Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

The Mechanism of Visual Confinement and Affective Accumulation in the Cinematic Viewing Experience: An Analysis of the Film In the Mood for Love

Yijia Lu*
Korea University

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love is often discussed as a film about restrained love, nostalgia, and memory. Its emotional force comes less from direct confession or dramatic conflict than from the way the film makes desire difficult to see, approach, and complete. This paper adopts mise-en-scène as its main analytical framework to examine how the film turns unspoken love into a restricted viewing experience. In particular, it focuses on three formal mechanisms: confined space, obstructed framing, and repetitive temporal delay. Through these mechanisms, the paper argues that the film constructs an intimacy that is physically proximate yet emotionally inaccessible. First, narrow corridors, rented rooms, and staircases repeatedly bring Su Lizhen and Chow Mo-wan into close physical proximity, while the pressure of social visibility prevents their relationship from becoming openly expressed. Meanwhile, doorframes, windows, mirrors, and foreground objects interrupt the spectator's view, making the act of seeing incomplete and limited. Furthermore, recurring gestures, musical motifs, costumes, and encounters postpone narrative resolution, allowing emotions to accumulate gradually. Through these cinematic strategies, In the Mood for Love renders repression visual and temporal, leaving desire suspended in space, image, body, and memory.

Keywords: In the Mood for Love; Wong Kar-wai; Mise-en-scène; Repressed desire
Published: September 15, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.36937
Volume: CHR Vol.121
pp. 1-7
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