In the Mood for Love (traditional Chinese: 花樣年華; simplified Chinese: 花样年华; meaning "Flower-like Years" or "the prime of one's youth") is a 2000 romantic drama film created by Wong Kar-wai. Made together by Hong Kong and France, the film tells the story of a man (Tony Leung) and a woman (Maggie Cheung) in 1962 who find out their spouses are having an affair. As they spend time together, they start to feel something for each other. It is the second movie in a series of three, following Days of Being Wild (1990) and before 2046 (2004).

The film was shown in the main competition at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival, where it was praised. Tony Leung won the Best Actor award, becoming the first Hong Kong actor to receive this honor. In the Mood for Love was chosen as Hong Kong's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 73rd Academy Awards, though it was not nominated. It is often considered one of the best films ever made and one of the most important works in Asian cinema.

Plot

In 1962, in British Hong Kong, Chow Mo-wan, a journalist, and Su Li-zhen (Mrs. Chan), a secretary at a shipping company, rent rooms in apartments next to each other. Both have spouses who work late hours, leaving them alone during these times. Su’s Shanghainese landlady, Mrs. Suen, and their lively neighbors, who often play mahjong, make Chow and Su feel isolated. They rarely eat meals with the other tenants.

At first, Chow and Su are polite to each other out of necessity. However, they grow closer when they discover their spouses are having an affair. Chow notices his wife owns a handbag that can only be bought overseas, which Su’s husband had given her. Su finds that her husband wears a tie identical to one Chow owns, a gift from Chow’s wife. As they learn the truth, they act out how the affair might have started. Both accept their spouses betrayed them but try to avoid making the same mistake.

Chow asks Su to help write a martial arts story. Their time together draws attention from neighbors, so Chow rents a hotel room for privacy. Over time, they admit they have feelings for each other. They continue reenacting scenes from the affair, but the emotional stress causes Su to become distant. They sometimes stop talking, but later reconnect. When Chow gets a job offer in Singapore, he invites Su to join him. She agrees but arrives too late at the hotel, where she cries in his empty room.

The next year, in Singapore, Chow tells a friend about a tradition: people who had secrets would climb a mountain, carve a hole in a tree, whisper the secret, and cover it with mud. Later, Su visits Chow’s apartment in Singapore. She calls him but says nothing when he answers. Afterward, Chow finds a lipstick-stained cigarette in his ashtray, realizing she had been there.

Three years later, Su visits Mrs. Suen, who is moving to the United States, and asks about renting Mrs. Suen’s old apartment. Later, Chow returns to Hong Kong to visit his former landlords, the Koos, who moved to the Philippines. He asks about the Suen family next door, and the new owner says a woman and her son now live there. Chow leaves without knowing the woman is Su.

During the Vietnam War, Chow travels to Cambodia and visits Angkor Wat. A monk watches as Chow whispers into a hollow in a wall and covers it with mud.

Title

The film's original Chinese title, which means "the age of blossoms" or "the flowery years," is a Chinese expression that describes the short time when people are young, beautiful, and in love. This title comes from a song with the same name performed by Zhou Xuan in a 1946 film. The English title is taken from the song "I'm in the Mood for Love." The film's director, Wong, originally planned to call the film "Secrets," but he changed the name after hearing the song during the final stages of making the film.

Production

Wong Kar-wai's film In the Mood for Love took a long time to develop. In the 1990s, he gained popularity with films like Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, both set in modern-day Hong Kong. His 1997 film Happy Together was also successful, winning him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. It was unusual for its time because it focused on a gay love story and was mostly filmed in Argentina, a place Wong was not familiar with. By the late 1990s, Hong Kong had changed hands from British rule to the People's Republic of China, and Wong wanted to work again in mainland China, where he was born. He was not happy with his earlier film Ashes of Time, which was set in ancient times and filmed in remote deserts, so he decided to make a film with a more modern, city-based setting.

By 1998, Wong had an idea for a film called Summer in Beijing. He and his cameraman, Christopher Doyle, did some unauthorized filming in Beijing, including in Tiananmen Square. Wong described the film as a musical and love story. He cast Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung, and used his graphic design skills to make posters for the film. He also started writing story treatments, which he often used loosely to get funding, allowing changes during filming.

However, getting permission to film in Beijing proved difficult. Wong’s creative methods and the film’s setting in mid-20th century China raised concerns. He changed his plan, keeping only one story from Summer in Beijing, called A Story of Food, about a man and woman sharing noodles and secrets. He later moved this story to 1960s Hong Kong, turning it into In the Mood for Love.

Wong’s earlier film Days of Being Wild, set in Hong Kong, had strong memories of mainland China and the music of the 1930s and 1940s. He had planned a sequel to Days of Being Wild but could not due to low profits. Later, he connected In the Mood for Love to Days of Being Wild through actors Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, who had appeared in Days of Being Wild separately. A later film, 2046, became a spiritual sequel to Days of Being Wild, linking the characters from both films.

Filming In the Mood for Love was challenging because Hong Kong had changed since the 1960s. Wong wanted to capture the era accurately but avoided using special effects. Scenes were filmed in older parts of Bangkok, Thailand, and Singapore, with some footage from Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. The film took 15 months to make, and the actors had to study the time period carefully.

Maggie Cheung had previously worn qipao, traditional Chinese dresses, in a film about a 1930s actress. For In the Mood for Love, she again wore qipao to portray a woman who carried elegance from the past. The film’s cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, left the project when filming took too long, and was replaced by Mark Lee Ping Bin. Both were credited equally, though Lee’s style influenced the film’s visual tone.

Music

The title song "Hua Yang De Nian Hua" was created by famous singer Zhou Xuan during the Solitary Island period. This 1946 song celebrates a joyful past and indirectly describes the difficult conditions in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Wong used the song in his 2000 film, which shares the same name, Hua Yang De Nian Hua.

• Shigeru Umebayashi: "Yumeji's Theme" (from the movie Yumeji by Seijun Suzuki)
• Michael Galasso: "Angkor Wat Theme," "ITMFL," "Casanova/Flute"
• Nat King Cole: "Aquellos Ojos Verdes," "Te Quiero Dijiste," "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás"
• Bryan Ferry: "I'm in the Mood for Love" (used as the inspiration for the English title, found on the French two-CD soundtrack, not in the film)
• Zhou Xuan: 《花樣的年華》 "Hua Yang De Nian Hua" (used as the inspiration for the original Chinese title)
• Rebecca Pan: "Bengawan Solo"
• All traditional pingtan, Cantonese, Beijing, and Yue operas are recordings from the past.

Release

In the Mood for Love was first shown at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where it was considered for the Palme d'Or award. It was later released in theaters in Hong Kong on September 29, 2000.

In 2020, a high-quality restoration of the film was completed using the original film copies by the Criterion Collection and L'Immagine Ritrovata, with guidance from director Wong Kar-wai. The restored version was planned to premiere at the 73rd Cannes Film Festival in May 2020, followed by a limited theater showing. However, the event was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The premiere was moved to October 2020, with the film shown at the Lumière Festival in Lyon instead. A planned screening in New York at the Lincoln Center in June 2020 was also delayed, and the restoration was made available online in November 2020.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the film was re-released in theaters alongside In the Mood for Love 2001 on February 14, 2025 (Valentine's Day) in China, in both regular and IMAX formats.

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray, including a restored high-definition version by Criterion in the United States in 2012. In 2020, Criterion restored eight of Wong Kar-wai’s films, including In the Mood for Love, under the director’s supervision. These new versions changed the film’s appearance, such as its shape, colors, and voiceover. Wong explained that he wanted the audience to experience the films as new, since both the films and their viewers had changed over time.

In 2021, Wong Kar-wai released a 92-second NFT short film titled In the Mood for Love — Day One. It used unused footage from the first day of the film’s production and featured a different storyline with Leung and Cheung playing different characters. The short film was sold at an auction by Sotheby’s along with memorabilia from his other movies.

Reception

In the Mood for Love earned HK$8,663,227 during its showing in Hong Kong.

On February 2, 2001, the film opened in six theaters in North America, making $113,280, or $18,880 per screen, during its first weekend. It earned a total of $2,738,980 in North America. A collection of old movie scenes from China is included in the DVD version of the film.

The film earned 17 million US dollars worldwide.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 92% approval rating based on 191 reviews. The site’s summary says: "A beautifully filmed story starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, In the Mood for Love shows a new, more serious style from Wong Kar-wai. It is a film that may make viewers feel emotional." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 87 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, which means it received mostly positive feedback.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "a richly told story about unreturned love." Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times described it as "probably the most visually stunning film of the year."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "If a less talented director had made In the Mood for Love, it could have been a silly comedy about romance. But with Wong Kar-wai at the helm, the film is full of gentle emotion." Peter Walker of The Guardian called it his "favorite film," saying it offers "deep and moving thoughts about life’s important themes, such as love, betrayal, loss, and time." David Parkinson of Empire gave the film five stars out of five, stating, "The acting is excellent, and the visuals are beautiful. It is a truly romantic film that is a masterpiece of cinema."

Influence

In the Mood for Love has been described as a film that defines a particular time period, combining glamour with a sense of roughness and the feeling of being lost or without direction. It has had a wide influence on popular culture, including fashion and social media. Many filmmakers, such as Sofia Coppola and Barry Jenkins, have said the film inspired their work and consider it an important influence.

The visual style of Wong Kar-wai, the film’s director, has also been directly copied in other movies. For example, the director team known as the Daniels paid tribute to In the Mood for Love in their film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

In 2000, Empire magazine ranked the film number 42 in its list of "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema." It was placed 95th on Entertainment Weekly’s list of "The 100 Best Films from 1983 to 2008." In 2009, Time Out New York called it the fifth-best film of the decade, describing it as "the consummate unconsummated love story of the new millennium."

In 2022, a poll of critics by Sight and Sound ranked In the Mood for Love number 5, making it the highest-ranked film from the 2000s and one of only two films from that decade to be in the top 10 of all time, along with Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. The film received votes from 42 critics out of 846 total, who included it in their personal top 10 lists.

In 2015, the Busan International Film Festival ranked the film number 3 in its "Asian Cinema 100" list, behind Tokyo Story by Yasujirō Ozu and Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa. In 2016, the film was placed second on BBC’s list of "100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century," after Mulholland Drive. It ranked 9th on BBC’s 2018 list of "The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films," voted on by 209 critics from 43 countries.

In 2019, The Guardian listed the film fifth in its "Best Films of the 21st Century" list. In 2021, Time Out magazine ranked it eighth on its "The 100 Best Movies of All Time" list. In June 2025, The New York Times ranked the film fourth on its "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" list and 12th on its "Readers’ Choice" edition. In July 2025, Rolling Stone placed the film second on its "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" list.

In the Mood for Love 2001

Wong also directed a short film titled In the Mood for Love 2001, which features actors Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. The film was shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. After that, it was rarely shown again. In 2025, the short film was released in theaters to mark the 25th anniversary of In the Mood for Love.

In the short film, Tony Leung’s character owns a convenience store in Hong Kong in 2001. Maggie Cheung’s character is a regular customer who is in love with another man. She leaves her keys with the store owner so her lover can pick them up, but he never does. One day, the store owner chases a thief and gets a bloody nose. The customer arrives later, also with a bloody nose, and tells the store owner she had a fight with her lover’s mistress. Upset, the customer eats a lot of cake and then falls asleep in the store. The store owner thinks about what to do. He kisses the sleeping customer, telling himself he is only cleaning cake from her face. To his surprise, she is not asleep. She hugs him and begins kissing him in return.

Wong’s 2007 film My Blueberry Nights was partly inspired by the short film. Wong explained that he wanted to work with Norah Jones and changed the story to an American setting because Jones does not speak Chinese.