Architecture and Love in Film - Her and In the Mood for Love

Architecture and Film have long been intertwined through their ability of creating new worlds, both real and fictional. Architect Rem Koolhas once said “An architect writes scripts, but for people, not actors.” It is therefore not surprising that architecture has played a vital role in creating cinematic worlds we can deeply relate to on an emotional level.

Her and In the Mood for Love, both filmed in Chinese cities, provide very different portrayals of their respective architectural landscapes. Filmed in Shanghai and Hong Kong respectively, they each tell us stories of impossible love: the inability to touch but yet feel so strongly and connect so closely to one another.

Her tells the story of a man, Theodore, who is going through a drawn out divorce due to his reluctance to sign the papers. As he holds on to his old life with his ex-wife, he walks around a futuristic-looking LA isolated from society. The film is set in a not so far away future, whereby people have become more disconnected from each other, somewhat reflecting our relationship with technology. As Theodore’s isolation grows stronger, he develops feelings for his OS, Samantha (voiced by Scarlet Johansson).

Spike Jonze films most of this futuristic reality in Shanghai shying away from previous depictions of cities in sci-fi films that construct either utopian or dystopian settings. Although a distant future and not a particularly culturally accurate depiction of a Chinese city, he writes a familiar reality through the characters’ emotions which is closely linked to the film’s architectural aesthetic - we know it’s the future but it’s a believable future. The film heavily relies on aerial and wide shots as Jonze looks to capture as much of the city, fully immersing the audience in its reality.

In the Mood for Love depicts a couple who have been brought closer together after discovering both their spouses are cheating on them with their respective partners. They develop feelings for each other and find themselves struggling with an emotional dilemma, constantly resisting each other to avoid suffering prejudice at the eyes of their very watchful neighbours and landlords. Directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, the architectural aesthetic relies on intimate spaces and closeness. The world constructed here is far more traditional as it is built through the director’s own experiences of the city and his relationship with his own culture.

Structures and Spaces

The urban spaces the characters inhabit play a big part in building an understanding of their emotional and mental state. Jonze uses the spaces of his futuristic city in a way that engulf Theodore, as he walks through these spaces cross-armed and hunched over, he is small amongst the towering buildings. Although the shots are wide and expansive, our focus is drawn to Theodore as we witness his emotional struggle and imposing loneliness. We are invited into his world by relating to this feeling - being surrounded by so much but feeling very isolated.

Wong Kar-Wai’s depiction of urban space is a contrast to this. He focuses on restricted spaces, small rooms and tight shots, giving us an almost claustrophobic feel to his version of Hong Kong. The closing in on protagonists, Su and Chow, emphasises their intimacy. As they walk through tight alleyways and small rooms, their movements seem almost choreographed, dancing around each other without ever touching. As the characters cross each other on staircases and meet surrounded by hard concrete walls with barred windows, there is almost a labyrinthine element to their urban space. We see very little of the city apart from what’s in the protagonist’s immediate range but it is through a glimpse of Wong Kar-Wai’s 1960’s Hong Kong that we are left to reimagine our own allowing us to relate to the story in our own personal way.

The films’ depiction of space becomes really important in the end - both Jonze and Kar-Wai want us to acknowledge the significance of their characters’ environments and the ways in which these allow us to understand their development. Her ends with a beautiful rooftop scene as Theodore and his best friend Amy are overlooking the city. At this point, Theodore has fully assumed his relationship with his OS, they have bonded in ways he never thought would be possible following his divorce and has allowed himself to open up emotionally. Amy has also developed a strong relationship with her OS, following her own divorce she has cultivated a friendship which she was able to rely on for support. However the OS’ develop beyond human comprehension, and leave their reality. With both characters experiencing a heart-breaking loss, they come together to find solace in each other.

The prevailing theory is that they have decided to commit suicide following the realisation that they won’t be able to develop as a deep a connection with anyone else as they have done with their OS’. Personally, I believe the rooftop scene symbolises their progression from the emotional frustrations they were both dealing with at the beginning of the film. Amy was stuck in a controlling relationship where she felt she had no personal freedom. Theodore was being consumed by his loneliness and as the film progresses we learn he is incapable of dealing with his emotions, even when fully invested in a loving relationship. Both felt incredibly close to their OS’ and were able to construct deep, meaningful and important relationships to them. I don’t see the end of these relationships as the end for their own personal journeys, I see it as them having overcome their previous challenges and they can now progress and move forward. The city serves as a backdrop to this progress just as it has throughout the entirety of Theodore’s emotional journey, he is no longer being engulfed by the city, he stands almost as tall as it.

Wong Kar-Wai’s ending is just as beautifully poetic - here, Chow and Su’s journey has come to an end. Faced with the fact that they will never be together they decide to separate. This heart-breaking moment which truly does resonate with each and every viewer I have ever discussed this film with, culminates at a temple in Cambodia. Following their separation, Chow decides to leave Hong Kong and go to Cambodia whereby he follows through with a parable he tells a friend about earlier in the film “In the old days, if someone had a secret they didn’t want to share (…) They went up a mountain, found a tree, carved a hole in it, and whispered the secret into the hole.” Having found distance from the peering eyes in Hong Kong, Chow finally feels free to let go of his secret feelings for Su, in one of the final shots of the film he is seen talking into a hole that has been carved into the temple. This heavy burden that he has been carrying this whole time has been released into this beautifully religious structure and he now feels able to move on.

The film provides us with a false sense of hope that, even though the protagonists can’t be together for now, they will eventually. With promises of them starting a life in Singapore, the audience holds their breath for a happily ever after, but instead, they are left with a different kind of release. Chow lets go of this secret along with the hope of there ever being a reunion between the two. The temple with its traditional Cambodian architecture not only holds this secret but also now withholds the hope we were all so desperately clinging onto. The last shots of the film are the camera panning over the city after Chow has confessed what has happened with Su. Kar-Wai has let go of the tight shots and small spaces in favour of wide shots and a large expansive scenery. The final shot is incredibly well lit and the audience can now breathe a sigh of relief, even if slightly marred with disappointment.

As director Michael Roemer once said ”film at its best uses the language of ordinary experience – but uses it subtly and artfully“. Both features weave ordinary experience into their own constructed architectural spaces and create stories that allow their audiences to relate to and deeply connect with their characters. It is through these distinguishable architectural devices that we believe the stories that are being told, even if set in the future or within a culture we don’t necessarily relate to.