"Notes on a scandal" should be the most bizarre film I've seen recently. I watched it for the gimmicks of teacher-student love and the huge boat scene, but I never expected it to be a dark story about desire and possessiveness. . The ravines of desire are deep, and Barbara, who has been lonely and aloof all the year round, hides high in the attic, coveting every prey—a beautiful, innocent, soft blonde beauty.
The opening of the film begins with Barbara's narration, standing high in the school building, watching Sheba walk in under the sunlight, dyed with a pearly sheen, and watching the beautiful prey walk into her trap unconsciously. Similar to "Carol", the director is very good at close-up close-up shooting, and Cate Blanchett in the backlight exudes an unconscious and charming lazy sexy. Barbara, who was born in the lower class but has always been yearning for the heights, saw this unsuspecting lamb from the higher class at first sight. For a smart person, it is too easy to capture such a prey. But just go over to help her maintain order when the students are noisy, and have a few lunches with her, you can win the friendship of a lonely person.
The first climax came from the moment when Barbara found out that Sheba was having an affair with a male student. She and Sheba were separated by a layer of glass, looking at Sheba's tight abdomen, the expression stuck in desire, and how the male student's body covered her, Everyone's lust is ready to come out, and they are isolated by the cold glass of Christmas Eve. Bystander is a portrayal of her life. Barbara is only a bystander in other people's life all her life, but she has never had the opportunity to participate. Long-term loneliness is enough to deeply shape a person, and create an incredible possessiveness and dark psychology. Barbara, who discovered the Sheba scandal, was not angry at the moral incoherence of the teacher-student relationship. Instead, she was secretly delighted. She finally found the handle of Sheba and the long-awaited key that could participate in her life. .
The scene in which Sheba reveals the reason for the affair after drinking is a one-man show for Blanchett. Sheba's role is a bit like "Blue jasmine" seven years later. The good news is that such amazing and precise acting skills have been recognized by the academic school seven years later, and she should have won the actress. (In addition, I really think that the six Oscar nominations of "Carol" are accompanied by the whole process. It's really not enough for the dead fat Weinstein to die a hundred times...)
She cried a lot in this movie, all kinds of repressed sobbing, collapsed crying, and silent tears all made people have to marvel at the depth and delicacy of her interpretation, just like pearls on her eyelashes Tears and those eyes that were as blue as the sea dipped in tears had already made everyone fall. The affair stems from loneliness, and she doesn't want to be a perfect wife anymore.
Ironically, the two protagonists in the movie seem to be entangled in loneliness and fall into the abyss. Sheba chooses to secretly dispatch loneliness, but unexpectedly, because of her behavior, she will be used by Barbara, who is also lonely. She pitifully begged Barbara to at least let her spend the last comfortable Christmas. Barbara sat opposite her, comforting her with a slight smile, hugging her, watching the prey sinking deeper and deeper in front of her, so far, the lamb was finally caught.
How terrible is loneliness and possessiveness? In the original book, Barbara has this expression: "People like Sheba think they know what it's like to be lonely, and the loneliness they know is to recall the whole month of suffering after breaking up with a certain boyfriend in 1975. , until they get another new boyfriend - but they don't know anything about the long nights, the bits, the endless loneliness, and they don't know how to plan an entire weekend that can only revolve around going to the laundromat The feeling of doing laundry -- they don't know the feeling that no one has touched it for a long time, so that when a bus driver accidentally touches his shoulder, it will be like an electric shock, and a longing shock will be transmitted directly to the feeling between the legs. "
Desires are often transmitted and displayed by physical contact. Cate has done very well in several boat scenes in this movie. The boy's desire is like a flame, scorching her and entangling her. She sinks from the border of morality step by step, and finally falls completely, under the flyover with him, in the art room In lingering, forgetful moan. The display of desire for Barbara is even more creepy, and the detail of her collecting Sheba's hair and sticking it in her diary just gives me goosebumps. In addition, she stroked Sheba's wrist and secretly raised Sheba, who had nowhere to go after the last teacher-student romance scandal was exposed, at home. Looking at her calf that was almost transparent in the sun, she wanted to touch it several times. dare not. How could this be love? She indulged her in the sea of lust, demanded endlessly for her company, longed for every minute and every second of her, but how could she be so wise as Sheba kept being deceived, just like at the end Sheba was so angry that she trembled all over Ask her, "you think this is a love affair? A relationship?"
At this point, I finally understand why this movie, which is clearly a lecturer's love affair, is actually just two women on the poster. Sheba was in the light, and she was incredibly beautiful; Barara was in the dark, staring at her with dark eyes. The scandal is not just about Sheba's unscrupulous teacher-student relationship, but also a person who understands that the insatiable desire for another person will never be able to have it, the desire to destroy.
What she will never get, the one who is near and far. That would destroy her.
In the end, the truth is revealed, and everyone has their darkest side. Sheba's husband, everything Sheba yearned to escape, turned out to be her teacher twenty years ago. Barbara had already destroyed Jennifer, a beautiful young teacher before, and even after she escaped, she still lingered, sending her a wreath of curses. Sheba's cheating male student didn't have the life experience that made her sympathize with her. He finally abandoned her like a shoe, leaving Sheba alone crying in the snowy night. Sheba was sentenced to ten months in prison and went to jail.
At the end of the film, on the bench overlooking the city, Barbara finds new prey, still a young, defenseless, sincere blond girl.
But this time, what you and I both know is that the ending of the story won't change.
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