Watching "The Life of Adele", I couldn't help but sigh: the French director is best at lifting weights, and he was played by Abdai Keshish. Homosexuality, philosophy, Impressionist art, existentialism, a vast array of topics, melted away without a trace in the simple love story of two girls.
I don’t know how many people are like me, obsessed with the details of this film, but don’t remember a few details. They are brainwashed by the close-up shots of Cauchy, only Emma’s charming squinting eyes, and Adele’s eyes. Ernest's ever-passionate mouth, read the review after the fact, and checked the great details one by one. If you don't move the fast-forward button for three hours, then you can look back and watch it a second time. This kind of movie has never been seen in many years.
French artists have a tradition of shocking the world. Their attitude towards art is the same as that of French people towards life. They are relaxed and free and do whatever they want. After the Japanese Ukiyo-e came to the European continent along with tea, it had a great influence on the Impressionist painters. Monet was fascinated and made his wife Camille dress up as a geisha, and created the famous painting "Madame Monet in a Kimono" (I think this name is more reliable than "Impression of Japan", and he did not go to Japan).
The film is said to be based on a comic book titled "Blue is a Warm Color". Now the name is obviously more appropriate, warm and too main theme. The word "life" is probably the most frequently used word in French. In my bookcase there is a copy of "Paris Broth" written by French writer Raul Adler. The subtitle of this book is "The Daily Life of French Broth Women". one.
And love, without a doubt, is a part of life. Although Adele is gay, Adele's love is as much a part of life as anyone's love in this world. Her encounter with Emma was like all love at first sight in this world. Wordsworth's poem: When she first appeared in front of my eyes, she was the reappearance of that joy, a living manifestation that became the decoration of a moment.
The meaning of the shocking encounter to Adele has been analyzed and explained many times by many people. So what does it mean for Emma? Why did Emma step into Adele's life when the gap in social class existed from the start? Adele walks from the beginning to the end with a pair of confused eyes, while Emma's confusion is presented with a firm determination. If Adele's confusion is due to lack and ignorance, then, Emma, who has almost everything, what is she confused about? After breaking up with Adele, Emma said something very affectionate: I have infinite tenderness for you, forever.
What is Emma's infinite tenderness?
Two lines from the French poet Pierre-Marc Aurand may answer this question: If our destiny must be fulfilled in accordance with the rhythm of knowledge we have read / imposed upon it / then we must go / find sunshine and Light beyond the moonlight. Uncertainty is the only certainty in this world. Who doesn't look confused? Whose mind can be filled with knowledge? There is a kind of warmth that is light beyond the sun and moonlight, such as the love between Adele and Emma.
To interpret Emma, it is necessary to compare Camus' novel "The Unchaste Wife". When Camus wrote about Janina's derailment, he didn't write the story in a dramatic way, but described everything Janina saw in a slow and meticulous manner. Camus' pen, like the sunset over the desert that he wrote about, has clear outlines and flowing light, slowly spreading out in the twilight. At the end of the story, there is no cheating scene that readers are worried about. Yanina's derailment was called by the night, leaving her husband's bed, running to the Arabian castle, watching the stars fall on the edge of the desert. Her derailment is a spiritual journey towards death.
Yanina, who lives a bourgeois life, yearns for the Arab world, a pursuit lurking in the depths of life. She was often surrounded by people who spoke Arabic, and the book wrote: "She seems to have been listening to this language all her life, but she can't understand a word". A charming strangeness that has fascinated her all her life. This is the answer.
Adele is to Emma what the Arab world is to Janina. However, it is a kind of courage for Sisyphus to push the stone up the mountain, but the inevitable fate of rolling and cycling. Emma ends up leaving Adele, just as Janina ends up returning to her husband's bed. They all shed tears, not for what they gave up, but for their own destiny.
Adele's infidelity, differences in social class, are not the key. Many people believe that Adele represents the passion of the flesh, and Emma's later partner Liz represents the resonance of the spirit. actually not. Emma's choice, like most of us, is out of fear. Camus said that life is like exile. Every exiled person is afraid of all the strange things that do not belong to their own world. Fear makes people surpass and also sinks them. It's a horrible cycle.
Emma's "infinite tenderness" has now become a classic quote. In fact, many couples, whether heterosexual or homosexual, have said similar things. Undoubtedly, that time and that situation really came from the heart. But this infinite tenderness is not aimed at the specific object in front of him.
Cauchy told reporters that he was not writing about homosexuality. of course not. Emma and Adele are not just two girls in love. Those piled up and blurred French elements are not just backgrounds and foils. Emma's infinite tenderness is a longing for a voice that can never be understood but seems to have been heard for a lifetime. It is the light beyond sunlight and moonlight, it is endless, and it will never arrive.
The scene where Emma went to school to find Adele was a breakthrough turning point in their relationship and the starting point for their final separation. This time, Emma talks about Sartre. Existence precedes essence, and existentialism is a kind of humanism. Many apostates believe in Sartre, but Emma only said "change", not "believe." Among the many issues in the film, Sartre is undoubtedly the most important and crucial one. Emma understands Sartre, Adele doesn't understand, no matter whether they understand or not, they all live in confusion in the end.
Confusion is not freedom, just as others are not hell. True freedom is the joy of the soul, and true hell exists only in the heart of man. Adele didn't get joy, and neither did Emma. Where God is absent, countless "gods" must be established. Sisyphus was no fool, and moving stones was a punishment for his cunning. Those who say that Sisyphus is great are ridiculous.
Camus's Janina is back, Munro's Carla is back, and Cauchy's Emma is back. They all return to their place of existence and their pain. Return is the eternal theme, just, where to return? Generations of artists have explored this theme with infinite tenderness.
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