History Film / InTheMoodForLove

* CourtlyLove: Their relationship defies categorization--it's too furtive and illicit for ChastityCouple, too subtle and chaste for ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt. Courtly Love is the closest fit; they're basically ''attempting'' to do Courtly Love. They believe that not consummating their affair makes it okay, gives them moral legitimacy, and sets them apart from other adulterers. Yet it's also a deconstruction; Chow ultimately comes to the decision that this kind of desire is too hard and painful and he can't keep doing this indefinitely.

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Averted. The protagonists are hurt and angry to learn that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other. ''Because'' they find that behavior so distasteful in others, they tacitly agree not to do likewise.
* HidingFromEmbarrassment: Mr Chow and Mrs Chan spend a whole night chastely held up in a bedroom together because leaving would mean walking past where their landlords are playing TabletopGame/{{mahjong}} ''all night long''. If their landlords saw one leaving the other's room like that, they'd think they were having an affair. And they are [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial definitely not having an affair]].

* LastNameBasis: Supposedly Mrs Chan's name is actually Su Li-zhen, and Mr Chow's full name is Chow Mo-wan, yet these names appear nowhere in the film itself.
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor:
** Their respective spouses fall into this trope by having an affair with each other.
** Chow and Chan zigzag the trope with their growing feelings but adherence to the letter--if not the spirit--of propriety.

* PinkIsErotic: Chan and Chow rent a room where they go engage in chaste creative collaboration on a martial arts serial and ''not have an affair''. But they didn't rent office space intended for creative professionals -- they rented what looks like a love nest set up for a tryst. It's a red room with gauzy curtains and a bed, and it ''looks'' sexual. The set design says plainly that which the leads refuse to say.

* SceneryPorn: Angkor Wat. (That's assuming every movie photographed by Christopher Doyle doesn't ''automatically'' qualify.)
* SharpDressedMan: Both leads wear unfailingly formal attire. Chow is always wearing a suit, his hair always gelled. Chan wears an endless parade of beautiful qipaos, hair always in a perfectly coiffed updo. While this clothing looks great, it's restrictive--you can't run in that dress, can't raise your arms in that suit jacket. While other characters wear suits and qipaos too, the leads are extra diligent about it. They ''never'' dress otherwise, even at home. Their adherence to strict, restrictive standards of dress mirrors their adherence to strict, restrictive standards of sexual ethics.

* TwiceShy: Downplayed. Both Chow and Chan seem to be aware of each other's romantic feelings, but neither one makes a strong gesture toward the other, [[spoiler:and they end up not getting together.]]

* WillTheyOrWontThey: A good question. Many viewers have admitted impatience that the protagonists would get it on already.

* TheFaceless: Neither character's spouse is ever shown; we only hear their voices or see the back of their heads. Ultimately he decides to leave his wife, but she decides to stay with her husband. The almost complete lack of information we have about either spouse or marriage means that this decision has minimal context for the audience.

** "花樣的年華" (''Hua Yang De Nian Hua'') is a song by Zhou Xuan.

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Averted. The protagonists, already close in spirit, discover that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other, yet they tacitly agree not to do likewise -- although there are hints (not that there are anything ''but'' hints in this film) that they came very close.

* SharpDressedMan: Both leads wear unfailingly formal attire. Chow is always wearing a suit, his hair always gelled. Chan wears an endless parade of beautiful qipaos, hair always in a perfectly coiffed updo. In addition to looking good, this clothing is also restrictive; you can't run in that dress, can't raise your arms in that suit jacket. Other characters wear suits and qipaos too--this isn't unusual within their context. Yet when compared with their peers, the leads go above and beyond. They ''never'' dress otherwise, even at home. Their adherence to strict, restrictive standards of dress mirrors their adherence to strict, restrictive standards of sexual ethics.