The Hand

Originally part of the three-part omnibus Eros, The Hand is arguably Wong’s forgotten masterpiece, a key bridge between In the Mood for Love and 2046 that weaves those films’ emotional colors—desire, longing, the melancholy of unattainable beauty—into a concise pattern. “Never touched a woman before?” sighs courtesan Gong Li to youthful apprentice Chang Chen. “Then how can you be a tailor?” And with that, years of unfulfilled yearning begin. Set in a 1960s twilight milieu of dim hallways and darkened rooms, of well-groomed men caught motionless before marvelously cheongsam-attired women, The Hand is “visually exquisite and highly erotic” (Jonathan Rosenbaum).