Happy Together
Short description
Happy Together follows Lai Yiu-fai and Ho Po-wing, a couple from Hong Kong who travel to Argentina hoping to rebuild their relationship. The trip goes wrong early on, and the two separate. Lai settles in Buenos Aires, taking work at a tango bar as a doorman while saving money for a ticket home. Ho reappears and moves back in with him, and the pair fall into an uneasy routine even though the bond between them has changed. Lai also meets Chang, a young man from Taiwan, whose presence shifts the balance further. The film takes place largely in Buenos Aires and around the south of Argentina.
Wong Kar-wai directed and wrote the screenplay, with Chan Ye-cheng producing alongside him. It is the sixth of the eighteen features Wong has directed in chronological order, arriving after Fallen Angels and before In the Mood for Love. Leslie Cheung plays Ho Po-wing and Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays Lai Yiu-fai, with Chang Chen as Chang and Gregory Dayton as Lover. Cinematography is by Christopher Doyle, and 54 crew members are credited.
Released in 1997 and running 96 minutes, the drama and romance had a worldwide box office of about 5 million USD. On IMDb it holds 7.7/10 from 38,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.6/10 from 827 votes. A critics' rating of 8.1/10 from 46 reviews places it somewhat above those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The first version of the film was approximately 3 hours long, but it was re-edited, and some characters and certain plot lines were completely removed.
- Wong Kar-wai decided to film abroad, realizing that continuing filming in Hong Kong after its transfer to the jurisdiction of the PRC would be difficult. He managed to negotiate funding with the Spanish authorities – with the condition that he would film in a Spanish-speaking country. The director chose Argentina because he had always liked the work of the Argentine writer Manuel Puig (1932-1990).
- The inclusion of Chan Chen's storyline was an improvisation. Wong Kar-wai stumbled upon a restaurant called China Central and, taking advantage of Leslie Cheung's absence, decided to continue filming. This is how Chan's storyline was created.
- Working on the film took the director longer than working on other films because he was constantly changing things, as he wasn't sure in which direction to develop the project. Filming began when no one yet had a definitively approved script, and significant changes were made to the plot during production.
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai had no idea that his character boxed. Wong Kar-wai made him take boxing lessons and even filmed several boxing scenes, which he later decided not to include in the movie. According to the director, the boxing training made the actor's performance more energetic.
- During post-production, the film was repeatedly copied to increase the graininess and contrast of the image to a degree that satisfied the filmmakers.
- Wong Kar-wai decided to film abroad, understanding that continuing to shoot in Hong Kong after its transfer to Chinese jurisdiction would be difficult. He managed to negotiate funding with the Spanish authorities – with the condition that he would film in a Spanish-speaking country. The director chose Argentina because he had always liked the work of the Argentinian writer Manuel Puig.
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai agreed to star in this film because he was deliberately given the wrong script. He only learned about the need to portray homosexual relationships upon arriving in Argentina for filming.
- In one scene, Tony Leung Chiu-wai's character tells Zhang Chen's character that he resembles a blind swordsman. Tony Leung Chiu-wai played a swordsman losing his sight in the film "Ashes of Time" (1994).
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