Unlike typical romance films, the love story in In the Mood for Love is defined by what does not happen rather than what does. The tension comes from the characters’ extreme self-control. They desperately want to be together, but their sense of propriety prevents it.

POV: You just finished In the Mood for Love and now you’re staring at your ceiling at 2 AM wondering if you’ll ever love someone as quietly and devastatingly as Chow Mo-wan loved Su Li-zhen.

In the Mood for Love is the second part of an informal trilogy, preceded by Days of Being Wild (1990) and followed by 2046 (2004). It captures a specific moment in Hong Kong's history—a time of transition and nostalgia—while telling a universal story about the love that got away. It is a film about the ghost of a relationship; it exists entirely in the "almost."

You don’t watch In the Mood for Love . You feel it.

The turning point occurs when Chow and Su discover that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other. This revelation is handled quietly; there are no explosive confrontations. Instead, the two protagonists bond over their shared humiliation and confusion.

Set in Hong Kong in 1962, the film follows two main characters: (played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a journalist, and Su Li-zhen (played by Maggie Cheung Man-yuk), a secretary.

The final scenes take place at the temple ruins in Cambodia. Chow whispers his secret into a hole in the wall and seals it with mud—a Buddhist tradition for burying a secret so it can be left behind. The film ends with a title card quoting Liu Yichang, encapsulating the regret that permeates the narrative:

"He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane, the past is something he could see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct."

As they act out these scenarios, Chow and Su begin to develop genuine feelings for one another. However, they are trapped by a moral dilemma: they do not want to stoop to the level of their cheating spouses.