As a descendant of the Spanish film industry, Pedro Almodovar is obviously more "grounded" than the surrealist master Buñuel. Buñuel satirized the bourgeoisie and Catholicism in absurd ways. In "Vellitiana", the bourgeoisie did good to the homeless, but gave them work but caused evil; in "Beauty in the Day", a wealthy middle-class woman Fantasies of being abused for pleasure... The background of these films is inseparable from the social and cultural conditions in Spain at that time. As the two major constituents of Spain's "patriarchy" in the 1960s, the Franco dictatorship and the Catholic Church, they formed two aspects of the Spanish superstructure at that time, and these two aspects acted on the people at the same time. The high-pressure political rule made the people dedicate their spirits to religion, while the strict rules and regulations of religion made them trapped in nowhere to vent their emotions. The interaction of the two left a deep imprint on the hearts of the Spanish people of that generation.
However, in many of Almodóvar's works, the "patriarchy" of the bourgeoisie has not been visually displayed too much, and their identities in the film are often used as the opposite or directly disappeared. Correspondingly, Almodovar’s main focus is those marginalized people in society, mostly women, but also social extreme groups such as transvestites, homosexuals, transgender people, and drug addicts. These groups of people are often not accepted by the general public in terms of morality and ethics, whether they are motivated or forced The disabled police officer's wife in revenge; in "Tie Me, Tie Me," the protagonist Richie kidnaps his always-loved porn actress; Children born after invasion. From the perspective of the real society, we may disgust their actions or show compassion and sympathy for them. However, in the process of watching movies, we will develop empathy for those extreme people, and even feel the pure vitality contained in them. Among Almodovar's many works, "Tell Her" is a very characteristic work.
1. Contradictory morality
Almodovar, who has been a woman all his life, told the story of two men in the 2002 film "Tell Her". Both Mark and Benino were deeply moved when they watched a performance. A few months later, the two met again at the hospital where Benino worked, taking care of two women who became vegetative-Mark's girlfriend Bullfighting. Lydia and ballerina Aricia. Benino used to live opposite the ballet dance studio and fell in love with Arisia at first sight. After the girl was in a vegetative state after a car accident, he used his identity as a nurse to talk to her every day and take care of her, believing that she would wake up one day. . Lydia died because of Mark's departure, and Nenino was imprisoned for sexually assaulting Aricia. After learning that Aricia was still in a coma, she committed suicide by taking sleeping pills. At the end of the film, Mark accidentally sees Arisia awakening in the dance studio at Negino's house. He was moved by Nenino's pure, wholehearted, deformed love that was not accepted by society.
The "immoral" nature of Benino's actions is harmful, irrational, and should be punished in the eyes of real people (and indeed punished in the film), but if judged by morality If we analyze the film with an attitude, a gap will be formed between the perspective of observation and the emotional expression of the film, which to some extent obscures what is behind the morality. Whether it is morality or law, its essence is to protect the social and public environment and does not take into account specific individuals, so when we judge works with moral standards, we are not starting from ourselves, but The work is viewed from the perspective of a social individual. Once man is endowed with moral attributes, his essential emotions become invisible "covered emotions". As a work of art, the existence of film more or less expands people's emotional extension and presents the unrealizable under the moral constraints. As a movie viewer and as a social individual, the discourse situations of the two are completely different. Therefore, our empathy for "anti-moral" works of art is due to the intrinsic projection of our "covered emotions" rather than our own moral corruption. .
When "immoral" behavior can bring some benefit to a person, it will drive the individual to a different direction that can change the trajectory of life. Sometimes this direction is not driven by reason, but by emotion, and The uncertainty and unknown in this direction often bring about a sense of metaphysical experience. The first of Rohmer's famous "Six Moral Tales", "The Bakery Girl," shows the mysterious serendipity in "immoral" behavior. Passed by, and finally was able to strike up a conversation one day, but never saw the girl again. To kill time, he started flirting with bakery girls every day. Three weeks later, he invited her to dinner, but at this time the girl who studied painting suddenly appeared, so the college student threw the agreement with the bakery girl to the sky. Here we can see the contingency in the emotionally driven "immorality" that can lead the story to a different ending, but there is a difference between Nenino in "Tell Her" and the college student in "The Bakery Girl" Different, because the starting point of "immorality" is to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, to seek the best choice for oneself, but Benino almost wants nothing. Here, we will analyze Benino's "love". The nature and characteristics of the male figures in "Tell Her".
2. Emotional expression and male image
In Kieslowski's "Love Short" there is a dialogue where a boy falls in love with a woman and the woman says to the boy, "Do you want to kiss me?" "No." "Want to have sex with me? "No." "Or want to go on a trip with me? Lake Mathew, or Budapest?" "No." "So what are you going to do?" "Nothing."
Likewise, Rohmer said in his "Four Seasons on Earth" series, "If you love him madly, you will forget your order and accept his order."
Both Kieslowski and Rohmer present us with a kind of selfless love that is not utilitarian, not because of loving some aspect of the person he loves, but because of the inner drive of emotion that pushes him to to that extent. Benino took care of Arisia as a part of his life. He once said to Mark: "These four years are the most prosperous days for me, taking care of her and doing what she likes to do." Mark questioned on the eve of leaving Benino believes that this is just Benigno's wishful thinking. His contribution is one-sided, and Aricia can't accept it and can't give back.
Here we can define Benino's "love" as "taking intuition as belief", although it is a "love at first sight" type of unprovoked feeling, but it rises to "self-belief", this kind of love concept is used in film and television. The works are usually dominated by women, such as "Millennium Actress" by animation master Jin Min. In Almodovar's "Speak to Her", however, such a concept of love is placed on a man, and he is trapped in an "immoral" situation. If Arisia's accident hadn't happened, Benino's " Immorality" may be stifled, or it may go to the other extreme, and the film makes this "belief" enforceable by creating accidental surprises. And "faith" finally achieves the effect of "miracle", and the care of "miracle" and "death" maximizes the emotional concentration.
Not only the concept of love, Almodovar has made a whole subversion of the traditional image of men in this work. Similar to Almodóvar's other works, Benino was a figure on the fringes of society, caring for two women throughout his life—his mother and Arisia, "with one woman for twenty years, and another The woman passed four years." The lack of life experience and barriers to emotional communication led other female nurses to think he was gay. Benino's rescue of Arisia is like a woman taking care of a man. Masculinity and violence are transformed into sensual tenderness, and the silent and stalwart image of men has become a day and night whisper. The same is true for Mark. He is an emotional man. When watching a performance, when he recalls the past, he always sheds tears, and his pain is always beyond words. He was attracted by the matador Lydia and told himself on the way.
In the vast majority of films set during Franco's reign, a solidified absent or silent father figure acts like a giant moral symbol, a silent protest against political power. By reshaping men, Almodovar re-endowed them with delicate emotions, and they themselves had the meaning of redemption in power.
3. Emotional redemption
Before Almodóvar, in the Spanish cultural field and even in the entire Latin American cultural field, political dictatorship and religious abstinence led to the rise of magical realism, surrealism and mysticism, such as Picasso, Dali, and Gaudí. emerged under the social background. The difference between Almodovar is that although his aesthetic habits belong to the aesthetics of postmodernism, the essence of his stories is the reproduction of the real emotions of marginal characters. The marginal characters under his lens use emotion as a weapon to fight against power. This emotion we can see the tenacious vitality they have.
"Tell Her" is the redemption of marginal figures to the middle class. As a ballet dancer, Arisia, whose father is a psychiatrist and has a good life, is out of reach for Benino. The car accident pulled them to the same level. The plane of "communication". After Aricia recovered, the parents did not tell Benino, who was in prison, the truth because of their daughter's reputation. In Arisia's world, Benino has become a non-existent, irrelevant person, and the meaning of redemption seems to be deliberately erased.
But Mark, as a bystander, witnessed the whole process of redemption, he was the witness of the redemption and the redeemed at the same time. When he witnessed the "miracles" brought about by Benigno's "faith", his conception also seemed to have changed. Emotion itself has nothing to do with morality or law. The vitality of marginal groups that Almodovar wants to express is their emotional power that is beyond the moral constraints of the middle class, and these powers are precisely the middle class suppressed by the "patriarchy". class does not have.
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