"Father Trapped in Time" is an adaptation of French writer Lorraine Zeller based on his own stage play "Father". Generally speaking, an excellent stage play has been repeatedly polished due to its large number of screenings. From narrative to emotional If it becomes delicate and precise, this type of stage play will be very mature and moving if it is adapted into a movie.
a "sleepy" word
I have seen many movies about the life of the elderly, but "Father Trapped in Time" is the only one that can move me away from the templated narrative. Generally, before watching these kinds of movies, we will preset a moving expectation. If this expectation is simply satisfied, we may not be truly moved, perhaps because of some emotional logic of "political correctness" And high scores, but "Father Trapped in Time" is not the case. Through mature narrative outlines and delicate emotional characterizations, it not only satisfies our expected emotions of touching, but also gives us more life experience and taps more subconscious emotions of the audience. Emotional elements. The high-score evaluation of various movie websites can be said to be beyond doubt and well-deserved.
The whole story of the movie is very topical. It firmly grasps the word "sleepy" in "Father Trapped in Time", and also ruthlessly holds on to our hearts and pushes it to the end step by step. The perspective of the film does not start from the perspective of children like the conventional ones, but through the sad and sad eyes of the old man, to understand the whole world and the views of the people around him. The logic of the story seems chaotic and sketchy, but at the same time, we can feel the strong sense of rhythm and strong emotional connection.
fight against the world
The story begins with the father's dismissal of the carer. The daughter is about to move to Paris, the father is old and helpless, his intelligence is gradually declining, and he can't take care of himself, so facing the future, the father and daughter are now living together as a stopgap measure. They have only two options, one is to stay at home and find a nurse to look after them, the other is to send them to a nursing home. However, the former was rejected due to the father's refusal attitude and the unbearable attitude of the carer to his father, and he had to be sent to a nursing home to live.
The film does not reveal the condition of the elderly naked from the beginning, but a gradual process. My father refused to be a nurse because he didn't feel that he was getting old, or that he didn't feel that he needed someone to take care of him. This kind of stubbornness runs through the entire process of the film's narrative, and it also shows his personal characteristics of being tough, not accepting softness, and not admitting defeat.
When he met Lucy, the nurse, he liked this girl very much, because it reminded him of the little daughter he had lost, and at this time he thought his little daughter was still alive. So, in front of Lucy, he deliberately showed his youth and vitality, and even sneered at his daughter's claim that he was too old and could not take care of himself. This stubborn, disobedient and tough temper made him seem to be the enemy of the whole world , to fight against the whole world, because the whole world is telling him that what his daughter said is not wrong. He didn't agree, but he often sat in the empty room, breathing weakly, showing that he was exhausted and lingering.
It is lonely, pitiful, and helpless. Years, yes, everything is the fault of the years. Therefore, he always cares about the time and the watches that he can see. He is afraid of time in his heart, but he also sympathizes with time. However, on the surface, he has to fight against time because he refuses to grow old. This series of contradictions Let him sink in loneliness and misery.
struggle and silence
In the clips with his daughter about where to go in the future, there are many so-called "silent moments" by Antonio. The delicate and classical panoramic shots not only show the loneliness and nowhere to place the father and daughter through the empty room, but at the same time, It also shows the increasingly estranged relationship between the two. The daughter is an adult, she has her life and world. Chinese people pay attention to filial piety, but when the father gets old, if such a "useless person" is entangled, wouldn't it be a kind of damage to the daughter's personal life? The impatience and distaste shown by the daughter's husband in the film is precisely the problem faced by all families. Very helpless, very sad, very cruel.
I don't know if the audience has noticed the above set of shots in the movie. The daughter drank the water indifferently, accidentally smashed the water glass on the ground, and then sat in front of the bed and stroked her father's cheek. At this time, the camera suddenly cut to the daughter's back, and the daughter made a gesture of strangling her father. The whole person trembled. This shot may be a vision of the father, it may be the mental image of the daughter, both are possible, and they are shocking enough.
The daughter struggles between her personal life and taking care of her father. In her father's eyes, this attitude is abandonment and disgust. Therefore, the father complains and resents. If the above scenes are the father's illusion, it must be more and more at this time. Demented father's mood is fear of his daughter killing him. If it is the daughter's state of mind, it must be in the subconscious. Instead of struggling so hard, it is better to let the father die early.
I once read an article about a daughter who lost her job and her family in order to take care of her mother. After taking care of her for several years, she later cursed her mother all day long, and finally couldn't stand the torture. She killed her mother and chose suicide herself. . This kind of state of mind is cruel, but it is undeniable that this is the case in real life.
Infant years after Alzheimer's
The director presents his father's state of mind through jumping and chaotic images. As he struggles, he forgets, and his condition gradually worsens. The people in front of him come and go, chaotic. In the end, he can no longer think logically. Can't tell the world apart.
All the people in his memory seem to be in front of him, but everyone is so unfamiliar, they are abandoning him, and they are leaving him. He couldn't trust the world, especially after his daughter left, but he had nothing to rely on. Yes, for a time, everyone became "others" in his world. Father was scared, panicked, helpless, and finally cried. In the subconscious, the mother is always the last safe haven, so the father shouted "mom".
The film shows the constant struggle and changes in the father's heart as the disease aggravates step by step. In the end, the cry of "mother" broke the father and the audience. The film's delicate narration and Anthony Hopkins' superb performance may be worthy of our lifetime to reminisce.
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