with us, so Thank you for aware about this film. The way you had talking about it and images make me to watch it. I want to try it out as soon as possible.
yeah, catch it.
Love is the most best thing that can ever happen to a human being. This movie brings that feeling to life.
Yes it is a lovely movie but I am afraid it is not a Korean movie. The movie takes place in 1960's Hong Kong and won a Best Actor award at Cannes.
Its seems very beautiful movie. I will watch it someday for sure.
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Hi Khushbu, thanks for writing in. Yeah, its a lovely movie.. watch it whenever you can.