Hou Hsia-Hsien’s film Three Times is composed of three love stories. The minimization of the plot and scene makes the film more authentic and leaves space for audience to speculate the unspoken message of the director. The three stories conveys Hou’s interpretation of three stages of Taiwan history, from the Japanese occupation ear, American psychological colonization period, to the urban modern time.
The first story “Time of Love” represents the subtle relationship between Taiwan and the United States in the 1960s. The story begins with the transition of the job position in the pool hall from Haruko (春子) to Xiumei(秀美). Their names indicate the metaphors of the two characters. Haruko, a Japanese name, represents the Japanese government, and Xiumei whose name can be translated as “Beautiful America” might be a symbol of the United States. The leaving of Haruko announces the ending of Japanese colonization, and the coming of Xiumei starts the psychological colonization of the United States. The Japanese government fails to shift the native culture of Taiwan, as in Zhang Zhen’s letter to Haruko, he proposes her with a Taiwan’s traditional song. On the contrary, his letter to Xiumei has a similar structure, except in the end he mentions a western song “Rain and Tears”. Noticeably, the song “Rain and Tears” is performed by a Greek band Aphrodite’s Child, but Zhang Zhen thinks it is a Beatle’s song. In this light, Zhang Zheng, who represents Taiwan, at that time does not favor a particular band or a song but is keen to the western culture as a whole. Also, Zhang Zhen is not faithful to a particular lover but faithful to the feeling of being loved. After realizing his failure in proposing Haruko, he immediately changes to propose Xiumei. His approach to express his love for the two lovers are close, since he sends a similar letter to both women. In this way, for him, Haruko and Xiumei are not two distinctive women but are objects of desire which fulfills his yearning of love. The situation of Zhang Zheng is parallel to Taiwan’s eagerness to seek affiliations at that time. Taiwan in mid-20 century is often described as the “Orphan of Asia” who is abandoned by different regimes historically and continues to face threats from everywhere. Taiwan is cautious of the potential war, so young male like Zhang Zhen is mandatory for the military service. In the film, Zhang Zhen clear through the entire Taiwan and finally find Xiumei. His restless chasing of Xiumei resembles Taiwan’s desperate seeking of the United States’s support. However, as Xiumei only has a mild feeling for Zhang Zheng, the US government is essentially indifferent of the dilemma of Taiwan. In the film, Xiumei follows her own path and switches different workplaces for her own good. If her love for Zhang Zheng is strong, it would be strong enough to hold her in the first pool hall and let her wait for Zhang Zhen’s returning. Also, when they meet, Xiumei hardly shares any thought or talk but replies with laughter. When they are having dinner, they have separate food and separate thought. The story ends with one-night of happiness yet ambiguity of further future. Will Zhang Zheng leave on a bus the next morning or will he stay with Xiumei? How will the relationship between Taiwan and America go? Hou gives us no answer but a black screen allows the audience to contemplate and have their own response.
“Time of freedom” shows women and the Taiwanese inability to get freedom under the patriarchal society and Japanese occupation. In this episode, Hou adapts the style of silence films popular at the time of the story. However, this design does not sorely aim to evoke the nostalgia of the audience, as Hou did not make it in black and white to fully mimic the films at that era. The intentional usage of inter-captions captures more of the audience’s attention than the spoken dialogue. Through the sparse captions and limited scenes, we can outline the plot of story and understand character’s struggle. After the little sister is accepted as a concubine, she seems to escape from the hell of the brothel, but her situation does not change very much. From the old sister’s teaching, we learn that in both places her duty is to serve the man. Furthermore, the empty slot of the little sister is replaced by another young girl. This detail underlines the absurdity of freedom: one’s freedom is exchanged with the sacrifice of another one’s. After the leaving of the little sister and the refusal of her secret lover, the old sister will likely be trapped in the brothel forever and never set free. After knowing the fact, she swallows her tears inside and trembles her voice out in her performance. Contrary to women, the male protagonist is free to move in and out of the brothel, but he is also not free since his freedom is tightly bound to Taiwan’s freedom. As long as Taiwan does not gain its independence, he will have to travel and fight for the freedom of Taiwan. The conflicts better individual freedom and a larger concept of freedom are further underlined. Since he advocates against raising a concubine and he already has a wife, he cannot compromise and accept the old sister as his concubine. In this episode, the characters are all confined in the gloomy environment of the brothel, and freedom for them is the light outside that can never strike in. Although the title is translated as “a time for freedom”, the original Chinese title is more close to “a dream of freedom”. To this end, freedom for them is like an elegant dream that they can never attain in reality.
“Time for Youth” indicates the director’s attitude toward the past under the fast changes of modern Taiwan. It is confusing at first why Hou names this episode as the time of youth. Taiwan in 2005 is obviously order than Taiwan in 1922 or 1966. However, if we define “youth” as a fast pace of change, modern Taiwan is a “city of youth” with significant changes due to its economic uprising. This episode sketch a chaotic metropolitan, mixing with all kinds of modern elements: motorcycle, neon light, lesbian love, tattoo, digital sounds. In the first two episodes of the film, Hou applies his classical static long shot to make the time moves very slow. On the opposite, at the beginning of the third episode, the camera follows Shu Qi and Zhang Zhen who are riding on the motorcycle. We can visualize the speed through the back-flashing background and a close shot of the trembling hand of Shu Qi. In a time when the past is covered under the layers of new changes, Hou asks a question: how should we approach the past? Many people as Shu Qi chooses to live in the present of changes with no future and no past. She relentlessly pursues new things like rock, fashion, anarchy, and trans-love, and changes her lover casually. On the other side, people like Shu Qi’s girlfriend are stuck in the past and unwilling to change. Knowing her lover is leaving for another man, Shu Qi girlfriend cannot accept the fact and therefore presumably commit suicide. After the possible death of her girlfriend, Shu Qi lights a cigarette in the stillness of darkness and is lost in memory of past, the death of her two girlfriends. She can never clear out the past, and if she could learn from the past, the suicide of her ex-girlfriend, she might deal with the present better and will not cause another tragedy. I believe that is why Hou never gets tired of telling Taiwan’s history through his films. It is the history, such as the fight of independence, the impact of western culture, that builds today’s Taiwan. He might hope people can always remember the past, sweet or bitter, and learn from the past to serve for the present.
As the original subtitles suggested, in each time, in each time Taiwan has a “dream” to pursue but never really reach the dream. In the time for love, Taiwan is struggling to pursue the love of the United State; In the time for freedom, Taiwan fights for its freedom under the Japanese rule; In the Time of Youth, Taiwan fails to abandon its past to keep its youth. Though the three episode can be viewed separately, they are related due to the same actor and actress, the reoccurring sound tracks, and the similar theme: the delicacy of the dream, and the disillusion after the dream does not come true. In Hou’s perspective, present is defined of entwined history and ought not to be observed independent from the history.