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The first segment, titled A Time for Love, is set in 1966. We are in a billiard hall in Kaohsiung. Chang Chen plays Chen, a conscript on leave. Shu Qi plays May, a young woman who works at the pool hall.
For the first time in the film, Hou uses handheld cameras, rapid cuts, and jump cuts. The world is neon-lit, chaotic, full of cell phones and motorcycles. There is no silence here—only the hum of karaoke bars, traffic, and electronic music.
Why the shift? Because Hou Hsiao-hsien is diagnosing modern love. In the 1960s, love was delayed. In 1911, love was forbidden. But in 2005, love is lost. We have every technology to connect, yet we cannot touch each other’s souls.
By the film's conclusion, Hou Hsiao-Hsien has woven a complex tapestry. Three Times suggests that while the costumes, the technology, and the social mores change, the fundamental human need for connection remains constant.
The film asks a haunting question: Is the past truly "better," or do we merely romanticize the memory of it? In the first segment, love is defined by the sweetness of potential; in the second, by the tragedy of circumstance; in the third, by the confusion of freedom.
Three Times is a slow cinema masterpiece. It demands patience, rewarding the viewer with a lingering emotional resonance. It reminds us that cinema, like life, is ultimately about the passage of time—how
Three Times Zui hao de shi guang , 2005) is a triptych feature film directed by the acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien
. The film presents three distinct love stories set in different eras of Taiwan’s history, each starring the same two lead actors, Chang Chen , playing different characters. 1. A Time for Love (1966)
Set in Kaohsiung, this segment captures a nostalgic, lyrical romance between a soldier on leave and a pool-hall hostess.
: Naturalistic and deeply romantic, often described as Hou’s "best Wong Kar-wai impression". Key Motifs three times hou hsiao hsien
: The clicking of billiard balls, handwritten letters, and pop songs like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Rain and Tears".
: The transience of youth and the simple, tentative gestures of a growing attraction. 2. A Time for Freedom (1911)
This episode takes place in a high-class brothel during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Three Times - Film at Lincoln Center
"Three times Hou Hsiao Hsien: A Cinematic Odyssey
In the realm of Taiwanese New Wave cinema, one name stands out: Hou Hsiao Hsien. Three films, each a masterclass in storytelling, showcase the director's innovative spirit and poetic vision.
'A Summer's Snow' (1983), Hou's seventh feature, marks a turning point in his career. This deceptively simple tale of a young girl's journey through a snow-covered landscape explores themes of isolation and disconnection. Shot in stunning monochrome, the film mesmerizes with its tranquil pace and attention to detail.
Next, 'A Time to Kill' (1989) propels Hou into the international spotlight. A poignant exploration of youthful rebellion and social constraint, set against the backdrop of 1960s Taiwan, earned the film the Golden Leopard at the 1989 Locarno International Film Festival.
Lastly, 'The Puppetmaster' (1993) cements Hou's reputation as a cinematic poet. Based on the life of Li Pi-Hua, a renowned Taiwanese puppeteer, the film deconstructs the boundaries between reality and performance. Rich in texture and visual metaphor, 'The Puppetmaster' won the 1994 Best Director award at Cannes.
Three films, distinct yet interconnected, reveal Hou Hsiao Hsien's unique preoccupations: the fragility of human relationships, the tension between tradition and modernity, and the expressive potential of cinema itself. For those willing to immerse themselves in Hou's contemplative world, a rich cinematic odyssey awaits." The first segment, titled A Time for Love , is set in 1966
Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Three Times (2005) is considered a major feature and a "masterpiece" because it functions as a summary of his career, weaving together three distinct love stories set across a century of Taiwanese history. The Three Stories
The film features the same lead actors, Shu Qi and Chang Chen, playing different couples across three eras:
Hou Hsiao-hsien ’s Three Times (2005) is a masterful triptych that explores the evolving landscape of love and desire across three distinct eras of Taiwanese history. Using the same two lead actors—Shu Qi and Chang Chen—Hou crafts three separate narratives that examine how the social and political atmosphere of a time period fundamentally shapes human connection. 1. A Time for Love (1966)
Set in the coastal city of Kaohsiung, this segment is widely considered the film’s most lyrical and evocative chapter. The Complexity of Minimalism: Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times
The final segment crashes the viewer into the contemporary world of Taipei, 2005. Gone are the golden hues and the silences; instead, the screen is filled with neon lights, motorcycles, and the jagged rhythm of modern life.
Here, Chang Chen plays a bisexual photographer involved in a volatile relationship with a singer (Shu Qi), who is suffering from a potentially serious illness. This is a world of digital noise and emotional chaos. The characters are free from the social taboos of 1911 and the distance of 1966, yet they are profoundly unhappy.
The irony of "A Time for Youth" is palpable. In an age of instant communication and sexual liberation, the characters are emotionally disconnected, trapped in cycles of jealousy, ennui, and petty arguments. It creates a striking contrast with the previous segments: while technology and freedom have increased, the ability to connect deeply has seemingly diminished.
Hou’s late-career masterpiece. Set in 9th-century Tang dynasty, it follows a female assassin (Shu Qi) ordered to kill her cousin, a political lord she once loved.
There is a hidden fourth layer to Three Times that few critics discuss. In the final minutes of the 2005 segment, Zhang picks up a guitar and plays a song—the same melody that played on the radio in 1966. Jing, lying next to him, does not recognize it. She scrolls through her phone. The final segment crashes the viewer into the
That melody is the ghost that connects all three stories. It is the sound of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s own memory of Taiwan—an island that has been colonized, militarized, modernized, and forgotten. The melody says: We were once here. We touched. We left.
Three Times is not a film about three love stories. It is a film about one love story, repeated forever, in different costumes. And that is the real keyword: three times Hou Hsiao-hsien is not three different directors. It is the same patient, melancholic poet, watching the same two souls fail to meet, across a hundred years, across a single breath.
Watch it. Then watch it again. Then ask yourself: Which time are you living in right now?
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Why a pool hall? Because in Hou’s Taiwan of the 1960s, young people were in transition—between Japanese colonialism and martial law, between tradition and modernity. The billiard table becomes a metaphor: balls click, pockets swallow, but the game resets. The lovers circle each other like players, afraid to make the final shot.
By the end of the segment, Chen has returned to the army. May sends him a letter that arrives too late. The final shot is a long take of a bus driving away down a dirt road. We do not see faces. We see only dust.
Key takeaway: In this first "time," Hou shows us that love in the 1960s was a whispered secret—visible only in sideways glances and the lonely sound of a train passing at night.
Hou shoots this segment in his signature long takes—no close-ups, no reaction shots. The camera sits at a medium distance, watching the characters enter and exit the frame. There is a famous sequence where Chen searches for May across three different towns. We see him board a bus, wait in the rain, knock on a door, and leave. The entire sequence contains almost no dialogue.
This is Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first masterstroke: he understands that young love is defined not by what is said, but by the waiting. The boy waits for a letter. The girl waits for a visit. The audience waits for a kiss that never quite arrives.