If I hadn't taken Mr. Dai Jinhua's film class, I would never have been able to take the initiative to see this film. Almodovar, the film's director, is said to be very good at targeting non-mainstream marginalized people. Everyone says it's a female-themed movie, maybe because every major character in the movie is female or has feminine qualities. I don't feel very deeply about this. On the contrary, the other three points left a more profound impression on me.
1. Exhausted tragic plot without tearing
Just beginning, Manuela, who raised her son Esteban by herself, took her son to see "A Train Named Desire," a play she once starred in, to celebrate his son's 17th birthday. After the end, the son insisted on waiting for the main actor to come out and ask for an autograph in the rain. While chasing the star's car, his son died in a car accident. When the doctor came out of the operating room, she directly persuaded her to donate organs.
After dealing with her son's funeral, she remembered his son's question about who his father was before he died, so she decided to go back to Basarola to find her son's father. In Barcelona, she met the nun Rosa, who became pregnant unexpectedly and whose father was the ex-husband Manuela was looking for.
Manuela learned from her former friend Ayue that her ex-husband Esteban has also become a "woman" and is now named Lola. He became a prostitute, contracted AIDS, stole all of Arlo's property and disappeared. From Manuela's recollection, we know that this Esteban was separated from her after marriage, and when she came to her husband's city, she found that her husband had a bigger breast than her.
Rosa was worried that her mother could not accept her unwed pregnancy, and because she was infected with AIDS, she was weak and needed to rest, so she turned to Manuela and regarded Manuela as her mother. The child, also named Esteban, was raised by Manuela after Rosa's death and miraculously HIV-free.
If you only look at Manuela's experience, she has experienced several tragedies in her life after she met her ex-husband. The amazing thing is that Manuela only shows sadness in the whole film when her son is in the car accident and when she secretly sees the recipient of the organ transplant. At other times, she seems strong and tolerant, no matter when she is pregnant with her ex-husband. Rosa, the child, or Agrado, who indirectly caused the death of his son.
2. A large number of intertexts that make people applaud
The two most classic intertexts are naturally The Comet Beauty, which the mother and son watched together at the beginning of the film, and the Train Named Desire, which the two went to the theater to watch together. The plot setting of Manuela who succeeded Nina to perform on stage is similar to "Comet Beauty", and "Desire" is a work that deeply influenced Manuela's life, and her acquaintance with her ex-husband stemmed from common star in this work.
In addition to the two intertexts that pay homage to the classic movie, there are also two episodes in the film that impressed me.
For his son Esteban's 17th birthday, he wanted to see his mother's work routine, so Manuela took him to a seminar, where he was currently playing a wife who had just lost her husband, and two doctors were trying to persuade him. She does organ donation. Who could have imagined that in a few days, all of this really happened to her.
After Nina left, Ayue took her place and acted with Agrado. In the play of the new rehearsal, Agrado played a mother who lost her son in a car accident. I don't know if Manuela's story inspired her.
3. Why women must suffer while men can do whatever they want
Many critics have said that the film shows the tolerance, optimism and kindness of women. That's right, every all-female character in this movie has these wonderful qualities. But when Lola shows up at the end of the film, one can't help but wonder, why?
Lola chose to be a woman but not a man. In fact, he has been playing the world recklessly, wearing a three-point swimsuit but forbidding Manuela, who was his wife at the time, to wear it, and hitting people if something goes wrong. After that, he was infected with AIDS and did not stop, and also caused Rosa to become pregnant and died after giving birth.
He said he always wanted to have a son of his own. But in fact, he brought two boys into this world one after another, but both failed to fulfill the responsibility of a father. Even if he knew he couldn't be responsible, he still wanted a son.
In the film, Rosa never hated Lola, and Manuela eventually forgave Lola. It seems to be a perfect ending, but I still want to ask why? Why can he be easily forgiven for his reckless actions that cause endless harm to others, and why women or mothers must be tolerant, strong, and kind.
Teacher Dai Jinhua said that an important feature of Almodovar's films is that " it does not reject clichés but rejects stereotypes ", but I can't help but wonder, isn't this female/mother image also a stereotype or a social norm?
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