2046 (2004) - Thoughts and a theory

The best, most accurate description i can give to any of WKW’s work, is: gently torturous. From the first few sentences of the film alone, i knew it was going to be another masterpiece:

"Every passenger going to 2046 has the same intention: they want to recapture lost memories. Because nothing ever changes in 2046. Nobody really knows if that's true because nobody has ever come back. Except me."

This is the best and most interesting Wong Kar-Wai plot i’ve seen so far. As most of WKW’s projects, it’s about loneliness, lost memories, regret and longing for someone from your past.

After protagonist Chow got rejected by Su Li-Zhen, we see him become an emotionally unavailable philanderer: "having fun" (casually) with multiple women, but afraid of commitment. Reality was, he was desperately trying to re-find the love of his life, Su Li-Zhen, in someone else. He was staying at room 2047 of a small hotel, and would get intimately close with women that would move in on the room next door, room 2046, as an attempt to relive his past relationship with Su Li-Zhen, somehow. But sadly "In love you can't bring on a substitute" he realized. No matter how hard you try. Even if he finds another woman named exactly Su Li-Zhen, it’s never going to satisfy his longing for his past love Su Li-Zhen.

"I once fell in love with someone.

I couldn't stop wondering if she loved me back.

I found an android which looked just like her.

I hoped she would give me the answer.

But the android only mirrored my questions,

never her answers."

So he ultimately decided, that if he can’t have his Su Li-Zhen, he is never going to love / open his heart to anyone ever again:

"Do you remember you asked me if there was anything I wouldn't lend? I've given it a lot of thought and now I know there is one thing I'll never lend to anyone."

In that exact way, he broke Bai’s heart and left, in the end of the film, just like Su Li-Zhen broke his heart at the beginning of the film. That makes me wonder whether the same thing happened to Su Li-Zhen and that’s the reason she rejected him. Maybe she was trying to find a past lover of hers in Chow and realized that’s impossible, so she decided to get rid of him in a way and not "lend" him her love. In that case, i get a "hurt people, hurt people" sort of message. And also, what if now the same thing happens to Bai? Maybe Bai then met someone else who really fell for her but all she was trying to do was find Chow in him, so she broke his heart.

What if this is a never-ending cycle of meeting someone stuck on a past partner of theirs, falling in love with them, realizing they are emotionally unavailable, getting heartbroken, then becoming emotionally unavailable yourself?