In general, it can be divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the description and development of the relationship between father Winfried and daughter Inies. The father who could not enter his daughter's life, let alone communicate with her, finally left in despair. In the second part, Tony's identity replaces his father's identity. Tony enters his daughter Inez's work and life as a disruptor, and only in this way can he truly communicate with her. The last part is logical, Tony and his father finally become one, and Inez finds another himself in the abandonment of his identity.
The opening shot actually buried the foreshadowing of the humorous replacement of the father/Tony dual identity, inadvertently unfolding the narrative clues, and at the same time holding still photography to the limit of space is interesting, waiting and surprising. Then, the episode of meeting his daughter depicts his identity as a father: a teacher who is about to retire, takes care of his mother and an old dog, and lives a lonely life with cold humor. The paint on the face, the dentures on the body, the active or passive identity replacement, it seems like a solution to boredom and loneliness. A stark contrast is evident with Inez's identity, who enters the narrative by answering a barrage of phone calls, fitted formal attire, standard smiles and speeches. This part sets the tone that runs through the variation of their relationship, the father who has no purpose in life and who doesn't strive for it, and the father who is increasingly distant from Inez. In addition, the daughter's prejudice/misreading of her father was only clearly expressed in the second half. When she said to her father that "humour can't do anything", it was a flashpoint after the accumulation of emotions, and at the same time, it promoted the arrival of the later character transformation. Greatly enhances the emotional tension, which shows the intentions of the play. This will be continued later.
Winfried's first intrusion into his daughter's life is as a father, which seems to be an interesting intertext with Tony's second intrusion in the second paragraph, and of course it is also a reflection of dual identities. In contrast, the first time is not a real intrusion but just stays on the surface of life. Ines, who is immersed in work, has turned work into an important part of life or personality. She lives in a seemingly balanced way. Actually out of balance. It is not difficult to understand that the father faced more than the cold kitchen walls and suffocating air at home. The communication disorder was the hidden symptom of aphasia. In the second break-in, Winfried gave up his fatherhood so that Inies had to cooperate with him in shaping Tony Erdman's identity. This act of truly entering the discourse circle of the daughter's identity can be described as unbearable and infinitely sad. It is conceivable how helpless and helpless the father made such a move, but from the beginning, Wen who "played two roles" Again, Fried seems to have just played the humour a little bit more nonchalantly. The inner reversal caused by this role replacement is brewing emotions in a plausible calm, until the moment when the emotional eruption of the climax at the end, the weeping under the plush mask, there is no music or sensationalism, only the surrounding faint ambient sound, but the silence is better than the sound.
To exchange his own loss for his daughter's loss, Tony has been waiting and saving. He let go of his fatherhood in exchange for Inies to find the pure joy he once had. The prelude that was delayed in front of the piano was not only the singing, but also the heart that belonged to his daughter. It's here that Tony is also a father, and his father is Tony. Everything seems to have changed, but it seems to be back to the beginning. When the daughter in the car complained that the phrase "don't lose your humor" that her father said was too cruel, she didn't know that it was a wish from his heart after he felt the same way. Maybe humor can't fight life and can't make life better, but at least it blurs the line between reality and fantasy, leaving a gap between cruelty and joy, allowing people to stop and feel the thing called happiness. For life it is indeed stagnant, but the motivation and meaning of life is here.
Until the end, Inies finally let go of his identity and transformed himself, putting aside all constraints, external or internal. Perhaps this moment without any identity features is her most thorough venting, and it is also the recovery of her long-lost identity, just like the best answer to the phrase "Don't lose your humor."
I can't help but think that the director actually used a new model to package a slightly cliché story, but it looks brand new from the outside, the narrative strategy is set with dual identities, interesting variations on the relationship between characters, and at the same time, there is attention to women's careers. It is also seen that female directors have the advantages of delicate perception of characters and innovative entry points. After all, what kind of story is not the most important, how to tell it well is the key to determining the quality of the film.
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