Journals / Gazi University Journal of Science Part B: Art Humanities Design and Planning / 2026 / Cilt: 14 Sayı: 2

Architectural Narratives: Atmosphere and Memory in In the Mood for Love

Mimari Anlatılar: In the Mood for Love Filminde Atmosfer ve Bellek

Sude Selim(ANKARA YILDIRIM BEYAZIT UNIVERSITY)0009-0007-3255-1447
Cemile Feyzan Şimşek(ANKARA YILDIRIM BEYAZIT UNIVERSITY)0000-0002-3503-3633
Pages
157–175
Publication Date
2026-06-30
DOI
—
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In this regard, the study argues that cinema is not merely a tool that represents architecture, but rather offers a critical and experience-based field of thought that renders its sensory, temporal, and ethical dimensions visible, thereby providing a phenomenological contribution to architectural theory.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study aims to analyze how ordinary real spaces are transformed into emotionally charged, atmospheric, and fictional spaces through cinematographic strategies by examining the relationship between cinema and architecture through Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000).
📊
Key Findings & Data:In this context, the study reveals how space is reinterpreted and intensified through cinema and how it generates meaning through the viewer’s experience.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:In this regard, the study argues that cinema is not merely a tool that represents architecture, but rather offers a critical and experience-based field of thought that renders its sensory, temporal, and ethical dimensions visible, thereby providing a phenomenological contribution to architectural theory.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:2000 Verileri
⚙️Variables:In the Mood for Love · Sinematik Mekân · Fenomenoloji

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how ordinary real spaces are transformed into emotionally charged, atmospheric, and fictional spaces through cinematographic strategies by examining the relationship between cinema and architecture through Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000). Rather than using space as a passive background, the film produces an architectural narrative by rendering space an active narrative component associated with perception, memory, time, and ethical boundaries. In this context, the study reveals how space is reinterpreted and intensified through cinema and how it generates meaning through the viewer’s experience. The research adopts a qualitative and conceptual methodology, examining the film through two complementary frameworks: a cinematic–architectural analysis of spatial organization, scale, light, materiality, and framing, and a phenomenological interpretation focusing on atmosphere, time, repetition, and viewer experience. The analyses show that in In the Mood for Love, apartments, streets, corridors, and threshold spaces function not merely as physical settings but as spatial counterparts that make visible repressed emotions, socially shaped ethical hesitations, and states of temporal in-betweenness. The film’s non-linear, fragmented temporal structure, established through repetition, operates together with space to draw the viewer into an emotional and mnemonic experience, while liminal spaces spatially materialize ethical boundaries and internal tensions. In this regard, the study argues that cinema is not merely a tool that represents architecture, but rather offers a critical and experience-based field of thought that renders its sensory, temporal, and ethical dimensions visible, thereby providing a phenomenological contribution to architectural theory.

Özet

Bu çalışma, Wong Kar-wai’nin In the Mood for Love (2000) filmi üzerinden sinema ve mimarlık arasındaki ilişkiyi inceleyerek, sıradan gerçek mekânların sinematografik stratejiler aracılığıyla nasıl duygu yüklü, atmosferik ve kurgusal mekânlara dönüştürüldüğünü analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Film, mekânı edilgen bir arka plan olarak kullanmak yerine; algı, hafıza, zaman ve etik sınırlarla ilişkili aktif bir anlatı bileşeni hâline getirerek mimari bir hikâye üretmektedir. Bu bağlamda çalışma, mekânın sinema aracılığıyla nasıl yeniden yorumlandığını, yoğunlaştırıldığını ve izleyici deneyimi üzerinden anlam ürettiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Araştırma, nitel ve kavramsal bir yöntem izleyerek filmi iki tamamlayıcı analiz çerçevesi üzerinden ele almaktadır: mekânın fiziksel organizasyonu, ölçek, ışık, malzeme ve kadrajlama stratejileri üzerinden gerçekleştirilen cinematic–architectural analysis ve mekânın atmosfer, zaman, tekrar ve izleyici deneyimi üzerinden nasıl anlam ürettiğini inceleyen fenomenolojik yorumlama. Analizler, In the Mood for Love’da apartmanlar, sokaklar, koridorlar ve eşik mekânların yalnızca fiziksel çevreler olarak değil; karakterlerin bastırılmış duygularını, toplumsal normlarla çevrili etik tereddütlerini ve zamansal aradalık hâllerini görünür kılan mekânsal karşılıklar olarak kurgulandığını göstermektedir. Filmde zamanın doğrusal olmayan, parçalı ve tekrarlar üzerinden kurulan yapısı, mekânla birlikte işleyerek izleyiciyi duygusal ve belleksel bir deneyimin içine çekerken, liminal mekânlar etik sınırları ve içsel gerilimleri mekânsal olarak somutlaştırmaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışma, sinemanın mimarlığı yalnızca temsil eden bir araç değil; onun duyusal, zamansal ve etik boyutlarını görünür kılan eleştirel ve deneyim temelli bir düşünme alanı sunduğunu savunarak, mimarlık kuramına fenomenolojik bir katkı sunmaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Selim, S., Şimşek, C. F. (2026). Architectural Narratives: Atmosphere and Memory in In the Mood for Love. Gazi University Journal of Science Part B: Art Humanities Design and Planning, Cilt: 14 Sayı: 2, 157–175. https://ajindex.com/articles/1486747

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (23)

  1. Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The Existential Image: Lived Space in Cinema and Architecture. Phainomenon, 25(1), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.2478/phainomenon-2012-0020
  2. Erdoğan, E., & Yildiz, Z. (2018). Zaman Ve Mekân Kavramları Arasındaki Paradoksal İlişkinin “Bulut Atlası” Filmi Üzerinden Okunması. METU JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE. https://doi.org/10.4305/METU.JFA.2018.1.1
  3. Worth, S. E. (2004). Fictional Spaces. The Philosophical Forum, 35(4), 439–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0031-806X.2004.00184.x
  4. Dawkins, R. (2002). An Infrared Vision of the World: Deleuze, the Sign, and In the Mood for Love. Film-Philosophy, 6(1), film.2002.0024. https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2002.0024
  5. Chung, S. S.-Y. (2003). Reading perspective and architecture through the film In the Mood for Love. Thesis: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift Der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 49(3), 197–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/1358
  6. Mansoori Roshan, T. (2024). Analysis of Non-Narrative Factors in ‘the Mood for Love’ Movie with a Focus on the Visual Atmosphere. Perspectives on Art and Beyond, 1(1), 23–31. https://doi.org/10.48313/pab.v1i1.30
  7. Pallasmaa, J. (2014). Space, place and atmosphere. Emotion and peripherical perception in architectural experience. Lebenswelt. Aesthetics and philosophy of experience., No 4 (2014). https://doi.org/10.13130/2240-9599/4202
  8. Alkan Bala, H. (2015). Reading of the Architectural Identity via Cinema. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 4(1), 79–109. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2014.118
  9. Erdoğan, E. (2025). Review of Architecture in Cinema. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 13(2), 893–906. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2025.783
  10. Sevgi, S., & Özeren, Ö. (2025). The Phenomenology of Space in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days: A Dialogue Between Architecture and Cinema. Buildings, 15(7), 1132. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15071132
  11. Şener, İ. E., & Eldek Güner, H. (2022). Büyük Budapeşte Oteli Filminin Renkler Üzerinden Fenomenolojik Mekânsal İncelenmesi. Selçuk İletişim, 15(1), 286–322. https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.986147
  12. Ergün Bi̇lgi̇li̇, G., & Di̇nç Kalayci, P. (2021). Mimarlık ve Sinema Arakesitinde Yer ve Yersizliği Okumak: Ahlat Ağacı Filmi’nde Ruhun Yitimi. SineFilozofi, 6(12), 1025–1043. https://doi.org/10.31122/sinefilozofi.823794
  13. Ural, A. G., & Yuksel, F. (2023). “Shock Impact” and Achieving Comprehension in the Interior Spaces of Alejandro Jodorowsky Movies. Art and Interpretation, 1(42), 24–33. https://doi.org/10.5152/AI.2023.22072
  14. Lefebvre, H. (2014). Mekanın Üretimi. (I. Ergüden. Trans.). İstanbul: Sel Yayıncılık.
  15. Amouzad Khalili, H. (2025). The Cinema of Béla Tarr: The Architectonics of Time, Movement and Hapticity. Architectural Theory Review, 29(1), 45–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2025.2462923
  16. Deleuze, G. (2004). Sinema II: Zaman-imge (B. Yalım & E. Koyuncu, Trans.). Norgunk Yayıncılık.
  17. Bačun, N., Kostrenčić, A., & Tutek, I. (2025). Space as Experience: A Comparative Reading of Architecture and Film. Prostor, 33(2(70)), 298–309. https://doi.org/10.31522/p.33.2(70).10
  18. Letteri, R., & Huang, Z. (2023). Sinophone becoming in Wong Kar-wai’s in the mood for love (2000). Transnational Screens, 14(3), 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/25785273.2023.2210909
  19. Luo, L., Wu, J., & Zhang, J. (2023). Aesthetic Analysis of Wong Kar-wais Films and Reasons for Western Popularity: A Case Study of Chungking Express. Communications in Humanities esearch, 14(1), 305–313. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7064/14/20230507
  20. Wong Kar Wai’s Cinema lesson. (2001, May 16). [Video recording]. https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/medialibrary/wong-kar-wai-s-cinema-lesson/
  21. Zhu, X. (2025). Narrative Structure and Aesthetic Style in Wong Kar-Wai’s Films. Communications in Humanities Research, 83(1), 24–30. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7064/2025.ND26418
  22. Wong, K. (Director). (2000, September 29). In the Mood for Love (Fa yeung nin wah) [Movie]. Jet Tone Production, Block 2 Pictures, Paradis Films
  23. https://www.atmosferamag.it/in-the-mood-for-love-film-wong-kar-wai/ Access Date: 30.12.2025