1956-2003: Leslie Cheung & Happy Together

It's been 5 years since the passing of our beloved star Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing. How time flies! I've heard of his name for quite a while and the first time I really got to know about Leslie's work was with Farewell My Concubine, the performance that made him an acclaimed actor. At the time, I did not know of his sexual orientation. I just thought that the man did extremely well playing a young actor who was in love with his male colleague. However, his friend loved a woman played by Gong Li. When I rented the movie, the cover said that Gong Li's character would come between the friendship two men. At the time, I interpreted as her being loved by these two men only to find out that it was the total opposite of that. I still vividly remember the scene during which Leslie's and Gong Li's characters first met. Leslie's character was still in his female opera costumes and he politely nodded at Gong Li's to say hi. Then he walked into his room slowly with unchanged expressions, and all of a sudden, everybody heard the door slammed. I thought the scene was very well done and Leslie's performance exceeded expectations. It was too obvious that the man was full of jealousy of a third party in his relationship. I fell in love with Leslie right after this scene and ever since.

A few months ago, I got a chance to watch Happy Together, a collaboration of Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu Wai. This was yet another gay role for Leslie. I've always wanted to watch this movie for so many reasons. Two of my favorite actors playing gay lovers and Tony playing a homosexual for the first time; I would be ashamed to call myself a fan if I have not watched Happy Together.

SPOILERS ALERT!

It turned out the movie was done beautifully and the performances were top-notch. Tony & Leslie were lovers but Leslie was not serious with the relationship. He enjoyed having different partners, especially those who could cover his expenses. Both men came to Argentina to work (not quite clear on how they got to this country) and Leslie stated that he wanted to break up. They've used up all the money and Tony had to work at various jobs to earn a ticket back to Hong Kong. They bought a pretty lamp with animated image of Iguazu waterfall. Tony would love to go see the waterfall with Leslie but they never got the chance.

One night, Tony got drunk and came to ask Leslie why he had to suffer so much. It was because of Leslie that they got to Argentina; his money was gone and he could not make enough to go back to Hong Kong; and while he was working restlessly, Leslie was hanging around with different rich men. Leslie answered that he really wanted to be with Tony at the time but Tony punched him and left. Leslie was crying on his bed afterwards.

Leslie came to see Tony one time with his face and body all bruised. His boyfriend beat him up because he gave Tony a watch as a gift. The doctor bandaged Leslie's hands and so Tony had to take care of Leslie for quite some time. Everyday, Tony would go to work and stole the food or leftovers from the restaurant where he worked, or cooked for Leslie. He had to do all the bathing, feeding, putting Leslie in bed, etc... to nurture him back to health. Tony was really happy to be back with his lover but he knew Leslie was not a faithful person. Tony hid Leslie's passport and other things so Leslie could not leave. As expected, Leslie tried to leave once he was healthy again and asked for his passport but Tony refused to give it back. Nevertheless, Leslie left and did not come back to the apartment for a long time, giving Tony the second blow in their love life.

Tony continued to work hard to earn his way back to Hong Kong and gradually, he learned to forget. When he finally saved enough money, he wanted to do one last meaningful thing before leaving Argentina for good. He went to Iguazu waterfall and reminisced about the past. He was feeling very sad and wished that Leslie was here with him. It would be much nicer if both of them were to look at the beautiful waterfall together. He came back to Hong Kong and rebuilt his life, alone. Meanwhile, Leslie went back to the apartment to look for Tony. Either he got bored with his latest partner as usual or he had realized that Tony was the only person who treated him good, but it was too late. He waited and waited for hours, rearranged the items, cleaned the room, and made the bed. He then bursted into tears realizing that he had lost a loving and devoted relationship that would have belonged to him if he valued it.

Tony very much deserved his Best Actor Award for this performance. Leslie came very close behind only because his screen time was less. I just read an article about Leslie Cheung and there was a paragraph that mentioned how he persuaded Tony to feel comfortable filming their love scene in the movie. I thought it was a very nice drama behind the stage that we don’t get to know very often. I highly recommend Happy Together to anyone who knows how to appreciate the true beauty of performing arts.

Captures were done by me.
First image credit to respective owner.