Cheung's wardrobe is a story in itself; Leung's ever-so-slightly swooning visions of her presence are shared through director Wong Kar-Wai's camera. (The cinematography, by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin, is revelatory in the breathtaking way that has become Wong's trademark.) They brush against each other in stairways and acknowledge one another in hallways. The two learn, piecing together bits of information, that they're being cheated upon by their respective spouses; more, they find themselves drawn together across a sensual, untouchable landscape. What's missing, heartbreakingly, is consummation -- Wong has revealed that a love scene was filmed, but eventually deleted from the picture, and its absence makes all the difference in the world.

So this is storytelling by elision, but in the best sense. The feeling you get is that the moments the film creates can last forever in memory, or perhaps that they're already there. My main quibble is with the inert wisipiness of the whole affair, which puts the minus after my A -- I prefer the hyperactive image-making of Chungking Express, or even the non-stop bickering of Happy Together. Still, I'll be interested in how this inutterably melancholy picture ages -- it's conceivable that In the Mood For Love may prove to be one of the great movie romances.