Make movies like experiments

Kiera 2022-04-22 07:01:26

Bergman has probably been exploring the possibilities of film, and many of the techniques in "Masquerade" are completely traditional.

The story of "Masquerade" is quite simple. The relationship between an actor and a nurse has no strong dramatic conflict, just one person chattering and the other silent. In the long-term relationship, the two gradually became one. The nurse replaced the actor and got along with her husband, replaced the actor to tell her heart, and replaced the actor to be a mother. This is an inward story, showing the conflict, Whether it's arguing, chasing or dripping blood, it's quite weak compared to the heart. The nurse was powerless to use words to protect herself, but the closed space between the two aggravated her inner unease and fear, causing subtle changes in the relationship between the two. Suddenly I think of the closed hotel in "The Shining". In this environment of lack of connection with the outside world, it is really easy to create a sense of horror.

The use of montage is very interesting. The first five minutes of the short 80-minute movie are basically a combination of static images, such as nailing, human bodies, etc. It is like watching from the perspective of God, but if there is a God, these violent and terror still exist. The dialogue between the two was almost never played back and forth. The monologue segment in which the nurse replaced the actor was performed by a single person for a long time. Even the same paragraph was shown twice with the camera of both parties, and the changes of the two shots were almost exactly the same. In the sub-composition, one person is clear and one person is silhouetted, and there is an unknown fear hidden in the shadow. The conversation between the nurse and the doctor before was also a multi-angle nurse shot, but with the doctor's non-stop speaking voice, is it difficult for a person's voice and picture to exist at the same time in this movie?

The sound intensified the horror of "Masquerade", the sudden hissing, the sound of dripping blood, the sudden outburst or the repeated unintelligible tones, have been dangling anxiously to watch but dare not watch. In fact, after reading it, I found that there is no scary picture, but more aroused fear in my heart, the relationship between people, the relationship between self and others... Who knows who I am?

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Extended Reading

Persona quotes

  • Sister Alma: Elisabet? Can I read you something from my book? Or am I disturbing you? It says here:"All the anxiety we bear with us, all our thwarted dreams, the incomprehensible cruelty, our fear of extinction, the painful insight into our earthly condition, have slowly eroded our hope of an other-wordly salvation. The howl of our faith and doubt against the darkness and silence, is one of the most awful proofs of our abandonment and our terrified, unuttered knowledge." Do you think it's like that?

  • Sister Alma: Karl-Henrik and I rented a cottage by the sea once. It was June, and we were all alone. One day, when Karl-Henrik had gone into town, I went to the beach on my own. It was a warm and lovely day. There was another girl there. She'd paddled over from another island because our beach was sunnier and more secluded. We lay there, sunbathing beside one another, complete naked, dozing now and then, putting suntan lotion on. We had those cheap straw hats on, you know? I had a blue ribbon around mine. I lay there peeping out from under my hat at the landscape and the sea and the sun. It was kind of funny. Suddenly I saw two figures leaping about on the rock above us. They would hide and then peek out. "There's a couple of boys looking at us," I told the girl. Her name was Katarina. "Let them look," she said, and turned over on her back. It was a strange feeling. I wanted to jump up and put my robe on but I just lay there on my stomach with my bottom in the air, not at all embarrassed, completely calm. Katarina lay there next to me the whole time, with her breasts and thick thighs. She just lay there sort of giggling to herself. I noticed that the boys had come closer. They just stood there looking at us. I noticed they were terribly young. Then one of them - the more daring of the two - came up and squatted down next to Katarina. He pretended to be busy picking at his toes. I felt so strange. Suddenly I heard Katarina say, "Hey, why don't you come over here?" She took him by the hand and helped him off with his jeans and shirt. Then suddenly he was on top of her. She guided him in with her hands on his behind. The other boy just sat on the slope and watched. I heard Katarina whisper in the boy's ear and laugh. His face was right next to mine. It was red and swollen. Suddenly I turned over and said, "Aren't you coming over to me too?" And Katarina said, "Go to her now." He pulled out of her and fell on top of me, completely hard. He grabbed my breast. It hurt so bad. I was ready somehow and came almost at once. Can you believe it? I was about to say, "Careful you don't get me pregnant" when he suddenly came. I felt it like never before in my life, the way he sprayed his seed into me. He gripped my shoulders and arched backward. I came over and over. Katarina lay on her side and watched and held him from behind. After he came, she took him in her arms and used his hand to make herself come. When she came, she screamed like a banshee. Then all three of us started laughing. We called to the other boy, who was sitting on the slope. His name was Peter. He came down, looking all confused and shivering despite the sunshine. Katarina unbuttoned his pants and started to play with him. And when he came, she took him in her mouth. He bent down and kissed her back. She turned around, took his head in both hands, and gave him her breast. The other boy got so excited that he and I started all over again. It was just as good as before. Then we went for a swim and parted ways. When I got home, Karl-Henrik was already back from town. We ate dinner and drank some red wine he'd brought. Then we had sex. It's never been as good, before or since. Can you understand that?