LONELY

IN SLOW MOTION
By Beatrice Miller
11 March 2021
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) Chow Mo-wan (Tony Wang Chei-wai) in In the
Mood for Love

In the mood for love
Moving at a lively pace it’s nearly impossible to capture the detail of a scene. For

Filmmakers slowing down scenes makes the audience focus on the details they

may have missed in real time. The movie In the Mood for Love directed by Wong

Kar-Wai, Cinematographers: Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping-bing, and Kwan

Pun Leung, happens to do just that. The slow-motion scenes bring a sense of the

sharp emotion being portrayed into more depth of the characters loneliness rather
than being used for style. Throughout the film the slow-motion scenes are played

at a simultaneous state along with non-diegetic music that feeds the audience to

paying closer attention into the moment. Just as a scene in an action film where

parts are slowed in the moments of heightened suspense such as, the dodging

bullet scene in The Matrix, the scenes in In the Mood for Love are slowed down

because the makers of this film want the audience to feel what is not being

exposed. There are three pieces where the slow-motion sequences are used to

amplify what is not being said. This film tells the story of infidelity between two

married spouses, Mr. Chow & Mrs. Chan, who live just adjacent to each other in a

close apartment. At first, hardly knowing anything about each other we see how

slow-motion is used to learn about the characters relation to one another. Mr.

Chow & Mrs. Chan are seemingly as two ships that pass into the night. Their

interactions with each other are brief yet intense. The slow-motion adds to stretch

out the connection between the both of them amplifying their tension, such as the

sequence in the stairwell though it doesn’t capture the both of them in the same

shot. The camera stops just when the characters seem to be in a juxtaposition, as

Mrs. Chan ascends the stairs and exits the frame to the left, Mr. Chow then enters.

Both of them are lonesome in this sequence being in slow-motion really amplifies

that feeling and really making us feel sorry for them feeling unloved. Kar-Wai

reveals an exciting perspective of them running into each other on the staircase

being the interaction both of them probably needed. These two characters ending

up having an affair was foreshadowed from the beginning. In the second time the

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filmmakers chose to use a slow-motion shot it was as they pass each other. Both

Chen and Chow were in an apartment playing a game with their spouses in the

same room. However, the face of their spouses never being revealed in the shot

makes them feels irrelevant to the premise of the story. Mrs. Chan stands up to let

Mr. Chow pass her we see a quick but kind glance being exchanged which at real

speed would completely look like they were simply being polite. Also Mrs.

Chan’s neglectful husband adds to us getting a look into how lonely she must feel

while she caresses his back, but he doesn’t even glance at her. The way lonesome

expressions sit on their faces like a painting of a figure in constant sorrow

searching for a way to feel passionate about anything is the outcome of slow-

motion scenes.