What I Learned About Romance From Wong Kar-Wai’s “In The Mood For Love”

It is raining. Only the patter of drops can be heard against the rooftops. A man in a gray suit leans against a worn wall. His hair is wet. A woman, out of focus, stands next to him. The man begins to speak. He says that he is moving to Singapore. He is in love with the woman, he says, but knows she will not leave her husband. The woman’s face remains out of focus. Despite the company of the woman, he is alone, isolated with his feelings. It is the visual language of love unfulfilled, of loneliness even when speaking to a beloved.

There is a cut in the film. Now we are watching the woman. She wears a floral dress with an elegant cowl neck. Now the man is out of focus. But he keeps speaking. The words matter little. We are transfixed on this beautiful woman’s face as she realizes that their time together is ending. We do not pay attention to the man’s reaction. All we see is this woman’s pain, the companion shot to the man’s unrequited love.

***

In the preface of William Wordsworth’s “Lyrical Ballads,” often considered the first work of romantic literature, Wordsworth describes poetry as “the spontaneous…