THREE TIMES

Taiwan, 2005, 120 minutes, Colour.
Shu Qi, Chang Chen.
Directed by Hou Hsiao- Hsien.

The title does not mean ‘thrice’. Rather, it refers to three different times: 1966, 1911, 2005. They are
A time for love, a time for freedom, a time for youth.

Director, Hou Hsaio Hsien, has used vastly different cinematic styles in his film-making, from the extreme minimalism of a camera moving slowly backwards and forwards in Flowers of Shanghai to a more roller-coaster pace with Milennium Mambo. Here he is able to show his great flair by telling thee stories and using both the slow and the fast styles – and a more gentle in-between.

Three Times is a tour-de-force of styles. It also shows the versatility of his actor and actress who play the central roles in the three stories.

The first is 1966 and comes from the director’s own memories of pool halls in Taiwan, records playing like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Rain and Tears. While there may be just too many and too long shots of pool games, this story is one of gentleness, falling in love, discretion and wholesomeness. It is an idyllic look at the period. A young man meets a hostess at a quiet pool club, goes to his military service, writes to her but finds that when he goes on leave, she has left. He looks for her. That’s about it – but nicely done.

The shift to 1911 goes to the minimalist extreme. However, the director reminds us that this was the silent film era and so the film is shot with barely a movement of camera, all action within frame and captions instead of dialogue. The musical score creates the atmosphere. However, the décor and costumes are of the exquisite style, all interiors. While the background is revolution and uprising against the Japanese in Taiwan, all the action is off screen. On screen concentrates on the etiquette of the household and the generous gesture of the journalist who pays the bridal requirements to save a young woman from being a concubine. This is sumptuous visual artistry.

It is a rude, very rude, shock to be suddenly propelled into a very unattractive 2005. Taipei is large, full of traffic, an anonymous city. The protagonists ride motor bikes, use computers and internet, work with digital photography, rely on mobiles and texting. Their jaded looks contrast with the freshness and vitality of 1966. There is not much of a plot: sex, tangled relationships between two girls, epileptic fits and blindness, gigs in clubs and more bikes. It is all presented in a visual style that resonates with MTV audiences but it reminds us of contemporary chaos compared with past genteel times and orderly times. The present is not very engaging.

1. The work of the director, his career, the variety of styles of film-making, themes? This film combining all his techniques and styles?

2. Taiwan, the setting, its history, the Japanese occupation, post-World War Two, the present – and its busyness and ugliness?

3. The performances of the actors, the diversity of their three different roles?

4. The different styles, cinema styles, their effect?

5. The 60s story first, a romance, the wholesome atmosphere, the plain style of storytelling, the setting of the pool hall, the young man’s travels, the road signs, the water, the boats, the homes? The different pool halls? The songs, especially ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’, ‘Rain and Tears’?

6. The man, playing, going for his military service? The girl, her letters? The man’s return, search for the girl, happy together? The girl, nice, wanting to be on the move? The pool halls, their style, the players, the hostesses? The girl’s mother? An idyllic romantic story?

7. The transition to 1911, the atmosphere of the period, the décor and interiors, the costumes, the lavish décor and its enclosed atmosphere? tradition, ritual, etiquette? The colour photography, the fixed camera? The action within the frame? The musical score, the range of songs? Using the techniques of silent films? The captions?

8. The portrait of the family, the woman as central, her place as a servant? The master, his involvement in causes, his talk with the servant? The mistress of the family? The family members?

9. The issue of Spring, her place in society, to be a concubine? The writer, his principles, the money, helping? The celebration of the happy marriage?

10. The background of an uprising, the occupation of Japan, national hopes? The political action off-screen?

11. Moving into 2005, the sense of movement, the modern cities, the highways, overpasses, tunnels, bikes and roads? A world of computers and mobile phones, of texting? Young man and women in this context, the contrast with a hundred years earlier? Their experience, knowing, jaded looks? The young man, his care, the relationship with the girl, sex, work? The girl, her fits? Sexual encounters, casual, loving? Her lesbian friend and her insistence on the relationship? The girl not answering, the tensions? Singing in the club? With the man? The end of the story – to what purpose?

12. The impact over all of the film as a cinematic tour-de-force? Insights into human nature, into China?