Noémi Aponyi: The Impossibility of Constancy. Wong Kar-wai’s 2046
Wong says the idea of 2046 came „from the promise the Chinese government gave to the Hong Kong people of 50 years of no change.” He questions if such constancy can exist, or rather if a man can exist in his constant past locking himself out of the present.
2046 contains of numerous references to the earlier movies, Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love. 2046 continues where In the Mood for Love ends: it begins with the „whispered secrets” motif and then tells the story of Chow after Su Li-zhen. Although the main character of In the Mood for Love and 2046 is the same: Mr Chow, in this film he is rather an alter ego of Yuddy, the chief character of Days of Being Wild. He and his relationships with women are in the centre of the movie. Each woman reminds Chow of his lost love, Su Li-zhen somehow. Lulu's (appeared in Days of Being Wild as well) hotel room number is 2046 (where Chow and Su Li-zhen dated in In the Mood for Love), Yin-wen - the elder daughter of the hotel owner - has the same interest as Chow and Su Li-zhen used to have: the adventure novels. The „Black Spider” in Singapore bears the identical name of Chow's lost love. In spite of the simiarities, as Chow finds it out finally, substitution is impossible in love. Interchangeability plays the main role in the relationship between Chow and Bai Ling as well: Chow pays for Bai's love.
Two fictions of Chow are shown in the film. The writer gives the title „2046” and „2047” to them. The first is introduced us by only a rapid montage sequence, the latter one is told more completely, though its parts are divided into short fragments in the movie. What is true for the reality is true for the fiction: the love story of the Japanese traveller (Chow's alter ego) and the Yin-wen android is hopeless because of the illness of the android: she can't react to the present, as Chow can't react to it either.
Although the title has a political reference, and the story takes place during the riots of the 1960's in Hong Kong, history remains just a background. The characters have to face not a huge power, but the lack of love. There aren't any conflicts, as there aren't any determinable problems. Wong in his movie, and Chow in his fiction confirms the circularity of this inescapable situation. |
