In order to express my remembrance, I specially watched "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf". Previously, I had seen the stage version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in Broadway theaters. I thought the film was just a screen copy of the show. After seeing it, it suddenly became clear why the famous singer Elton John would make such a assertion: We have just lost a Hollywood legend, and most importantly, we have lost a great man; why the famous movie star Ubi Goldberg Will be so sad to say: Taylor's departure is the end of an era; why American Film Institute President Chris Dudd will be so conclusive: Taylor has become a symbol of the United States. Elizabeth Taylor’s performing arts have become so prosperous in "Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf", it is enough to compare with the heroine Fei in another drama-based film "A Streetcar Named Desire" (A Streetcar Named Desire). Wenli's superb acting skills are comparable. After being shocked, my thoughts were combined to form this article. All the following discussion will start with those two dramas.
1. "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf" are
two plays by two different famous American playwrights. The former is Tennessee Williams and the latter is Edward Al Than (Edward Albee). The two have a common feature, they are both homosexuals. These two plays are the culmination of the two playwrights. People can not only find the indisputable classicism from them, but also find the temperament of the playwright in the heroine of the play. The difference between each other is that Williams seen from the heroine Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire" is feminine, or feminine; while from the heroine Martha in "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf" The Albi that he felt was male, or masculine. It seems to be speculating what role they play in their respective love lives.
To say that Williams is a woman is obviously an exaggeration; but it is undoubtedly appropriate to say that this playwright is good at portraying American Southern ladies. If the literary works are usually the author's inner master, it can be established; then Williams' self-expression is achieved through the image of the southern lady he loves. From Laura in the debut novel "The Glass Menagerie" to Blanche in the famous "A Streetcar Named Desire", and even the many heroines in Wisdom's subsequent dramas, they constitute a faint resentment. Southern Lady Series. Only from the appearance of gender, it may be possible to read the shadow of Williams' sister; but in terms of the temperament of these southern ladies, it is almost a portrayal of Williams himself.
However, if Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire" is only examined in Williams' Southern Lady series, it is far from enough in terms of its image and depth. Because of the image of such a woman, its cultural background and aesthetic origin can be traced back to at least Katie in William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury, or Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone With Scarlett in The Wind). It is very interesting that the Chinese translation of the film based on the novel "Gone with the Wind" is called "Gone with the Wind", and its heroine Scarlett is also played by Fei Wenli.
Compared with the youthfulness of his debut work "Glass Zoo", Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" is mature and perfect. Aesthetics sometimes requires a distance. The character modeling of "Bo" is too close to the author's own real life, close to the stage version of his family members and their family conflicts. Such a close portrayal not only makes the lines lack of strong drama, but also makes the overall idea lose its due imagination, which makes it quite loose in structure and even not without chaos. On the contrary, because the drama "Desire" jumped out of the limitations of the author's life, the imagination space suddenly opened up, and thus successfully launched a pair of vivid, metaphorical and symbolic characters, Blanche and Stanley; in the meantime , And paired with a pair of supporting male and female characters like two green leaves: Blanche's sister Stella, Stanley's friend later became Blanche's lover, Mickey. This combination of characters has prepared a natural plot structure and conflict opportunities for the whole drama. The success of the play is inevitable.
How to focus the drama conflict into an aesthetically powerful character image is probably the key to the success of traditional drama. Whether it is the author or director of "Street Car", it happens to be tacit understanding and cooperating on this key point. As a result, when the play was moved from the stage to the screen, Williams agreed to let the original stage director Kazan direct, and never allowed other directors to get involved. Kazan lived up to expectations and made the entire film turbulent, layered and methodical. The exquisite and elegant Vivien Leigh and the rugged and powerful Malone Brando, with a sharp personality contrast and a strong temperament contrast, both achieved the most incisive and incisive play.
Arthur Miller, another American playwright who is as famous as Williams, once commented: The premiere of "A Streetcar Named Desire" is tantamount to planting a banner of beauty on the land of commercial drama. Another expression of this comment should be that, among the many Broadway dramas, the drama "Street Car" stands out from the crowd.
Of course, with the foundation shown by Arthur Miller in his masterpiece "Death Of A Salesman", I am afraid it may not be possible to clearly see the aesthetic meaning of "Street Car". An American playwright who can see through the aesthetic landscape of "Street Cars" should be the premier classic in the history of American theater, the author of "Long Day's Journey Into the Night" (Long Day's Journey Into the Night), Eugene O'Neill. This play was written in the 1930s and was not put on stage until 25 years later in accordance with the author's will. Based on the discord within a family, it describes the survival dilemma faced by the entire human race. In contrast, "Street Car" is through the conflict between a lady and a reckless man, and utters the sorrow that human culture will inevitably produce in the process of being civilized. Although Williams himself did not realize this aesthetic connotation, Blanche described Stanley as an ape without evolution, rather than a beast that was tortured by the process of civilization, like Marlon Brando who played Stanley. Feel like that. By the way, this also proves that the actor's sense of character is sometimes better than that of the original author; it also proves that literature is always deeper than philosophy, and the depth of aesthetics usually transcends rational thinking.
As a spiritual culture, it is inherently soft and weak, just like Vivien Li’s image of Blanche. The objectification of the spirit, or the result of being civilized, is always hard and ruthless, just like Marlon Brando's vivid interpretation of the image of Stanley. Such a contrast, even in ancient Greek tragedies, only appeared in Euripides' "Women of Trojan". Ancient Greek tragedies are usually masculine heroic Aeschylus, just like the majestic landscape shown in Homer's epic poem "Iliad." Of the three major tragedies, it seems that only Euripides has realized that the so-called victors and conquerors are actually just a bunch of hard-headed fools, and the women and children ravaged by the conquerors are like green branches torn down by the storm. And flowers. Therefore, when Aristotle defined tragedy as "purification of the soul," he was only half right. Because the more aesthetic tragedy is usually not the purification of the soul, but the destruction of life and the burial of culture. As far as the tragic definition of soul purification is concerned, Aristotle only understood "Prometheus" but not "Trojan Women". And the aesthetic meaning of "Street Car" happens to be that it is completely "Trojan Women": the soul is not so much purified as it is to be tortured.
Perhaps it is because of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy that Arthur Miller will continue to say this when commenting on "Street Cars": Williams’s play is better than his other works before and after. Closer to tragedy. In fact, "Street Car" is not "closer to tragedy", but a typical tragedy. "Streetcar" is not just a tragedy written by Aeschylus or Sophocles, but a tragedy like Euripides. Such tragedies are not so much used to purify the soul, as it is to directly show how the beautiful mind is destroyed in the inherent materialization process of civilization.
Goethe should be a writer who is skeptical of Aristotle's definition of tragedy, otherwise, he would not show the image of Gan Leiqing in "Faust" and question the formation of civilization. But whether it’s Goethe’s understanding of tragedy, Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, or Euripides’s tragic connotation, it all shows that as far as aesthetics is concerned, tragedy can only be established in the sense of existence, not in the sense of existence. Stop at the survival level. The struggle for survival described by Arthur Miller in "Death of a Salesman" is not so much a tragedy as a comedy. If Arthur Miller himself thinks the drama is a tragedy, then he should think about why Balzac named all the joys and sorrows of life and death as "Comedy on Earth". As for the "Death of a Salesman" in the New York Times that year promoted his "Death of a Salesman" as a milestone in twentieth-century drama, it was not so much a phrase as a rhetoric, and it exposed this newspaper because of its consistent The left-wing tendency has caused it to be as shallow as ever. Even if Eugene O’Neill’s many classics are removed from the American dramas of the 20th century, and the "Long Night Along the Road" is removed, the drama that can be called a milestone is still not in the turn of "Death of a Salesman." Enough for this honor, there are Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Albee's "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf". "Death of a Salesman" is at best a stage version of Dreiser's novels such as "Sister Carrie" and "An American Tragedy".
If the image of Blanche in "Street Car" can be regarded as the historical end of the image of Scarlett in "Gone with the Wind" and the image of Katie in "The Sound and the Fury", then "Who is afraid of Virginia Wool" Martha in "Fu" is like the magical resurrection of the dead Blanche. Where Blanche fell, Martha stood up super tough. The same smoking and drinking, but no longer weak; the same sensitivity, but no longer dreamy, but a sullen cynicism. Blanche, who looks like a dream girl, grew up proudly in the "Who" play and became Martha who doesn't care about anything. The longing of the past has now turned into a cynic and cynicism.
Martha could have been portrayed as a very wonderful image of a woman, if Albi was a little bit pitiful. But Albi not only doesn't treat Martha as a woman, but also makes Martha keep saying the dirty words that Albi wants to say. Albi was born at the mouth of Martha, ridiculing professors and scholars and their academic system and academic politics in the sense of earning a living. Gentlemen and ladies, unscrupulously tore up the seemingly happy marriage, and made two golden boys and girls-like couples torn apart.
Contrary to Williams's natural girlish intestines, Albi is a complete urchin. This prodigal son, who never knew who his parents were, had an inherent rebellious character. When he was young, he ran away from a wealthy foster family and has since been in various places in New York. Albee lived like a fish on the streets of New York. This city has nurtured Ginsberg, Kailuac, Joseph Heller, Norman Merlot, Andy Warhol and Martha Graham, and it has certainly become Albi’s paradise. Albi not only doesn't need the shelter of his family, but he also refuses to grow up in a school, because the city has plenty of plenty for him to study. Corresponding to leaving the rich family, Albee also fled his college career and threw himself into New York’s Greenwich Village to engage in various businesses, such as radio clerk, merchandise salesman, and company errands. For Albi, doing everything is better than sitting obediently in class and listening to the unpredictable nonsense of professors. It is based on this kind of tramp experience and tramp character that Albi wrote his first shocking absurd drama, "The Zoo Story". From then on, he used the stage to desecrate the upper class and society. A decent career in drama.
The absurd playwright Albi is not only the nemesis of upper class society, but also the natural enemy of secular society. However, unlike Williams, he will not use a tough man like Marlon Brando to destroy the woman who is his incarnation; instead, he will let the men and women he hate, one by one, tear their faces apart, open their chests, and dig out. Out of the internal organs. If he has some respect for a female image like Martha, then it is because Martha has the hardness of Marlon Brando, and even more because Martha can blurt out the cruel words that Albi wants to say at every turn.
Contrary to Williams who usually shuttles between different roles, Albi never takes all kinds of roles seriously. Because all the characters are speaking the punch line that Albi wants to say together. In other words, many of the characters in Albi's play can actually be attributed to the same role, that is Albi himself. In the "Who" play, Albi lowered his voice for a while and played the role of George, a professor of history; for a while, he squeezed his throat and pretended to be the young lady of the visiting professor's home. Albi asked Martha to seduce the golden boy teacher Nick, and Martha's professor husband to humiliate the ambitious biological coquettish. Ping-pong-pong, noisy and noisy, and foul language like a downpour, splashing on the heads of the audience. If this is an absurd drama, then it is similar to some modernist painting's nonsense; if it is an almost boring farce, it has a deep meaning in it. It should be noted that Albee not only chose Virginia Woolf, the leading female writer of the 20th century who eventually committed suicide, throughout the play, but also specifically asked the history professor to read Spin calmly when his old wife seduce Jin Tong Nick. Geller's masterpiece, "The Decline Of The West" (The Decline Of The West). As for the two couples on stage, it is even more meaningful. One pair seems to have lived to the end of life, while the life of the other pair has just begun. One pair symbolizes the past, and one pair metaphors the future. And that kind of past is very likely to be the future that is approaching. In other words, the so-called future is actually just a repetition of the past. And so on.
It cannot be said that Albi, who dropped out after a year of university study, was ignorant, at least he might understand the book "The Decline of the West". Not to mention that Albi's works are nothing but pranks like smashing glass windows when he was a child. After watching the drama "Who", most audiences have to admit that the author is indeed a genius. Compared with "Waiting for Godot", the pioneering work of the absurd drama, Albi's play may be a bit inferior, but in the history of American theater, Albi's "Who" is enough to give a glimpse of the mountains.
Just as T·S·Elliott described a cultural ruin in the long poem "The Wasteland", Albee showed a kind of withering soul in "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf". This is the inevitable result of the materialized history of human culture being civilized. This kind of withering, whether it emerges from the factory chimney or drifts on the grass of the campus, it is all the same in its bones. When the mists of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and the like were permeated in American schools, and the humanities education disciplines were almost a dumping ground for spiritual waste, Albi unwittingly became a prophet. Of course, if someone compliments Albi to his face as a prophet, Albi will certainly laugh out loud. Because what Albi was holding in his hand when he was writing was not the "Bible", but an invisible hammer, struck hard at the thing called the soul. This may be Albi's unique way of soul torture in the drama, constantly beating and beating, letting the blood drip and the brain splashing everywhere. In the end, it may be fruitless. Unless God favors the gift of luck, he may knock out a Wang Qingquan. Na Wang Qingquan, in Ingmar Bergman's movie, is called the Virgin Spring.
Albi’s lines are, of course, full of violence, as if it were an indiscriminate bombardment carried out by B52 on the stage; but Albi’s penetration of human nature in the "Who" play is truly unparalleled. It is such a real penetration that Martha in the play is no longer as pitiful as Blanche in "Street Car", but as sharp as Woolf, and has the humor that Woolf does not possess. If Woolf who committed suicide was desperate, then Martha who was watching her life was strong. When Martha finally said that she was afraid of Virginia Woolf, she was not so much a retreat, as she did not want to fall into the quagmire of despair. Suppose her husband continues to ask: Are you really afraid of Virginia Woolf? Martha might laugh out loud. Fortunately, the whole drama ended, eliminating the endless ridicule and ridicule of restarting. But one fact is certain. Albee, who stands behind Martha, will never commit suicide like Woolf, but will live a life with his same-sex wife. He is more than 80 years old and has been living so far. Alive. Occasionally, he would stand in front of the New York Library and brave the wind and snow to join the ranks of protesting dictatorship countries. Albi, who was nurtured and raised in the city of New York, has both the insight into the world like Woolf, and the strong vitality of Marlon Brando, making it a leader in the vigor of the play. After watching Albi's drama, I didn't want to fall asleep or pretend to meditate, but want to rush into the wilderness and run wildly.
It can be seen from this that in order to play Albi's drama, what kind of gifts an actor must have. It can also be seen from this that Burton, who once played the Roman general in "Cleopatra", lacks the strength he deserves compared to Marlon Brando in "Street Car". Burton, who had worn a general's helmet, immediately became shaky as soon as he walked into Albi's play. On the contrary, Elizabeth Taylor, who plays Martha, is as happy as a fish; as if the role of Martha was tailor-made for her Taylor.
2. Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor
In the history of Hollywood film, there are two actresses who can be tied for superstars and deserve the title of the greatest performing artist: Vivien Leigh, who won the Oscar for Best Actress in "A Streetcar Named Desire", because of " Who is afraid of Elizabeth Taylor, who won the same award in "Virginia Woolf". In terms of beauty and beauty, Ingrid Bergman and Audrey Hepburn are not inferior to these two actresses; in terms of their superb acting skills, Catherine Hepburn and Meryl Streep are not inferior they. The luck of these two actresses is that they have appeared in the two classic films with the most aesthetic value in the history of Hollywood movies; the excellence of these two actresses is that they have performed their respective roles to the point where they became movies. The one and only screen that is irreplaceable in history is out of print. It can be said that because of the unparalleled performances of these two actresses, later generations can no longer reproduce and remake these two films.
There are two types of artists, one is born, usually called genius; the other is acquired through hard work, and is often resorted to difficult and bumpy journeys. The genius on the stage or the screen is as few as stars. For example, in the history of Western opera, the genius tenor seems to be Caruso, and the only genius soprano is Callas. Speaking of the genius of film performance art, the male star is undoubtedly Chaplin, and the female star should be Vivien Leigh.
Vivien Leigh's natural composition is not only in the ease of performance in performance, but also in the extraordinary temperament, like a work of art that does not require any carving, and is already radiant, so it is called a masterpiece of God. Those famous roles she has played are difficult for future generations to recreate. Such as Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, Laura in Waterloo Bridge, Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Vivien Leigh's eyes, using words such as beautiful and beautiful, can't describe the enchanting charm of him. In particular, her dreamlike eyes, when playing Scarlett, are as smart as an angel flying; when playing Laura, they are as sad as weeping, enough to make all the audience become heartbroken in an instant. When it comes to playing Blanche, he is in a trance as if he is sleepwalking, so that a ray of poetry, like the top light in Rembrandt's paintings, is cast into the dilapidated darkness. The desolate soprano aria in Puccini's opera "Tosca", "for art, for love", is the vivid portrayal of Vivien Li's unique poetic temperament. If Blanche, played by Vivien Leigh, suddenly sings this aria in the film, not only will it not look abrupt at all, but it will be as if it were a beautiful dragon. Although Blanche in the film loves to listen to the polka dance "Vasso Verna", likes the folk song "Goodnight Mrs.", and hums "Paper Moon" in the bathroom.
The most difficult part of Blanche's role in "Street Cars" is his neurotic personality. If you go too far, Blanche will completely become a mentally ill patient, and he may be aesthetically dilute and pity; if you sing in a low voice, you will be frivolous and even pretentious. And Vivien Leigh’s extraordinary vulgarity just happens to be that she can blend the role with her own vicissitudes of life naturally and unadornedly, so that the role of Blanche can be played like her own experience. Don't talk about the audience, maybe even Vivien Li himself can't tell which is Vivien Li and which is Blanche. Vivien Leigh's devotion to achieve unprecedented success in art is also costly. Just as Blanche ended up in a psychiatric hospital in "Street Car", after Vivien Leigh played the film, he also collapsed and was sent directly from the set to the hospital.
The image of Blanche played by Vivien Leigh is enough to write a treatise and savor it carefully. Especially her scent and expression of Blanche's neuroticism is amazing. Here is just one example to get a glimpse of the whole leopard. At the end of the film, Blanche hesitated for a moment, plucking up the courage to walk out of it. After passing the poker table, she seemed to habitually say to the group of men casually: No need to stand up, I just happened to pass by. His expression is neither humble nor overbearing, his tone is neither cold nor hot, and he does not look away, only the light from the corner of his eye passes by. It looked quite normal, but I didn't realize it smiled after thinking about it. A woman who was driven mad was polite to the cow and played the piano and waved goodbye to the unbearable darkness. This is a helpless farewell for women, but this group of men have to face the huge dilemma of whether they are a human or an animal. In other words, who is normal?
Another difficulty for Blanche’s role should be how to reflect the nobility in poverty? If the acting is arrogant and compelling, it will appear to be a little inferior; if the acting is low-pitched, the role itself has been lost. With such a difficult problem, Chinese audiences only need to imagine Lin Daiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions" suddenly falling into a slum, and then they will know how embarrassing and difficult it is to express. Fortunately, Vivien Leigh, who once appeared as a woman in the dust in "Broken Blue Bridge", is as sensitive as Lin Daiyu, but not as weak as Sister Lin. After all, it is an aristocratic woman who has evolved from the image of Scarlett. Whether the role itself is inherited from the history of Southern American ladies, or the actor's own education and endowment, that kind of natural and unique noble temperament, even if she is in 18 hells. , Still not succumbed to vulgarity.
Blanche's last scene, while tearing people down, shows what elegance is. It was not the bravery with the head held high, nor the weak and weak breath, but the painful tossing and struggling on the ground, and suddenly saw the gentleman's arm stretching over her head. So she stood up, calmly holding the handsome old man, as if attending a social party organized by the court, and gracefully walking out of the dirty apartment.
This scene is reminiscent of the old lady of Shanghai being forced to pull a dung car during the Cultural Revolution. Wearing sleeves, ragged clothes, unkempt, but the look on the face, the luster in the eyes, and the demeanor are still there, and there is a lot of grace in it.
The most profound aspect of Blanche's image lies in her confusion. Blanche, who appeared in that noisy apartment, suddenly fell into a completely unfamiliar world. He didn't know what happened and what kind of life was ahead. Such confusion is not only dreamy, but also obsessive and unrepentant. Blanche's lines thus acquired a self-talking character. It seems to be muttering to God indomitably: You can change the whole world, but you can't change me, you can't change me, you can't.
No matter what kind of cliff stood in front of her, Blanche regarded it as a door of hope that could be knocked on. She kept tapping, tapping, not so much looking forward to a miracle, but rather ending up with the hopeless door that couldn't be opened. It is this perseverance so persistent that the image of Blanche has acquired the same poetic flavor as the Trojan women in Euripides' tragedy. This kind of poetry, not to mention that Arthur Miller, the author of "Death of a Salesman," could not understand it, even Tennessee Williams, the author of "Street Car", could not really appreciate it. Otherwise, Blanche's dislike of Stanley would not be written as Southern Lady's dislike of a great ape.
However, the playwright didn't understand the meaning, and Vivien Leigh, who played Blanche, was tacitly aware of the role. This is not because Vivien Leigh is smarter than Williams, but the great actress herself is more poetic than the playwright and director Kazan. If it is said that the writer and director’s unique poetic taste for Blanche’s image needs to be slowly acquired, then Vivien Leigh does not need such acquisition, because her existence itself is a poem. A poignant and poignant long poem. Both the playwright and the director only understood the image of Blanche to the level of a lady in the south. Only Vivien Leigh unknowingly played the image of Blanche to the kind of human poetry that Holderlin said. This point on earth. No wonder Williams would say that Vivien Leigh not only performed the role he expected, but also performed meaning beyond his hopes.
There is no doubt that Vivien Leigh’s success includes acquired experience and taste in addition to talent. However, even if acquired polishing is indispensable, such polishing is not inspired by the playwright and director, but Vivien Leigh has achieved it by himself in her life. In a sense, the collision of Vivien Leigh as Stanley played by Blanche and Marlon Brando in the film was actually previewed in the marriage with Oliver Lawrence, who has successfully played Hamlet. pass. Although the temperament of Lawrence is completely different from Brando, his marriage with Vivien Leigh should have great enlightening significance for Vivien Leigh to appreciate Blanche's role. This is something neither Williams nor Kazan can do.
As far as the film itself is concerned, the one that most directly contributed to the integration of the images of Vivien Leigh and Blanche was Marlon Brando, who played the opposite role with her. When Brando showed his bulging arms in a close-up shot, especially the bulging muscles set off by a white undershirt, it would remind people of a picture of a German modernist painter, composed of round pipes. , Symbolizing the power of modern industrial civilization, also means the rigidity and coldness of this power itself. The Blanche played by Vivien Leigh symbolizes the poetry that is passing away, while the image of Stanley played by Marlon Brando is a metaphor for the rapidly emerging and powerful modern civilization.
The confrontation between Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando is a perfect match made in heaven. The vigorous wildness inherent in Vivien Leigh's heart corresponds exactly to Marlon Brando's rebelliousness; one is soft on the outside and hard on the inside, and the other is soft on the outside and soft on the inside. Vivien Leigh made Blanche's image deep through the collision with Marlon Brando, and at the same time he unintentionally fulfilled Marlon Brando's tough guy role in the film; although more prominently, it is the opponent. Savage and violent.
As far as the history of Hollywood is concerned, just as John Wayne became a symbol of cowboy images in Western films, Marlon Brando pioneered the American-style urban tough guy on the screen. Unlike John Wayne who starred in many westerns, Marlon Brando has basically established an American-style urban tough guy image by relying on two classics, "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Dock Storm". Later, his role as Don Corioni in "The Godfather" is just a further expansion of this image. This kind of tough guy image finally came to the fore by famous movie stars such as Paul Newman, Rob De Niro, Jack Nicholson and so on. As for the later Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc., it can be said to be the ulcer of this kind of image.
Although Marlon Brando played the leading actor in "Street Car", this role can only serve as a foil to Blanche's image from any angle. Because the image of Blanche is the focus of the whole play. In the metaphor of rising water, the hero is the water, and the heroine is the boat. The higher the water rises, the more conspicuous the boat. Marlon Brando’s performance was extremely successful, just as Vivien Leigh played Blanche to the point where it is irrelevant to each other, Marlon Brando also portrayed Stanley’s image to a blend of true and false. If Blanche’s image is like the Trojan women described by Euripides, then Marlon Brando alone has to perform as large and heavy as the Greek allied forces in "Trojan Women". The brutality of the occupiers in that play is all condensed into the beast-like temperament of Stanley in this film.
When all the people on the screen are angry at Stanley, the audience in the theater will unknowingly hate Marlon Brando. By the way, it was because Marlon Brando acted so realistically that the Oscar judges that year couldn't bear it, and abruptly refused to award him the best actor award he deserved. When the heroine and supporting actor and actress are all awarded, it is impossible to justify the omission of the actor. This is not so much the judges' lack of eyesight, as it is that they were confused by Marlon Brando's acting skills. An even more interesting episode is that Marlon Brando himself hates his image of Stanley and declares that this image is a beast, not a person. Therefore, he must understand the emotions of the judges, which is not so much a disapproval of his performance, as it is another kind of compliment to him.
Because of Marlon Brando's powerful contrast, Vivien Leigh's Blanche image is more sad and embarrassing than Laura in "Broken Blue Bridge". Compared to the Scarlett image she played back then, Blanche is almost an extinct version of that kind of image. The so-called southern lady, like a dinosaur, disappeared completely through "A Streetcar Named Desire". When the car carrying Blanche rushed to the mental hospital drove away from the screen, whether the world left behind, together with the masses of beings who continued to live in this world, was really normal than Blanche might be a huge question. What makes people even more sad is that after the filming, Vivien Leigh was also taken away like Blanche.
A few years later, Vivien Leigh reappeared on the screen, starring in "Ship of Fools" (Ship of Fools). The film did not get the sensation of "A Streetcar Named Desire", no matter how hard she made. Because of Blanche's image, it is not only the pinnacle of Vivien Leigh, but also the artistic end of her acting career. Since then, no matter how ambitious she was, she couldn't surpass the brilliance in "Street Car".
If Vivien Li is like an art angel flying in heaven, then Elizabeth Taylor is a movie queen who triumphs on earth. Not only the talent of acting, but even the beauty of the country and the heavens, Taylor is not known for his dreamy eyes, but for his sexy look. Compared with the pyrotechnic elegance of Vivien Leigh, whether it is screen career or life journey, Elizabeth Taylor has done a great job. It is impossible to imagine that Vivien Leigh will have the ability to do perfume business, but such pragmatism happens to be Taylor's director. Contrary to Vivien Leigh's deep affection for Oliver Lawrence like an innocent girl, Taylor's love story is as happy as a bear and a blind boy breaking corn. There are eight formal marriages alone, including a comedy of remarriage.
Comparing Vivien Leigh's Scarlett image with Taylor's girl image in "The Jade Goddess Horse", the same famous work, Vivien Leigh poured inner vitality into Scarlett's image; the key is usually bright and cute The latent wildness at all times is like a volcanic eruption, erupting. For example, Scarlett, who was thrown halfway by Barrett, drove the carriage running wildly in the red flames. But Taylor’s girly look is not interesting. Welvey Brown in "The Jade Goddess Horse" is known for being lively; I don’t know when she will suddenly have any weird thoughts; just like I don’t know Taylor in adulthood. , Accidentally fancy which handsome man.
Vivien Leigh’s wildness is internal, similar to Woolf’s arrogance and perseverance like Woolf. The only difference is that Woolf’s obsession is thought and spirit, and Vivien Leigh’s obsession is love. Elizabeth Taylor’s creative vitality is very different from Vivien Leigh. It is not due to a deep pursuit, but a yearning for success and happiness in the world. Based on this temperament, Taylor is good at playing secular women on the screen. Whether it is a good wife type ("The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof") or a dusty type ("The Brothel"), he can sway freely. Taylor's most brilliant secular look is of course Cleopatra in "Cleopatra"; and her most in-depth screen image is Martha in "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf".
Martha is the ultimate work of Elizabeth Taylor, and its meaning is the same as the image of Blanche to Vivien Leigh. Taylor reached the pinnacle of her acting achievement in the image of Martha, just as she achieved the most mundane satisfaction when she played the Queen of Cleopatra. After these two extreme satisfactions, it is reasonable to move towards ethereal. The story of Taylor's turning to ethereal is a year-end friendship with pop star Uranus Mike Jackson. The interaction with the Uranus singer who has always been like a child and has never grown up makes it possible for Taylor to return from a vicissitudes of life journey back to the purity of his youth. This may be Taylor’s third peak experience in the sense of satisfaction, converting from a secular life to the age of virginity.
Among the many meditations, there is a way to reach the fastest relaxation. Just tighten your fists hard, the tighter the more effective. Because once it is too tight, the palm will loosen naturally, and begin to relax. If Taylor's relationship with Michael Jackson is a relaxed state, then her performance in "Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf" is the last one.
Of course, Taylor's tension in the "Who" drama is not a nervous shiver, but a cynical madness. This is also the main point of the whole film: the characters in the play are all in a state of loss of balance. The everyday elegance, calmness, and sudden disappearance, transformed into fear as if something terrible was about to happen. As a result, everyone began to ridicule each other like comforting themselves, until they were exhausted, and the curtain came to an end.
As mentioned earlier, the show "Who" shows a state of weightlessness caused by the barrenness of the soul. People no longer compete to play children and make fun of them, as is commonplace in many Hollywood entertainment films, but who is more sophisticated in the game. The more sophisticated, who is more cynical. There is no doubt that Martha, played by Taylor, is the soul of this game. This night's party was arranged by Martha; the endless attacks on each other were initiated by Martha; the most challenging behavior of the family ethics that night was to seduce other husbands, and Martha did it again. After this game is over, the confession that finally speaks of the emptiness of the heart is still performed by Martha.
If it is said that the war in "Iliad" originated from the beauty Helen; then the family ethics battle in "Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf" originated from the huge emptiness in the hearts of the world. Albi, the author of the play, originally just wanted to tell the decent men and women that you are nothing but a pile of stinky dung. Therefore, the original work was so full of stinky lines that it was difficult for the film director to accept it, and forcibly deleted a large number of swear words, leaving only two original words written by Albi. The director seems to understand that the key lies not in the stimulating effect of swear words, but in revealing the emptiness in the characters' hearts.
More than the director understands that expressing emptiness is the key to the film, and it is Martha's classic actor, Elizabeth Taylor. At the beginning of the film, after a party with Burton, who is playing the professor's husband, Taylor set the tone for the empty heart of the film on the way home. After entering the door, she began to chatter about anecdotes about the word "dump". Rather than stating the complexity of the family, it is more suggesting that I am upset: I am not afraid that something will happen, but I am worried that there is nothing to relieve my boredom. An empty mind usually expects something to happen.
When the guests entered the door, Martha immediately launched an attack; the target was her husband while teasing the young couple at the same time. But don't think that Martha really wants to have fun. In fact, it is just to relieve the sorrow of the monarchs in front of him. Playing without games is boring; but playing games is just as boring. Ordinary actors can mostly be boring before performing. It may be quite rare to be able to perform these two kinds of boring at the same time. What makes Taylor unique is that he can simultaneously act out these two kinds of boredom to the point of faint and flawless.
This is not because of Taylor's extraordinary talent, but because of his colorful life experience. Almost all of the odors have been tasted. Love, career, passion, lingering, extravagant, luxurious, cheers of the people, fanatical worship of the whole world; endless feasting, endless excitement. After the bright fireworks finally disappeared in the night sky, all that was left was emptiness. The vast emptiness. I don't know where I am. The question of where we come from and where we are going will come to my mind quietly when the night is quiet.
Compared to Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor is definitely not a genius. But compared to countless people struggling for survival, Taylor is absolutely standing in a condescending position. The high emperor, although the supreme, had to be frightened by the price of the power in his hands all day long. But the queen of film art like Taylor doesn't need to worry about that at all, and can enjoy life carefree. Satiated all day long, useless. This can be said to be a kind of degradation, or it can be a state. And Taylor, just in this state, stepped into Martha's house, revealing the barrenness and emptiness in his heart. May wish to enjoy this dialogue:
George: Do you really think I will kill you, Martha? (George: Did you really think I was going to kill you, Martha?)
Martha: You, want to kill me? What a joke. ((Martha: You, kill me? That's a laugh.)
George: Well, I will one day. (George: Well now, I might someday.)
Martha: Not possible. (Martha: Fat chance.)
The murder between husband and wife was talked casually as a joke. This in George, perhaps mixed with the meaning of venting. This doesn't matter to Martha at all. Not only did Martha believe that George would not even have the courage to murder; but even if George had the ability to kill her, she would not care. Ordinary actors usually perform their tricks until the meaning of the previous level, so George will not have the courage to kill his wife. But Tyler’s excellence lies in his ability to perform a second layer of meaning at the same time, even if he is killed, so what? The same cynicism, the former cynicism, is entirely the grievances between husband and wife; the latter cynicism has the thoroughness to see through. Because relative to the vast emptiness deep in the heart, death, what counts? The emptiness here has achieved a realm in the aesthetic sense. This is the depth unique to Martha played by Taylor.
Taylor's understanding of emptiness is also reflected in her last utterance. When George asked: Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf, Martha replied softly: I am afraid, I am afraid. (I am, I am.) At the beginning of the film, Martha asked George, who is afraid of Virginia Woolf? The situation in which Martha asked, rolled onto the bed with each other, and Martha rolled over and rode on George. Although it is the same question, the meaning is completely different. The Woolf in Martha’s question refers to the Wolf in that ballad. Because Woolf's name happens to be a homonym for Big Bad Wolf. Martha asked very relaxedly, it was all flirting between husband and wife. Before the curtain ended, George asked Martha the same question, but the meaning was no longer just the big bad wolf in the ballad, but returned from the term big bad wolf to Woolf, and through Woolf's suicide, it metaphors the helplessness of life. , And finally point to the emptiness of the heart. Therefore, George's question quietly becomes, who is afraid of emptiness? Martha admitted in a low voice that she was afraid of emptiness. The conversion of the meaning of this line is not done through the words themselves, but through the utterances of the actors. Different from Martha’s energetic appearance at the beginning of the film, when Taylor dealt with the last line, he looked quite sullen, helpless and blank, very close to the Blanche played by Vivien Leigh in "Street Car". Thus, the word Woolf was extremely successfully transformed into a metaphor of emptiness.
Believe in such a superb performance, not to mention that the director is impossible to enlighten Taylor, even the original author Albi may not be able to give pointers. Even if everyone understands that the key to this film lies in the emptiness of the heart, but to perform such emptiness, it is not possible to do it by mental thinking. It can only rely on the insight of the actors and the natural performance. If there is a change of actors, it will be useless for the director and screenwriter to enlighten and help each other. If you can't act, you can't act. If you can act, you can act. Even if Albi himself can write such lines, he may not be able to make such eyes and read such dialogue. Albi just liked profanity, but he didn't necessarily have the emptiness like Taylor's in his heart.
The French critic Danna in the nineteenth century once compared Balzac with Shakespeare and said: Shakespeare is a genius with a clear eye, but Balzac needs to work hard in the world to achieve the same glorious achievement. in this way). This may happen to be the difference between Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor. One is born and the other is the result of the hard work of the day after tomorrow, but in the end they all reached the same ultimate state of performing arts: Vivien Leigh's Blanche, Elizabeth Taylor's Martha.
Finished on March 30, 2011 on the Hudson River
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