Gilman's world was originally boring. As a middle-aged man, his life gradually loses his passion, the students are mediocre, and although his wife is a pioneer artist, in his eyes, he has nothing to offer. One evening, Gilman was grading his perfunctory homework as usual, until he saw Claude's weekly journal.
That was a story about peeping. Claude in the story enters the family of his classmates with reasonable excuses, trying to get to know them. The unique point of view and narration makes Jimman excited, but the behavior of the teenager makes him uneasy. He found Claude the next day to try to stop him, but was persuaded by Claude instead. So Gilman read the homework that Claude submitted every week, at first like a bystander, but later he involuntarily participated in his peeping plan, giving him advice and corrections from a creative point of view.
Claude's appearance fulfills Gilman's unfulfilled desire in literature for many years. He poured his professional ideals into Claude, and even gradually became addicted to it.
But things started to change. As a teacher, Gilman gradually lost his dominant position and became led by Claude. Then he found that their peeping seriously affected the life of the other's family, and even affected himself - the plot of the story slowly penetrated into his life, and he could no longer distinguish the boundary between reality and work.
But everything was more complicated than Gilman thought. One day, Claude knocked on the door of Gilman's house...
There are three perspectives in this movie. One is from Claude's weekly diary; one is from Gilman's perspective; and the other is a story that the audience connects themselves when they understand the plot. Creating the audience's own sense of voyeurism is a major success of the film. Getting the audience involved in the film may be part of the director's plan in itself.
Claude's ambitions are revealed at the end of the film. The person he really wanted to approach was Gilman. He conquered his teacher through literary works, and finally opened his door to "enter the room". At this time, Gilman, who was deeply immersed in the mud, was unable to resist. He lost his career and marriage, lost in the alluring depths of Claude's "unfinished business".
This is a parable about desire and slavery. Claude is Gilman's psychological projection, or rather, he is more like an extension of Gilman's desire. Gilman rekindles his fanatical literary dreams by controlling the students, while Claude uses the teacher's desire to remove the barrier between them and becomes the winner of the game. At the climax of the story, the scene where Claude walks into the teacher's house and has sex with his wife is very meaningful. Claude is like a younger Gilman, stronger, more impulsive and more dangerous. Similar to the way the invaders in the animal world defeated the old monkey king, he completely took over the teacher's everything in this way - his real territory and his soul dwelling. Or we call it the Oedipus complex in the way we describe human beings. It was after this that Gilman completely surrendered to the student Claude.
This story shows us the dangers of being enslaved by desire, especially when it comes in the name of ideals and passions. It inhibits the rational and moral side of human nature, making people lose their sense of direction, lose their judgment, and even lose their freedom. After watching the movie, I suddenly remembered Mr. Liu Cixin's science fiction novel "Chao Wen Dao". The human scientists in the story stepped onto the scientific altar set up by aliens, at the cost of ending their lives, in exchange for individual answers to the ultimate questions in their respective fields. Many scientists have chosen this path without hesitation. I was deeply moved by their dedication. But from another perspective, is this a conspiracy of aliens to use human desires to eliminate the best people in their race? Do scientists really make decisions out of their free will?
In the face of powerful temptations, individuals are often difficult to resist. Reasonable people avoid temptation in the first place because they know the consequences.
Give up anything, and never give up freedom.
This article was first published on the WeChat public account: Burning Expedition (TBC1096). Welcome to pay attention.
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