Journalist Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) rents a room in an block of apartments, next door to secretary So Lai-zhen (Maggie Cheung), who moves in the same day. Although both are married, we never see their partners, but soon we learn that they were having an affair and have escaped together. The abandoned couple wonders how that romance started and developed, and try to re-enact the paths that brought their ex-partners together.
This is a movie about how important timing is in love, to be ready to accept love and be loved, and movie about silent secrets. A movie about being unloved despite loving. This is a slow cooking romance with a traditional courtship with barely any flesh or sex on display (just one of the bonus images in the DVD show something), still it has a great sensuality. Dialogues are less important than glances, body language, touch and old courtship codes are.
Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung have a great chemistry in camera and this is very important in a movie like this, that relies on physical attraction, unspoken and understated gestures to develop the romance. All the supporting actors are fine in their respective characters.
As all Wong's movies, the visual style is stunning, with intense yummy warm colours, luscious personal characterisation, decoration and attention to the detail, from the music to the dresses, from the food to the attitudes of the characters. The Hong Kong and Singapore of the 1850s is magnificently brought to life here. The cinematography is full of artistry. The music is beautiful, a mix of Latin-American boleros repetitively sang by Nat King Cole, which were very trendy in Hong Kong and Singapore at the time, mixed with some Chinese classical pieces. The music truly helps to build the mood of the movie.
Food is very important in this movie. In fact, Kar Wai Wong, intended to focus on that, and call it Three Stories About Food, but ended just focusing on the story A Story About Food, which is the one in this movie. You will notice how important are local eateries in the movie, both as a way of socialising, meeting new people, and eating. Moreover, many of the dishes prepared and mentioned in the film are seasonal, related to specific periods of the calendar, and therefore they act as a culinary almanac of the movie. This is very difficult to notice if you don't know much about Chinese culinary culture.
One of those movies that really gets under your skin, and stays with you for a long time, despite its apparent simplicity. A classic romance movie that men will love to watch, too. Beware, this is a slow movie. Be patient and you'll be rewarded.
Grand class
