The Relationship of Sadness and Ostentation: “2046”

Emilia Olechnowicz

Abstract

Wong Kar-wai’s film 2046, is composed of overabundance of images, themes and time planes. But the film, laced with overabundance, exudes emptiness. The sea of stylized images evokes the world of melancholy. The places, characters and time planes: the past, the presence and the future are connected by ambiguous and vague relationships. The world portrayed in the film is the domain of appearance. All the film heroes are unable to live real lives and to express genuine feelings; therefore they are doomed to fake them. All the events in the film seem to be strangely unreal. This world is like a beautiful and oppressive dream. Although it explains and interprets itself, it remains unfathomable. The exploration of the world leaves the audience both unsatisfied and satiated. The viewer is both dazzled and overwhelmed by 2046. The film pictures, sophisticated and saturated with fatigue, testify to a close relationship of sadness and ostentation. In 2046, the empty worlds of the past, the present and the future are revived by the sadness of love. The main characters, who are neither able to fulfill their desires nor to abandon them, continue to experience anew past events. The link with reality is extremely fragile. The presence in which they act and the future they are dreaming of is just a projection of their longing. The main characters are controlled by the future. The time planes of 2046 should be precisely defined as the past of the future, the presence of the past and the future of the past.