If you compare French films with Hollywood, the world's dominant film leader, it is naturally inferior to Hollywood's consistent narrative style: "The dramatic conflict is intense, the plot development is clear, and the story is often objectively narrated in a closed time and space, and the audience is influenced by the film's plot structure. Stitching it in, I don’t realize that I have participated in the composition of the film’s meaning, but what the film wants to promote or emphasize silently penetrates into the audience’s spiritual world.” So easy to understand and accept. It can be seen from this point that Hollywood commercial films pay more attention to the entertainment and box office results of the film itself. Due to Hollywood's massive investment and its story composition method that pays attention to causality and dramatic conflict, there is no obstacle in the visual and auditory communication with the audience, which makes it easier for the audience to enter the story and participate in the story, so as to recreate the story. With full understanding and freedom, the audience has the joy of participating in the scene. Under the impact of sight and hearing, it stimulates the excitement cells of the audience, and it is not difficult to understand that Hollywood commercial films are generally accepted. But these kinds of films often leave little behind after the film. And art-oriented films (so called because pure art films are hard to find), it can sometimes be less readable because the techniques used to structure the story and present it are often unconventional and unconventional. Yes, it obviously focuses not on the purpose of creation but on the process of creation.
In France, a country with the longest film history, the narrative style of many of its films tends to express the creator's subjective consciousness, that is, a general stream of consciousness tendency, so it often gives the audience a sense of "alienation". Relatively more attention is paid to the aesthetics of the picture composition and the expressiveness of the music in the works. And this sense of alienation can be said to be one of the means of artistic expression (for example, in "Emily the Angel" (2001), a large number of characters' inner monologues, the angle of the camera are grotesque, and the techniques of drawing frames and downgrades are generally used to produce It enhances the sense of jumping in the picture, and the flow of the story is guided by the psychology of the characters.). On this basis, many performance techniques are used and even deliberately exaggerated to achieve the effect of stage. This is evident from a historical point of view. In the 1950s and 1960s, the "New Wave" films represented by France did not pursue the thrill of scenes and intense conflicts, but rather the dramatic drama. Emphasizing the artist's individuality and creativity, it is more like a "author" movie. In addition, voice-overs, inner monologues, mobile photography, short shots, etc. are used in order to widely express people's subjective feelings and mental states. However, modern French films have inherited from their predecessors and are not stuck with conventions. They do not completely abandon film conventions, but carefully design plot structures and focus on portraying characters and inner worlds. Such as "Eight Beauty Qianjiao" ("8 Women", "8 Femmes") is such a work.
Adapted from Robert Thomas's stage play, "Eight Beautiful Thousands of Charm" is a collection of musicals, thrillers, women's films, and noir films, but it is not restricted to any single form of performance. The story revolves around eight women and one man (the man is the main line, but also a big supporting role). One morning, the women found out that the man had been murdered, and the eight women around him were all suspects, at least one of whom was the culprit. In the endless investigation, eight women: suspicion, consternation, guilty conscience, panic. It turns out that everyone has unexpected privacy and reasons for having to lie. Disguised masks were ruthlessly revealed. The illusion of camouflage can no longer whitewash peace. Director Ao Zong skillfully integrates the ugly phenomenon that may occur in society into a small stage (family) to show. Focusing on contention, betrayal, secrets, contradictions, love and hate, etc., it reveals the helplessness, despair and ugliness of human nature. Throughout the whole film, the author's skillful display of black humor skills is convincing, and the author's love and hatred, as well as the various symbolic images he created intentionally or unintentionally, can be seen everywhere.
1. Eight kinds of beautiful flowers, representing the different personalities of eight women and their unknown complex minds. From an aesthetic point of view, the image of "flower" is often the endorsement of beautiful things, for people to appreciate, to add color and even beauty to people's lives. Therefore, it can often bring people aesthetic enjoyment and pleasure. Under normal circumstances, people will never associate flowers with ugly things. The eight women are as beautiful as flowers, but at the same time, the author has given them an additional meaning: unknowability. Because it is difficult for people to see the true essence hidden under their beautiful appearance. The image of "flower" is also blurred and elusive because of these eight women. Each of the eight women has hidden secrets in their hearts: infidelity, incest, homosexuality, making money... No matter how beautiful they are on the outside, they each have an unparalleled darkness in their hearts. zone. Just imagine, when one day, the symbol of beauty in the world (flower: implying the most primitive beautiful soul of human beings) also becomes dark and untouchable, then what kind of situation will human beings come to! Is Aozong trying to insinuate and predict the "future" through the "past" from the perspective of "now" people? Through the alienation of this beautiful image, it hints at the depravity of the best human mind.
2. The scene of the whole story is limited to one house, and no matter how large the activity space is, it is only a living room, a kitchen and several rooms. Such a single location is naturally the author's intention. In addition, in terms of time, it is only what happened in one day, and things are more simple and clear, and the relationship between the characters is also very clear. But it is this simple family "farce" that reflects the face of the entire society. Obviously, the author intends to use "home" to symbolize the French society in the 1950s. People's material life became more and more rich, but their thoughts became more and more empty, and the communication between people became more and more commercialized. The estrangement seems to be insurmountable, because people are unwilling to communicate, or because the new outlook on life and values under the impact of the commodity economy do not give people the opportunity to communicate. Under the stimulation of the whole society, the alienation of human nature is intensifying, and the social ethics and morality are lost.
3. The male protagonist only shows his back from beginning to end. He is the bearer of this family tragedy, but also the maker of this tragedy. He was the richest man in the family, but also the man who really had nothing. He fully reflects the trend of human alienation: betrayal, incest, in fact, it should be said that he is the most fundamental representative of human alienation. Because all the ugliness revolves around him, and because of him, he is the culprit who killed himself. And her youngest daughter seems to be the cleanest judge in the family, she has the sharpest insight and sees through the ugly nature of all women. In order to let her father see the ugly face of the women around her, he personally designed and arranged this "farce". But the ugliness around him made his father unacceptable, and he couldn't face his own ugly nature. He broke down and chose the real death. At this point, the "farce" turned into a "tragedy". The youngest daughter, however, was convicted of murder from her innocent whistleblower status. The hero's death is a silent protest against a society alienated by money and corrupted by morality. When he could not bear all this, and could not change the status quo by his own strength, he chose to withdraw from the stage of this society. Does this "farce" between one man and eight women represent a struggle for rights between the sexes or a confrontation between society and human nature? ! Ao Zong seems to be criticizing this society and exposing the ugliness of human nature in this society, but at the same time, he seems to be telling people that this kind of society is irreversible. The author is helpless in this society, and he criticizes the characters in the play, but also gives them some sympathy, because after all, the author and the people in the play are people in the society.
Judging from the overall language of the work:
there are obvious exaggerated elements in the performance of the actors, showing a certain stage tendency. However, this exaggerated performance technique is a good way to externalize a character's psychology, allowing people to figure out their feelings and inner world through their expressions, movements, and even intonation.
According to the title of the work, there are eight wonderful songs and dances interspersed in the work. The characters express their inner feelings through singing and actions, and express the distress and incomprehension in their hearts. At this important juncture, the women chose to use singing and dancing to communicate with each other. Gain understanding, and this way of singing and dancing can also stimulate the audience's senses, arouse the audience's interest, and thus achieve psychological fit and resonance.
The plot of the story is obviously carefully designed by the author. The plot and the scene are structured according to the doubts of the people and the flow of inner emotions in the play, and at the same time, the author's subjective feelings and aesthetic taste are expressed.
The sets, costumes and the use of light in the film are all very delicate, showing the director's pursuit of aesthetics and the use of photography techniques. In the picture, both the scenery and the color of the characters' clothes are very bright and give people a strong visual feeling, which seems to be externalizing the inner passion of the characters and expounding the irreconcilable conflict of the characters.
There is also a lot of suspense in the film, but this kind of suspense is unusually "easy", and there is no horror atmosphere brought out by suspense, which is obviously not like the sensory horror brought by suspense in many Hollywood works. Such as the West End Kirk series. But what "Eight Beauty Thousands of Charm" advocates is the most real horror. This kind of horror may be hidden in the depths of everyone's heart. Once these hidden darkness are stimulated by certain social factors, it will become a mystery. Out of control. The suspense created by the author is based on the inner process of the characters in the play, and the exposure of secrets is often through the exposure of others. Is this behavior of exposing each other at a critical moment to protect one's innocence also a reflection of human indifference . In today's secular society, how much warmth is there between people?
Through his unique creative techniques and narrative skills, the director reflects the corruption and degeneration of the entire society through the misfortune of a family and this kind of human nature under social conditions. It discusses the obscure human psychological states such as sexual desire, crime, voyeurism, the deep relationship between society and people, and the difficulty of communication between people. Tragedy stems from the cruel social reality, but also from the indifference and betrayal between people. But it is a pity that the author has not been able to find a way out to change the status quo in the end.
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