(rated PG-98 mins. )
Hong Kong 1962. The population is divided between Cantonese Chinese and immigrants from mainland China. Su Li-zhen Chan (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) works as a secretary to Mr. Ho (Lai Chin) the boss of a shipping company and possesses a silk dress wardrobe form-fitting enough to put a Madonna video or Vogue magazine to shame. One day she moves into an apartment alone because her husband is on a business trip. That same day, her new neighbor, Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) a journalist, is also moving into an apartment next to hers. His wife is always away too. Coincidence? Not at all. At first they decide what they will say to their respective spouses about their affair with each other. Fed up with her husband’s philandering, Mrs. Chan scores Mr. Chow. And, so a slow movie begins with hard to follow sub-titles since the faces all look the same. Despite their charming shy behavior testing old-fashioned love-restraints, to Spanish Nat King Cole music, we are labored through their doubts, their unmet longings and finally an affair begging for them to run off together. Maybe their spouses found them as annoying as I did.
Hong Kong 1962. The population is divided between Cantonese Chinese and immigrants from mainland China. Su Li-zhen Chan (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) works as a secretary to Mr. Ho (Lai Chin) the boss of a shipping company and possesses a silk dress wardrobe form-fitting enough to put a Madonna video or Vogue magazine to shame. One day she moves into an apartment alone because her husband is on a business trip. That same day, her new neighbor, Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) a journalist, is also moving into an apartment next to hers. His wife is always away too. Coincidence? Not at all. At first they decide what they will say to their respective spouses about their affair with each other. Fed up with her husband’s philandering, Mrs. Chan scores Mr. Chow. And, so a slow movie begins with hard to follow sub-titles since the faces all look the same. Despite their charming shy behavior testing old-fashioned love-restraints, to Spanish Nat King Cole music, we are labored through their doubts, their unmet longings and finally an affair begging for them to run off together. Maybe their spouses found them as annoying as I did.