Title: The Spectral and the Sensory: Three Dimensions of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Cinematic Time
The second segment is a radical departure. We jump back in time to 1911, during the final years of the Qing Dynasty. Taiwan is under Japanese colonial rule. Chang Chen plays a revolutionary poet. Shu Qi plays a courtesan-artist, a geisha-like figure. three times hou hsiao hsien
Throughout "Three Times," Hou Hsiao-hsien engages with several recurring themes and motifs, including: Title: The Spectral and the Sensory: Three Dimensions
Segment 1: A Happy Man (1960s)
Why? Because Hou Hsiao-hsien is showing us the silence of the oppressed. The couple cannot speak freely—he is a wanted revolutionary, she is trapped in a brothel. Their love is conducted in whispers, letters, and stolen moments. By removing spoken dialogue, Hou forces us to read their bodies. A hand touching a sleeve. A glance held one second too long. A sigh. Chang Chen plays a revolutionary poet