What Time Is It Over There? (2002) Plot Summary Explained

Hsiao-kang refuses to sell his personal watch because he believes doing so would bring him bad luck during his period of mourning after his father's death. He is superstitious about parting with something so meaningful to him while he is still grieving, viewing the sale as potentially unlucky during this vulnerable time.

• hsiao-kang
• watch
• refused sale
• grief
• superstition
• paris

After his father's death, Hsiao-kang uses the Paris time as a form of escapism. Watching 'The 400 Blows', a film set in Paris, further fuels his obsession. By setting every clock and watch to Paris time, he creates a symbolic connection to both the film and to Shiang-chyi, who has traveled there, using it as a way to mentally escape his grief and the painful atmosphere at home.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Shiang-chyi specifically asks for a dual-time watch to know the time in Paris, establishing Hsiao-kang's fixation on the city.

• paris time
• clocks
• escapism
• the 400 blows
• hsiao-kang
• grief

Hsiao-kang's mother is deeply entrenched in grief and denial following her husband's death. As she watches Hsiao-kang repeatedly change the clocks, she becomes convinced that these time changes are spiritual signs that her husband is returning to her. This belief represents her desperate attempt to maintain a connection with her deceased spouse and cope with her overwhelming loneliness.

• mother
• grief
• husband's return
• time changes
• spiritual belief
• denial

The encounter is a direct intertextual reference to François Truffaut's 'The 400 Blows,' in which Jean-Pierre Léaud famously played the troubled protagonist Antoine Doinel. Meeting the actor in Paris, where the film is set, highlights Shiang-chyi's own sense of alienation and longing in a foreign city. It underscores the film's themes of urban isolation and the search for connection in unexpected places.

Foreshadowing: Hsiao-kang watches 'The 400 Blows' repeatedly, establishing the film's importance as a connection between the two characters.

• jean-pierre leaud
• the 400 blows
• cemetery
• paris
• intertextual
• shiang-chyi

The mysterious figure appears to resemble Hsiao-kang's deceased father. Given the film's ambiguous and ghostly tone, this figure seems to represent a spiritual manifestation or hallucination, possibly a symbol of unresolved connections between the living and the dead. His act of retrieving the suitcase creates a haunting link between the parallel narratives of Taipei and Paris, suggesting themes of grief transcending physical boundaries.

• mysterious figure
• father
• pool
• suitcase
• ghost
• resolution

When Hsiao-kang engages the prostitute, he falls asleep after their encounter. While he sleeps, she steals his briefcase filled with watches and leaves. This event represents another instance of loss in Hsiao-kang's life, the briefcase was his livelihood as a street vendor. The theft underscores his vulnerability and the transactional, ultimately disconnected nature of his attempt at human connection.

• prostitute
• briefcase
• theft
• watches
• hsiao-kang
• loss

Shiang-chyi breaks down beside a pool in Paris because she is overwhelmed by loneliness and longing despite being in one of the world's most romantic cities. Her encounters in Paris, the surreal meeting with Jean-Pierre Léaud and the fleeting connection with another Chinese woman who abruptly leaves, have left her emotionally drained. The pool scene represents her isolation and the gap between her expectations of Paris and the emotional reality she experiences.

• shiang-chyi
• pool
• tears
• loneliness
• paris
• isolation

The ending leaves both Hsiao-kang and Shiang-chyi in states of emotional limbo, lying beside their respective grief, unable to fully connect with others or find closure. The mysterious figure's appearance creates a supernatural link between their parallel stories, suggesting that grief and longing transcend physical distance. The unresolved nature reflects the film's meditation on how loss lingers and how human connection remains perpetually out of reach, even when desperately sought.

• ending
• unresolved
• connections
• grief
• parallel narratives
• loss

Hsiao-kang's mother continues to set a place for her dead husband at the dinner table as part of her grieving ritual. This act represents her inability to accept his death and her desperate attempt to maintain normalcy and connection. By preserving his place at the table, she clings to the hope that he might still return, demonstrating the depth of her denial and loneliness.

• mother
• dinner table
• husband
• grief
• ritual
• denial

The Paris and Taipei storylines are connected through the characters' shared experiences of grief, loneliness, and longing for connection. Both Hsiao-kang and Shiang-chyi are searching for something, Hsiao-kang escapes into a fantasy of Paris through clocks and films, while Shiang-chyi physically travels there but finds only isolation. The mysterious figure at the end literally bridges their worlds, suggesting their emotional journeys are intertwined despite the geographic distance.

• paris
• taipei
• parallel narratives
• connection
• hsiao-kang
• shiang-chyi

The watch represents multiple themes: time's passage and how we measure grief, connection across distance through the dual-time watch, and Hsiao-kang's livelihood and personal attachments. Selling his watch means parting with his last connection to his father and his only source of income. The act of setting all clocks to Paris time becomes a ritual of escape, while the stolen briefcase of watches signifies his complete loss.

• watch
• time
• symbol
• dual-time
• paris
• grief
• loss