The first word that comes to mind after watching this film is "high-level sense", erasing the superficial flattering meaning of this word is an inevitable destination for most talented directors in their youth when they step into middle-aged and old age. With hormones no longer splashing wildly, advanced aesthetics and skilled skills are still close by, so what other better way is there other than pursuing a "high sense"? Just like what I said before, Park Chan-wook, he probably won't be able to make works that have sympathy for the underclass like "I Want Vengeance" again. His eyes have risen together with his status. Once, his shots Like a sharp scalpel, decisively piercing the abscesses in the most hidden part of society, that kind of force is no longer there, of course it is not his fault, but it is still regrettable, whether PTA is the same situation or not. It's so rash to talk about it. After all, his last work "Nature Is Evil" still has considerable ambitions and attempts. As far as this film is concerned, it is more like a detour, giving up grandeur and returning to simplicity, and abandoning all erotic madness. A sexless love, even the existence of love is doubtful, it is more like a game, competition, manipulation and manipulation, sacrifice and sacrifice.
On the one hand, the high-level sense of this film comes from the perfectly created retro style. The director who dares to shoot a film about detail madness is naturally a detail madman. The British style of the early last century flows in every frame. , The carefully searched or possibly copied antique-level taverns and apartments have their own halo of ancient wealth. The people in the film are beautifully dressed, with exquisitely detailed costumes and hairstyles, and the walking posture and aura must be the same. The ones that have been trained have the tune of that era. The male protagonist eats with people in no less than ten different scenes, the country pavilion, the seaside villa, the high-end restaurant, the rich man's residence, the indoor or outdoor scenery of each place is beautiful, the gorgeous environment and the exquisite food complement each other, the Countess , French princesses and other dignitaries also appeared, which not only added flavor and concentration to the love game of the male and female protagonists, but also gave us a chance to cast a quick glimpse of the secular style of the so-called high society in the last century. Personally, I am most impressed by two places. One is the quaint Victorian tavern in the remote countryside that the male and female protagonists first met. There are not many exterior scenes in the film. From the tidbits, it seems that the crew took a lot of effort to find it. A real scene of an old tavern that has maintained its original Victorian appearance. It is really authentic and full of flavor. The boundless black waves are surging with thick foam, and the cold sea breeze swept the sparse people on the embankment. Tall raised his collar, slumped his head and sipped hot coffee. The interior is warm like spring, and the male and female protagonists have also started their love season. The male protagonist opens a long menu, frying, frying and frying, covering ups and downs. Good appetite is the premise of everything. Another shot of a snow-capped mountain resort (should be the Alps), after the female protagonist went skiing alone, the camera shot from behind the male protagonist. The lonely back print is embedded in the snow-capped mountains, which has a kind of beauty that is ready to be seen. Of course, you can also appreciate the meaning of the camera in addition to beauty. The male protagonist is so evasive, and he is still out of place in the face of such a magnificent nature.
In addition to the retro style, another style is also crucial to the creation of a sense of luxury, that is, the "abstinence style". For PTA, who grew up in Fengyuechang, the erotic element is probably a deep-rooted existence. Not to mention the popular "Boogie Night", it is the most recent "Natural Evil" before this film. It is the origin and tendons of the whole story, and the neon aesthetics with sexual hints runs through the whole film, but the first color of this film is plain or even dull, all of which are old-fashioned, highlighting the sense of history, even showing the luxury of the Victorian period. Erosion is also covered with a layer of dust left by time. This is the first time I have seen such a pure and elegant aesthetic style in PTA's works. This kind of quaint beauty is very textured and I enjoy watching it very much. At the same time, I am worried that it is not a sign that the PTA has entered a state of pure heart and few desires after becoming famous. In addition to the color, the more obvious nature is the intentional avoidance of the "sex" element in the whole film. There are no scenes that remind people of sexual behavior. In such a pure love story, "sex" is actually missing, even There is no sexual provocation or sexual suggestion. The hero and heroine seem to be a Platonic love, with jealousy, deception, confrontation, and explosion, but there is no sex. It is said that PTA got the inspiration for this film from a serious illness of his own, which is very in line with the most critical emotional core in the film. A sick man's emotions are already extremely fragile. but life.
The style of abstinence and asexuality is undoubtedly set early, so the director will choose the two professions of fashion designer and model to be placed on the male and female protagonists. It is indeed clever. Designers and models are in a sense abstinence. Designers The scrutiny of female models should not be sexual or even inhuman. It is best to be thin on a hanger, and it is the most sexy when the female characteristics are faded to the moment when they are about to disappear, and the same is true of models catering to designers, not big breasts. The big butt is reminiscent of sex at once, and the prominent collarbone and the ribs that almost pierce the skin are reminiscent of the lamb on the altar, which is called high class. Sexual conquest is vulgar, and the complete possession of the soul and body is what this film is looking for the most, and the biggest mystery is, who owns who.
The heroine's line at the beginning of the opening line said that the reward for the male protagonist is to get "every piece of me", a sacrificial tone, which makes the audience think that this is a story of a male protagonist training and developing a female protagonist. At first glance, it seems that at the end Before the reversal of the game, it seemed to be the case, but pay attention to the second and third brushes, the clues were buried all the way from beginning to end, and re-unlocking was a very joyful process. The director deliberately presented a vagueness and ambiguity. Let's put it this way, who is the protagonist and who is stronger? From the perspective of actors, DDL has long been conferred as the best actor of the three Oscars. The heroine is a little-known, German firewood girl from Luxembourg. The contrast between strengths and weaknesses is too great. set. Look at the characters in the film, the man is an elegant and decent British gentleman with outstanding appearance, a character loved by the royal family and celebrities, the three-carat diamond king fifth; look at the woman, a country girl with a mediocre appearance and an unexpected figure, An existence where no one picks up a plate in a tavern and throws it on the street. When it comes to identity, one is a designer and the other is a model. Of course, the model obeys the designer. No matter in which dimension, they are judged by superiors and inferiors. Female protagonists are weaker than male protagonists. They are dominated and manipulated. one side. But is it really so? The first time I saw the final big reversal, I thought it was abrupt. Why did the male protagonist suddenly coward? From attacking to receiving? When I read it again, I noticed that the story begins with the heroine's narration and ends with the heroine's fantasy. It is self-evident who is the master of the story.
People often say that a good movie has a superficial A story and a potential B story. In the end, the A and B stories have to be closed, so the male protagonist in this film is the A story, and the female protagonist is the B story. Let’s talk about story A first. The male protagonist has become famous and has a prominent position. He picked the little wild flower of the female protagonist in the countryside. He likes her simplicity and naturalness without carving, so that he can carve it himself. , The figure is not perfect, the male protagonist said that it is too good, so that I want to make you perfect. On the surface, the heroine gradually became the male lead's model, muse, wife, and the male lead's dislike of the female lead never disappeared. Even during the honeymoon trip, the male lead showed disgust when he saw the female lead baring his teeth and eating biscuits. When watching the movie, I saw that the scumbag male protagonist has repeated every time he sincerely accepts the female protagonist, and his heart has been hanging to see when he will completely abandon the female protagonist. In the end, he really did this to live up to expectations. The heroine feeding him poisonous mushrooms seems to be a completely passive and compelled resistance. Although the male protagonist saw through it, he still forgave and even indulged the female protagonist and lived happily together.
Looking at Story B again, the heroine is actually the one who takes the initiative, and she has everything under her control. She saw through the male lead's bravado early in the morning, and took every step until she took the male lead as her own. The first date of the male and female protagonists almost has a lot of directional information on the development of the later story. The male protagonist tells about his childhood past, and the clues of the Oedipus plot are buried here. When it comes to marriage, he insists that he will never get married. , Because he didn't want to be deceived, the heroine said that he was "acting strong". Afterwards, the male protagonist asked the female protagonist to make his own puppet, removing her clothes and matching various fabrics on it. This is actually a love scene, symbolizing the love of fish and water, so after the male protagonist's sister appeared, the female protagonist only Shy and uncomfortable. There is also a small detail. The female protagonist is always submissive at the mercy of the male protagonist, but she is not submissive. The male protagonist asks the female protagonist to stand straight. Well, the male protagonist said that you just stand like you usually do, and the female protagonist replied, you should have said no earlier. The heroine's pride showed early in the morning. There were many similar situations in the future. Every time the male protagonist and sister accused the female protagonist of not meeting expectations, the female protagonist always responded immediately. The main sister objected to any birthday surprises for the male protagonist, but she insisted on doing it. She also deliberately made dishes that the male protagonist didn't like to eat. In fact, she had the ambition to shape the male protagonist in turn. The female protagonist wins every battle with the male protagonist, sometimes relying on empathy (the time she grabbed the evening dress with the male protagonist), and sometimes poisonous mushrooms (the time the male protagonist fell ill). After the male protagonist's line of defense fell, he was also angry and angry, but he had no choice but to gradually slip into the female protagonist's pocket. Why, because he had already been seen through by the female protagonist, he was a little boy who could not get rid of the plot of Oedipus in the skin of a big man. Boys, always swing between infatuation and disgust towards women. When they are weak physically and mentally, they yearn for women's attentive care. At the same time, they experience the return visit of the mother's ghost in childhood memories. , and became disgusting. Once the weakness of the male protagonist is mastered, the thoughtful female protagonist will naturally prescribe the medicine for the problem. She seems to be a genius and knows how to use poison in a proper manner, so that the male protagonist becomes seriously ill without fatality. Seeing this layer, the B story is truly bridged with the A story. The female protagonist has completed the PUA for the male protagonist, and the male protagonist has also found a spiritual mother, achieving great harmony.
It is also worth mentioning that the role of the male protagonist's sister is also worth pondering. In the beginning, she seemed to be a solid ally of the male protagonist, a cold-faced old maid who also wiped her ass for her younger brother's chaos. It was easy to think that she was a ruthless woman. In fact, there is also a reversal. This is actually a person of high morality and goodwill. He loves his brother and has to accommodate and take care of his wayward side. In his career, he uses his high EQ to make up for his brother's low EQ. Emotionally , to wipe his butt for his younger brother's first mess, and at the same time, as the only character who can calm down the male protagonist, it is obvious that she plays the role of mother, so the male protagonist is not interested in marriage, and his girlfriend is a plaything that loves the new and hates the old. But if you look closely, you will find that she proposes severance to her girlfriend. It seems that she is throwing the blame for her brother, or even trying to monopolize her brother. In fact, I am afraid she knows what his brother is. It is better to let these women get rid of this scumbag as soon as possible, and try their best to give Financial compensation (a set of dresses should be of great value.) So in the paragraph where she proposed to dismiss the heroine, the hero asked her why, and she said, I like this girl and don't want her to be hurt more , so on the surface he is protecting his younger brother, but in fact he is protecting his younger brother's girlfriends, perhaps because she is also a woman and has natural sympathy. Another detail is that when the female workers worked overtime all night to repair the damaged wedding dress, the elder sister greeted each other one by one, showing full respect and empathy. This is not an arrogant and indifferent character. The sister's attitude towards the heroine is also very interesting. In the deleted tidbits, there is a paragraph where the sister and the male protagonist are splashing tea with each other, that is, the male protagonist who picks up wants to quarrel with the sister, and the sister coolly said, don't fight, you are sure The battle that will be lost, and the scene where my sister and the heroine find the male lead's mother's wedding dress together have also been deleted. It may be that the director does not want to be too straightforward, but the meaning is obvious. Tired, the appearance of the heroine made my sister see a certain possibility, so she always tolerated all kinds of arrogance and transgression of the heroine, and even formed some kind of alliance with the heroine, and finally gave up the heroine completely and gained herself. freedom of. Therefore, it seems to be forbearance in the film, and the two female characters attached are the ones who truly control their own destiny.
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