"If you want to wear a crown, you must bear the weight." "Bad Education" is the first movie I saw in which Almodovar did something wrong. Compared with his other films, Benino's suicide in "Tell Her" is a spiritual sublimation, and the heroine of "Return" buried her husband's body by the river to represent the victory over memory and destiny.
This "Bad Education" is more heart-wrenching than the few Almodovar movies I've seen before. The ending of the story is disappointing.
The story is relatively simple: Enrique was a director, and one day, an actor who called himself Iger came to see him, claimed to be his old classmate, and came up with a story. Enrique fell in love with the story, but did not agree to let Iger play the lead role, and he doubted his true identity. Enrique visits Iger's house and finds that Iger is dead, and the fake Iger is actually Iger's brother Juan. Enrique didn't expose it. Seeing that Enrique worked very hard, out of curiosity, he decided to count. At the end of Enrique's film, a man who calls himself a priest appears and exposes the sins committed by Juan... For Enrique, this is not Shakespeare's theater, but real life, after learning the truth , Enrique's psychological impact can be imagined.
The narrative technique of the play within the play serves as a buffer. If the truth is like in the movie: Iger is the victim, a bit naive blackmailer, and the priest has a mafia-like colleague, the audience will be more accepting? However, the ending can't help but make people sigh: the reality is too cruel, no one is innocent, everyone suffers for themselves, and flutters like a pig in the quagmire of their own and others' desires.
In Almodovar's films, each main character is valued to achieve the effect of "personal perspective POV". Moreover, at the beginning of the film, all the main characters have appeared. As the story develops, the characters become more and more clear. There are not many protagonists, but they can still achieve the same status as the protagonists in the hearts of the audience.
The two sinners in the film were not punished at the end of the film, and their motives for their crimes even made people sympathetic.
1. Priest: a deep infatuation with someone
Both the priest and the fake Ig in the film commit sins. But at the end, as an audience, I suddenly felt empathy for them. The priest has a pedophile and uses his status to become the "lover" of little Iger. The film shows his refined and affectionate side. Little Iger sang the part of congratulating the new principal, the priest's expression "seems to be about to cry", ecstasy? sad? What was he thinking about? His thoughts hide behind a refined exterior. The priest's infatuation with Juan later reminded me of the old man's possessiveness towards actresses in another Almodovar movie, "Broken Embrace." Both committed crimes for the sake of love and carved scars in their own hearts, although hateful, it is also pitiful.
2. Fake Ig: A Strong Desire for Life
I can totally understand Juan's motive for killing someone with a knife (it doesn't mean I agree).
Juan is a vibrant young man, a passionate and diligent actor, a filial son, and an ambitious young man in a small town. As much as his desire for life was, so much was his desire to kill Iggy. Moreover, he and Iger must have not had normal and effective emotional communication for a long time. Emotions lose their binding power. It wasn't until the very last moments of the film that the scene of Iger's death evoked Juan's inner emotions: grief, pain, remorse.
He's a bit cunning, wants to kill but doesn't want to be a sinner, and manipulates obedient priests who are deeply infatuated with him.
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