Director Almodovar is good at shaping the image of women. In "All About My Mother", four women with different personalities are struggling and wandering in the whirlpool of their own destiny. The change of life has given them too much pain, and they have lost their way, but the love and hope that will never subside let them put on red clothes and continue to live strong and brave.
What does red represent? Passion, hope, and life. The red clothes appearing in the film are not accidental. The protagonist Manuela wore red short sleeves when watching TV with her son Esderban. The time with her son is always warm and happy. As a single mother, her son is all his hope. and rely on. In order to celebrate their son's birthday, they went to see a performance of "A Streetcar Named Desire". Manuela stood in front of a huge poster with a warm red background, and she happened to be wearing a red coat here. Drawing the stills of Yan Mi, the two of them are in the same picture, which also implies that they will inevitably have contact in the future. After the play ended, the son insisted on going to sign with Yan Mi, but he died unexpectedly. Manuela ran to the son who was knocked down, and the camera tilted and looked at Manuela crying in the rain from the son's perspective, distorted. The perspective is even more impactful. The heavy rain, the crying mother, the wet red coat, and the strong visual impact bring sadness from the bottom of our hearts. After her son's death, Manuela's life seemed to be ruined, and she might never wear red again. If such a tragic story happened in China, it would be a devastating tragedy. The loss of a child in middle age, the husband has long since left, and there are no relatives around. Such a day is simply unbearable. But Almodovar won't let her heroine fall, and Manuela returns to Barcelona to find her son's father, reuniting with her old friend Ayue and meeting the kind-hearted Lusa. Ah Yue herself is a symbol of new hope. Although her life is bumpy, she is a very optimistic person. She mocks herself for making it her duty to please all living beings. In fact, her optimism affects everyone around her who is suffering. people. Lusa and Yanmi have been wearing red clothes almost all the time. The young Lusa is pregnant with a new life. The mature Yanmi sees through the red dust and wraps her inner desire in red. The new life made Manuela temporarily forget the pain of losing her child. She took care of Lusa and her child with another kind of love. Mother's love connects all things together, and the brilliance of mother's love purifies the darkness.
The women in red have strong hearts. Facing the series of injuries that fate has given her, Manuela always resolves everything with her broad mind and superhuman kindness. She is the most worthy of respect. Another great woman, Rosa, has a more tragic beauty. The young nun Rosa was kind and peaceful, treating others as herself. Probably due to professional reasons, she did not have a good relationship with her parents. Fate did not favor Rosa because of her kindness. On the contrary, she paid a painful price for her only love. She couldn't rely on her parents. She went to the hospital alone to get a medical report. She was helpless and could only ask for help from Manuela, who she just met. She passed the square on her way to the hospital to give birth. She asked the driver to stop the car, leaned her face to the window, and quietly looked at the scenery outside, as if she knew that this time was parting with a beautiful life. At this time, she saw her father's dog and shouted excitedly: "Sharpei." The dog crawled on top of her obediently, but her father did not recognize her. The father walked up to her and said that the dog is not afraid of life, how old are you this year, and how tall you are, but he did not say that you are my daughter. Rosa smiled and answered every question from her father, with tears in her eyes, she was pronounced dead the moment she got the lab report. From that time to now, Rosa has finished crying if she wants to cry, just waiting peacefully for the final arrival. Facing her father who turned away, she finally called her father. "Father, goodbye."
In addition to the two women with strong tragic colors, Ayue is also a "woman" who is absolutely worthy of praise. Being born a man, he bravely did what he wanted to do. He once joked with Man Niu Ra said, "How could I buy the original fairy slave? There are so many people in the world starving, only my feelings are original, and the silicon inside my chest is also original...". She has been living a positive life, living a chic and comfortable life towards the feeling of the woman he yearns for.
There are women in this world except men, but in "All About My Mother", the absence of male characters or the weakening of symbols further highlights the power of women in suffering. Esderban, who died before she reached adulthood, Lusa's father, who has dementia, and Lola, who is transgender. They both bring great pain to those who love them, women are the protagonists, pain destroys men but women are still strong. In this film, two magical instincts of women are revealed: optimism and tolerance. It probably boils down to the maternal instinct and herd instinct of women, what a raw and amazing force it is. For women, they can quickly chat and play with women they don't know, because they all have similar experiences, but men can't. Men love as much as women, but only women can turn this love into forgiveness, into tenderness. Men suffer just as much as women do, and try to be strong, but women have an innate strength of optimism. In the scene where Yanmi goes to Manuela to apologize, the four women gather together. Some of them were not familiar with each other, and they each suffered great sadness, but at that moment they seemed to forget all the pain, and a mysterious power was born. Maybe they just want to avoid loneliness, to avoid thoughts flooding into their hearts when they are alone, there is no more sacred reason, they need to resolve, they need to console each other, not like men lighting a cigarette and trapping themselves with a pile of wine in memory. This female instinct does give a way out of the miserable world.
Love moves us and hurts us. Women in red dress bravely to love, and also bravely accept the harm that love brings to them. They did not give up the pursuit of love and the hope of life because of the cruel reality. Life is still going on, fate is still making fun of each of us, as long as we wear red clothes, hope is still in our hearts.
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