I finally finished writing this "Lust and Caution" film review. I had a lot of thoughts during the writing process. I always felt that the fate of the little people in the big era was very miserable. You can be busy living, busy dying, busy being yourself in a confused age. I would very much like to be in that bewildered age, to be an ambitious little person, clamoring for the times, and then being beaten to death by the times. In those days, absurd things became very ordinary, and human selfishness and endless desires could also be revealed to each other, unlike now that we hide every moment and are busy with mediocrity.
"Lust, Caution" is nothing but an erotic farce with a patriotic background based on the blood of little people. When Wang Jiazhi made her debut, it was when she fell into the prison of fate, and she was destined to spill her blood on the this stage. The unexpected success of her performance dazzled her and convinced her that it was not an unreal game. It is not so much that Wang Jiazhi made Mr. Yi fall in love with sex and quit, it is better to say that Yi Mocheng accompanies her to indulge her in the illusory and indulge in the truth regardless of others, which makes patriotism a useless aside. The love story under the coat, the situation of the times, political strategy, etc. are just the background of this love.
The story of "Lust, Caution" takes place in Shanghai in the 1940s in the Japanese-puppet-ruled area. At that time, Shanghai was full of romanticism and idealism, as well as cruelty, repression and emptiness caused by war. People either held high patriotism all day long. The flag, or doing nothing and being afraid every day, it is all this that destroys the self, so that people can't feel their existence. In the era of depression and confusion, any absurd things will happen, they can be explained, and they all need to be forgiven. Because the little people are no match for the big times, they are just a group of soldiers who are in chaos on the battlefield of the times, and need to keep an eye on the banner of patriotism to find the purpose of life.
The strong incandescent lamps in the daytime, and the dazzling diamond rings under the lights have long hinted at the game of love and death. Love, wealth and power are easy to move people's hearts and easily cause hallucinations. Wang Jiazhi is lost in this bright light. Ego, lost the so-called patriotism. After all, Wang Jiazhi was just a female college student who was raped by patriotism in adolescence. She lost her virginity and self-consciousness in an involuntary state of disorder and love in her youth. When she had never experienced love , has become Mrs. Mai who plays cards with Mrs. Kuo, the mistress who practices paperclip pose with Mr. Yi on the bed, and the agent with a "noble mission". When she was forcibly pushed onto the stage, she also showed a look of consternation. When she was betrayed by her poor acting skills, she was also flustered and wanted to seek help, but the reality was cruel, and it seemed that Kuang Yumin , Liang Runsheng, Lai Xiujin these revolutionary partners, in fact, she just went to the meeting alone, playing a one-man show ending in death.
Her performance was somewhat bloody and tragic, but she stubbornly added some dreamy color to these tragic and solemn. While waiting for Mr. Yi, she will add perfume to herself, deliberately creating an illusory and seductive atmosphere outside her body, so that she can temporarily ignore her dangerous situation and let herself be fascinated. Immerse yourself in the wonderful world of false identities. It's just that the coffee shop windows, glass doors, and large mirrors remind her all the time that everything in front of her is just the moon in the mirror and flowers in the water, and she can't escape the devastating ending of the collapse of the entire building.
Even if it is destined to be destroyed, Wang Jiazhi still has no hesitation, because only from Mr. Yi can she find a little truth in the illusion. The relationship between Wang Jiazhi and Mr. Yi is real, but it is also complicated. Our evaluation of the relationship between them cannot be polar opposites, either loyal or traitor. Because of that era, the ugliness unleashed by the war turned the extravagant and prosperous Shanghai into a hell where everyone was in constant panic. In human nature, love is the most real and direct expression of emotion. Mr. Yi's own "occupation" is repressive and helpless, while the other side of human nature is to vent his emotions and seek freedom. They exposed each other in the era of nihility and cruelty. The two took off their disguise and masks, met frankly, made a vivid love, and talked about a true love. When Wang Jiazhi folded her legs and hugged her body harmoniously in Mr. Yi's arms like a juvenile in the mother's womb, Mr. Yi's face showed a loving look like a father. At that moment, they forgot their respective identities and put aside the times cruel. They are all just small people with ambitions for life, under the wheel of the times, trying to escape misery, innocent and pitiful.
In this way, the two of them acted like a romantic scene like the middle-aged spy leader encountering a confidante, so Mr. Yi gave Wang Jiazhi a diamond ring like a dream, a man like a fascination. Through the dazzling diamond light, Wang Jiazhi saw his profile face facing the lamp, looking down, her eyelashes like beige moth wings resting on her thin cheeks, she even showed a gentle and pitiful look.
Wang Jiazhi, who was addicted to acting, began to awaken before the official success of the performance. In the context of male-dominated discourse, her body lost its dignity as a carrier of personal souls, and was used more as a tool. She was tired of living without a soul, and she also realized that she fell in love with , Maybe he has always been in love with that middle-aged man. So she heard her voice that was close to collapse but was extremely excited, and she whispered to Mr. Yi, "Go!" These two words became the prelude to Wang Jiazhi's elegy. Perhaps for Wang Jiazhi's performance, winning Mr. Yi's love is far more successful than just tricking him into coming here. Such a noble patriotic movement was defeated by love.
After Wang Jiazhi let Mr. Yi go, she walked out of the jewelry store with great ease, and saw a small red, green and white windmill spinning at the front of the car. The bright colors of the small windmill contrasted with the darkness she had just experienced, making her believe that she came to light and innocence, will be redeemed. The warm red, the peaceful green, and the pure white reminded her again of a girl's dream of love, which was projected on Mr. Yi's thin cheeks and beige moth-winged eyelashes. Wang Jiazhi is not a qualified spy. This sacred national and national salvation movement is doomed to fail at the beginning, because Wang Jiazhi is too immature and lacks the ability to control and distinguish between her real identity as an intelligence officer and her symbolic identity as a mistress "Mrs. Mai". .
The ending of the film is different from that of the novel, which is precisely the different stances Eileen Chang and Ang Ang hold towards men. In the novel, after Mr. Yi escaped danger, he was only happy and fearful. He blamed his wife for making friends carelessly, and was complacent for getting such a confidante in middle age. He didn't miss his old feelings at all, and he thought: "She must hate him at the end of her life. 'No poison, no husband'." "They are the original relationship between hunter and prey, the relationship between tiger and scorpion, and the ultimate possession. She is his person in life, and his ghost in death." In Zhang Ailing's world Love is extremely cruel and cold, full of the selfish and greedy nature of human nature. Every word of her is an accusation against a man's ruthlessness, a gnashing hatred for a man and a deep despair. In the face of love, a man can be gentle and sweet, but in the blink of an eye, he will turn his face ruthlessly, revealing his hideous face. Relatively speaking, Ang Lee, who is also a man, is much more tolerant towards men. Mr. Yi in the film is not completely cold-blooded. His hands trembled slightly when he signed the shooting order. , sitting alone on the bed of his former lover to pay homage to the past, until the ten o'clock struck, his heart also trembled.
In the end, Wang Jiazhi loves bravely more than anyone else.
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