1. Introduction

In the Mood for Love, literally "the age of blossoms" or
"the flowery years", which is a Chinese metaphor for the fleeting
time of youth, beauty and love) is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Wong
Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. The film premiered on May 20,
2000, at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme
d'Or.

The film's original Chinese title derives from a song of the same
name by Zhou Xuan from a 1946 film. The English title derives from a Bryan
Ferry cover of the song "I'm in the Mood for Love" that is also used
in the film. The film forms the second part of an informal trilogy, together
with the first part Days of Being Wild (released in 1991) and the last part
2046 (released in 2004).

2.
Plot

The film takes place in Hong Kong, 1962. Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung), a
journalist, rents a room in an apartment of a building on the same day as Su
Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung), a secretary from a shipping company. They become
next-door neighbors. Each has a spouse who works and often leaves them alone on
overtime shifts. Despite the presence of a friendly Shanghainese landlady, Mrs.
Suen, and bustling, mahjong-playing neighbors, Chow and Su often find
themselves alone in their rooms. Their lives continue to intersect in everyday
situations: a recurring motif in this film is the loneliness of eating alone,
and the film documents the leads' chance encounters, each making their
individual trek to the street noodle stall.

Chow and Su each nurse suspicions about their own spouse's fidelity;
each comes to the conclusion that their spouses have been seeing each other. Su
wonders aloud how their spouse's affair might have began, and together, Su and
Chow re-enact what they imagine might have happened.

Chow soon invites Su to help him write a martial arts serial for the
papers. As their relationship develops, their neighbors begin to take notice.
In the context of a socially conservative 1960s' Hong Kong, friendships between
men and women bear scrutiny. Chow rents a hotel room away from the apartment
where he and Su can work together without attracting attention. The
relationship between Chow and Su is platonic, and defiantly so, as there is the
suggestion that they would be degraded if they stooped to the level of their
spouses. As time passes, however, they acknowledge that they have developed
feelings for each other. Chow leaves Hong Kong for a job in Singapore. He asks
Su to go with him; Chow waits for her at the hotel room for a time, and then
leaves. She can be seen rushing down the stairs of her apartment, only to
arrive at the empty hotel room, too late to join Chow.

The next year, Su goes to Singapore and visits Chow's apartment
where she calls Chow, who is working for a Singaporean newspaper, but she
remains silent on the phone when Chow picks up. Later, Chow realizes she has
visited his apartment after seeing a lipstick-stained cigarette butt in his
ashtray. While dining with a friend, Chow relays a story about how in older
times, when a person had a secret that could not be shared, he would instead go
atop a mountain, make a hollow in a tree, whisper the secret into that hollow
and cover it with mud.

Three years later, Su visits with her former landlady, Mrs. Suen.
Mrs. Suen is about to emigrate to the United States, and Su inquires about
whether the apartment is available for rent. Some time later, Chow returns to
visit his landlords, the Koos. He finds they have emigrated to the Philippines.
He asks about the Suen family next door, and the new owner tells him a woman
and her son are now living next door. He leaves without realizing Su is the
lady living next door.

The film ends at Siem Reap, Cambodia, where Chow is seen visiting
the Angkor Wat. At the site of a ruined monastery, he whispers for some time
into a hollow in a ruined wall, before plugging the hollow with mud.

2. Lines
in Focus

 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 

请问这里是不是有房间出租？	You've a room to let[1]?
何先生现在还在谈事情.	Mr.Ho is still in a meeting.
我下个月想请几天假。	I need a few days off next month.
‐答应跟太太去旅行，都说了好几年。你帮我说说。   ‐好吧，我跟人事部讲讲。不过，你可要请吃饭。	‐I promised my wife a trip. Put in a word for[2] me, will you?   ‐I'll speak to personnel. But the   next lunch is on you[3].
‐好了，好了   ‐还没呢，饭熟了那个键会跳起来。   ‐哪有这么快，你这乡下人。	‐It's ready.   ‐No, it'll switch itself off.   ‐I told you, it's not ready.
‐ 电饭锅啊，新买的，顾太太？   ‐像我们这些老古板哪晓得买这种东西，   是陈太太的。	‐A rice cooker, It's yours, Mrs.   Koo?   ‐No, it's beyond us.   It's Mrs.   Chan's.
客什么气，大家隔壁邻居，应该的。	It's just neighborly, isn't it?
真不好意思，要你老远带电饭锅给我。	Mr.Chan, sorry to trouble you about the rice cooker.
‐怎么，找我？   ‐打着锣找呢，整个上午到哪儿去了？   ‐什么事呀？   ‐我故意的，不然哪有机会多看她两眼？   ‐早知你会来这一手。人家可是有老公的。   ‐我当然知道她有老公。要不我还回来干嘛。	‐Looking for me?   ‐Damn right, where've you been?   ‐What's up?   ‐I meant to, I wanted an excuse to go back.   ‐I know your tricks. She's married.   ‐I know. That's why I left
‐说真的，幸好你老婆也是美人。   要不然我可要替她担心。   ‐你当我是你啊。   ‐帮我打电话约陈太太。   ‐说我明天上她公司拿帽子。顺便请她喝茶。       ‐你少做梦了。   我跟她好了把帽子先拿回家。   明早我帮你带回来。   ‐真泄气，还说是老朋友呢。	‐If your wife wasn't so attractive，she'd be a worried   woman.   ‐I'm not like you.   ‐Please call Mrs. Chan for me. I'll pick up the hat tomorrow. And take her to   lunch.   ‐Dream on[4],   She’ll take the hat home.   I'll bring it in tomorrow.   ‐You're kidding, some buddy you are.
‐周先生，顾先生在不在？   ‐他出去了，又忘了买报纸了?   ‐周先生，顾先生在不在？   ‐是，我待会儿再来。	‐Mr.Chow, is Mr.Koo in?   ‐He's out, forgot to buy the paper again?   ‐That's right, I'll stop by[5] later.
原以为这么一点钱很容易。   谁知到现在还没搞定，还过了期。	‐I   thought a few dollars would be back easy to rustle up[6].   But so far nothing   I'm way[7] overdue.
‐领带很漂亮。   ‐你看得出我换了领带吗？。   我还以为差不多。   ‐仔细看能看出来。   ‐我先走了。	‐That   tie looks good on you.   ‐You   noticed?   It's much   like the old one.   ‐You   notice things if you pay attention.   ‐I'll   be off now.
‐如果陈先生那边有问题,   打电话到天香楼找我   ‐怎么把领带又换了？   ‐我嫌那条太花俏了点儿。   还是换回原来的好。   记得锁门啊。	‐If   Chan has a problem,   let me know   at the restaurant.   ‐Why   did you change your tie?.   ‐The   new one was too showy[8],   I should   stick with my own.   Don't   forget to lock up.
‐那么冒昧约你出来，是有点事想请教你。       你今天下午拿着的皮包，   不知道哪里有的买？   ‐你为什么这样问？   ‐哦，我看款式很别致。   想买一个送给我太太   ‐周先生对太太真细心。   ‐哪里，她这人很挑剔。   ‐过两天她生日。   不知道买什么送给她才好。   你可不可以帮我买一个？   ‐要是一模一样的，她会不喜欢吧。       ‐说的也是，我倒也没想到。   女人会介意，对吧？   ‐会的，特别是隔壁邻居。   ‐不知道会不会有别的颜色？	‐It must seem   odd to ask you out but I want to ask something.   ‐That   handbag I saw you with this evening.   Where   did you buy it?   ‐Why   do you ask?   ‐It   looked so elegant.   I   want to get one for my wife.   ‐Mr.Chow,   you're so good to your wife.   ‐Not   really, my wife is so fussy[9]   Her   birthday is two days away.   I   don't know what to get her.   Could   you buy one for me to give her?   ‐Maybe   she wouldn't want one just exactly the same.   ‐You're   right, I didn't think of that.   Women   would mind?   ‐Yes,   especially since we're neighbors.   ‐Do   they come in[10] other colors?

 

注释

[1]
let  with obj.]allow someone to have the use of (a room or
property) in return for regular payments出租（房屋）

Homeowners
will be able to let rooms to lodgers without having to pay tax.

业主可以出租房屋而不必付税。

They've
let out their flat.

他们已经把自己的公寓租出去了。

You
can't expect your mother to believe that - she wasn't born yesterday!

[2]
put in a good word (for
somebody) Fig. to say something (to someone) in support of someone else.

I
hope you get the job. I'll put in a good word for you. Yes, I want the job. If
you see the boss, please put in a good word.

[3]
It's on me.我请客。

[4]
dream on [in
imperative](informal)used, especially in spoken English, as an ironic comment
on the unlikely or impractical nature of a plan or aspiration(非正式)做梦（尤在口语中用于讽刺某计划或想法的不现实）

Dean
thinks he's going to get the job. Dream on, Babe.迪安认为他会得到那份工作。做梦吧，宝贝。

[5] stop by顺便走访

We suggested that she stop by that evening
to talk things over.我们建议她在那晚顺便来找我们, 把事情商量一下。

Don't forget to stop by at the gas station.别忘了到加油站顺便加油。

She stopped by my place the other day.几天前她顺便来我家坐了一会儿。

[6]
rustle up  to make or get something quickly

Instead of eating out, she rustled up a
romantic little dinner.

They want $100 by tomorrow, and I can't
rustle that amount up so quickly

I'll rustle up some eggs and bacon for you.

我给你弄些鸡蛋和腌猪肉。

 I
rustled up a few helpers to hand out leaflets.

我找到几个助手散发传单。

[7]way adverb (informal)at or to a considerable distance or extent;
far (used before an adverb or preposition for emphasis)(非正式)非常；远远地

His understanding of what constitutes good
writing is way off target.他远未正确理解什么是好作品。

My grandchildren are way ahead of others
their age. 我的孙子比同龄人领先了很多。

[8]
showy having a striking
appearance or style, typically by being excessively bright, col-ourful, or
ostentatious引人注目的；显眼的

showy
flowers.鲜艳的花。

She
wore a great deal of showy costume jewellery.

她戴了许多显眼的人造珠宝饰物。

[9]
fussy (of a person) fastidious about one's needs
or requirements; hard to please（人）爱挑剔的；难取悦的

He
is very fussy about what he eats. 他对于吃非常挑剔。

[10] These Hoodoos come in different shapes, sizes,
and colors. 这些风化形成的奇形怪状的石柱呈现出不同的形状，大小和颜色。