What is life? What is death? Death brings fear, but ironically, when we turn to embrace death, we feel life.
On October 22, 1962, U.S. President Kennedy delivered a speech informing the world that the Soviet Union had deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba, targeting major U.S. cities. All of a sudden, the fear of death hangs over the hearts of Americans. The American movie "Single Man" is a work developed against the background of the Cuban missile crisis. The 2009 "Single Man" was adapted from the novel of the same name written by British novelist Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) in 1964. It used a day in the life of a middle-aged college professor to present the fears and fears in the hearts of Americans at that time. way of life. Compared with the original novel, the theme of the film is strongly focused on the issue of "life and death".
George, a college literature professor, is gay, and his love of 16 years just died in a car accident. Life became a painful thing for George, and it took a lot of courage to get up every day when I opened my eyes. Although George always strives to dress up, but beneath this shell is an unsustainable soul. Today, will be a different day, George decided to end his life tonight, it's time to say goodbye to everything.
Because today is a special day, George has changed a lot. George looked out the window with interest as he sat on the toilet, watching the neighbors' family frolicking happily. George agrees to a dinner invitation from neighbor and friend Charlotte. George noticed that the school secretary had a red mouth, blue eyes, and a charming scent of perfume. George was openly sarcastic about his colleagues' nuclear fears. George also expressed his views on Huxley's writings and fear in class for the first time. The decision to die changed George's way of life.
Because of George's change, the people around him also changed. A college boy catches up with George after class, agrees with George about his class, and shares his fears with him. When George went to the bank to withdraw the contents of the safe, the little girl from the neighbor approached him and showed him his beloved pet scorpion. George felt the sunshine in the college boy and the neighbor girl, and the college boy and the neighbor girl felt sadness in George. George felt the presence of others, and others felt George's presence.
On his way home from get off work, George bought the gin Charlotte wanted and also bought bullets for his gun. While leaving the store, George collided with a Spanish man, shattering the wine he had just bought, and soaking the other party's cigarette. George knew that the other party bumped into it on purpose, so it could be considered a conversation. George did not resist, but followed the development of the matter, bought a new pack of cigarettes for the other party, and accepted the other party's suggestion for cigarettes. Facing each other, George saw the handsomeness of the man and naturally spoke in Spanish. George encouraged the man to make good use of his appearance, and even gave him $20, but refused the request of his counterpart. George is dying, but he wants others to cherish life.
George went home, neatly arranging suicide notes, gifts to others, and even funeral clothes. George and Charlotte had an appointment to go to her house for dinner at seven, so George was ready to take his own life before seven. But things didn't go very well. George put the muzzle in his mouth, tried the muzzle up and down, tried lying flat and sitting, tried both the bed and the bathroom, but it didn't work. Too right. In the end, George chose to put the sleeping bag on the bed and hid in the sleeping bag to shoot. However, Charlotte called in advance to urge George, so George had to get up to go to the banquet and come back to continue the unfinished business.
George and Charlotte have been friends for many years, and the two had an affair when they were young. But George never fell in love with Charlotte. Charlotte lived next door to George after her husband and children left, and often complained about her husband and children's ill will. After dinner, Charlotte danced with George, reliving the romance of her youth. The two ended up lying on the floor, and George lit two cigarettes. George hasn't smoked for sixteen years because his lover doesn't like it, so what's the harm in smoking now? Taking advantage of the heat, Charlotte asked George if he was just using his male lover as a substitute for him? George jumped up in anger, fiercely expressed his sincere feelings for his lover, and accused Charlotte of the constant complaining and self-retracting lifestyle. Isn't George accusing himself?
George went home again, picked up the loaded gun again, only to find that there was no more whiskey. George hurried out the door and rushed to a nearby bar to buy wine and cigarettes. When George was standing in front of the bar, the college boy he was talking to in the morning was pushing the door in. George changed his mind and sat in the bar with the boy chatting. The two talked about the past, present and future. George doesn't care about the future, he has no fear of death, he only has the past and only the memories of his lover. In order to test George's statement, the boy invited George to go swimming in the sea together, but George agreed without hesitation. As a result, George broke his head in the water because he drank too much alcohol, and had to go back to a nearby home with the boy. In fact, the sea has the power to charm George, and George wants to be immersed in it.
When the college boy undresses and goes to the bathroom to rinse, George feels a strong physical desire. In fact, all day long today, George couldn't restrain himself from noticing the young man's body. After facing death, not only his feelings and behaviors were recovered, but his physical desires also came to his senses. Vaguely, George felt that the college boy felt the same way about him, so he tried to ask him what his true purpose was. But George was so drunk that he fell asleep on the sofa.
George woke up suddenly in the night and found himself in bed. George got up quickly and looked for the trace of the college boy. The boy was asleep on the sofa, his upper body exposed from the thin blanket. George stared at the boy for a long time, then leaned over to pull the blanket for the boy, accidentally seeing the boy with his pistol in his hand. George laughed at the sight, pulled out the pistol, put it in the drawer of the cabinet and locked it. This is a sensitive and kind boy. He discovered the changes in George, and also felt the sadness and determination hidden behind him, so he followed George for a day, in order to fear that George would hurt himself. At this moment, George was moved, moved by the beauty and warmth of life. George didn't want to die anymore, he closed the door and went to his bed. Unexpectedly, death came unexpectedly at this moment. George suffered a heart attack and fell off the rug by the bedside, watching his life pass away bit by bit.
In "Single Man", George is sad, desperate, and even seeking relief from death because of the loss of his lover. This kind of dedication to love and helplessness to loneliness makes people moved. But rather than focusing on same-sex love, this film is actually more about how to deal with life and death. Like the film's ending, when George gave up his suicidal thoughts, death came unexpectedly. Death is uncontrollable and always comes suddenly, but life can be mastered. In the film, George mentioned Huxley's point of view, what is life, and life is the accumulation of experience. What is experience? Experiences are people's reactions to things that happen to them, not the things themselves. People can master how to perceive and understand external things. Just like George, after his lover died, he trapped himself in sad memories, and when he finally decided to face death, he let go of his heart and tried his best to feel everything around him, he saw beauty, Gentle and touching. When all Americans are terrified of death because of the Cuban nuclear missile crisis, they can panic all day long, or they can put aside the future that they cannot control and experience the present to the fullest. Life is not in the past, life is not in the future, life is in the present.
In Christopher Isherwood's original work, "Single Man" adopts a more objective perspective, looking at the lifestyles of Los Angeles people and the changes in values from George's day. In the movie, "Single Man" further focuses on the theme, condensing George's observation on the issue of "life and death", so that George can feel the meaning and beauty of life because he accepts the fact that death is coming. From the perspective of the novel adaptation, it is extremely successful, giving the film a clear theme and main axis of storytelling. In the film, the director constantly intersperses George's memories of his lover. Through the change between light and darkness, the audience can feel George's emotions constantly moving back and forth between moving and sad. However, while the memories of a lover sometimes tug at George's grief, there are always gaps in it for the sun to shine in. The sad past is part of George's life, and the touching present is also part of George's life. There is no need to rush to death, because death will definitely find you at some point in the future.
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