The film "Another Year" is based on the alternate cycle of four chapters of spring, summer, autumn and winter. It tells the daily life of a British family and the people around it. The trivial things and the unhappy plot. , No matter what mood you have, the days pass like running water.
The story kicks off with a middle-aged woman named Janet seeking a doctor, and at the same time lays the tone of the film - in a low and gentle tone, it is difficult to keep track of the past, the current situation, and the future in a low and gentle tone. period of complex mood. Janet is in the transition from menopause to old age, and the resulting physical, psychological, family relationship and other problems make her anxious and insomnia. The rigid and bewildered expression and the flickering answers all showed her ambivalence that she was eager to change her predicament but had difficulty opening her heart. Jerry, a physician who provided Janet with psychological counseling, one of the protagonists of the film, tried his best to get the other party to tell the crux of the problem, so he had to sigh helplessly.
Jerry and her husband Tom can be regarded as an enviable and loving couple. Tom was an engineering geologist before retirement. The couple have a house and a car and are in good financial condition. Son Joe is a community lawyer and goes home to visit his parents every weekend. In their spare time, the old couple grow fruits and vegetables in the vegetable garden and entertain friends. In general, the elderly couple lived a relatively prosperous and leisurely life. And their relatives and friends don't seem to be so lucky, and they are all in a bad situation.
Tom's brother Ron, suffering from the loss of his wife and the unreasonable troubles of his son, became more and more reticent. My friend is willing to be fat but not generous. He is alone, without a partner and relatives. He has repeatedly delayed his retirement and stuck to his job, at the cost of enduring the exclusion of young supervisors, just because he cannot face the days without work alone. When he was young, he was the darling of the bar, laughing and talking, and squandering his youth in stadiums and concert audiences. Nowadays, things are different from people and people are not scenery anymore. The occasions where young people gather makes him feel out of place, and the death of his peers triggers self-pity and self-pity. Only by drunken nagging can send out the depression in his heart and the feelings of old age. fear. From awkwardly courting Mary, Jerry's colleague and friend who came to the party, and being coldly rejected, to being reluctantly sent to the station by Mary and leaving in a panic in the eyes of the other party. As hopes are dashed, the character's gloomy mood of emptiness and loneliness culminates. The subsistence of food and clothing can still be maintained, but the night scene of the spiritual world is desolate but no one can understand it, which is painful to watch.
Despite rejecting Ken's offer, Mary's life is equally dismal. It's an unforgettable character, humble, decadent, neurotic, forever babbling about her misfortune (the only way she can get a chance at attention), who needs to heal and balance ideals and reality under the narcotic of alcohol huge gap. Mary had a failed marriage when she was young and has remained celibate ever since. Although she looks young, she always does not forget to dress herself up nicely (even if no one appreciates it), she still can't accept that she is old, and even an unintentional glance from a strange man in the restaurant makes her ecstatic, and immediately It was a sarcasm and a low sigh that came with all the pouting and unexpected disappointment.
Without a family, without a glamorous job, without the favored eyes of the opposite sex, Mary was like driftwood on the water, eager to catch something. An almost flirtatious conversation with Jerry's son Joe in the orchard gives us a clear glimpse into the inner inferiority of this woman who is reluctant to enter old age (the same age has her own house and car, she still renting), self-deception (a married man cheated her of thousands of pounds in the name of love, leaving her destitute, and she still believes he loves her), self-pity (she presents herself as Joe’s friend) , painstakingly recounting the sad past, in exchange for a trace of compassion and a verbally promised illusory "date").
It can be seen that Jerry, her husband Tom, and her son Joe, are enduring her eloquent and unrealistic fantasies with the greatest patience and cultivation. She is the most frequent friend of Jerry's family, not so much that Jerry needs her, it is more that she needs a place like this (because she has no home), and she needs some such laughing but silent listeners. In fact Mary had no audience, she kept talking to herself. Regarding the frustrations she vented after drinking, the Jerry family always stood at a safe distance, maintained their composure in a superior life, and maintained goodwill in etiquette. Apart from that, they did not intend to provide any spiritual enlightenment. with support. It can be seen that due to the difference in class and experience, the gap in friendship does exist, and the loneliness and frustration that cannot be eliminated by oneself can not be felt by others. What you don't have, others can never give, even if they are close to each other and staggered.
The fruits of the vegetable garden have gone through spring, autumn, winter and summer, witnessing the rise and fall of the four seasons. Will the season of life also usher in the next spring, or it can only gradually approach withering. This is how the director presents everyone's living conditions in a true and complete manner, without adding any comments, without any praise or criticism, allowing the audience to figure out and understand the various mentalities of the elderly under different living backgrounds, and reflect a group through individual stories. Psychological conflicts and contradictions that may exist. The coming of age is the final outcome that everyone has to face. Whether we want to or not, we must at least learn how to deal with the various discomforts and hesitations that come with it, and reduce the pain of fighting against the years to something that can be touched. Spiritual self-soothing and relaxation.
When winter came, Tom's sister-in-law passed away, and Jerry's family went to the funeral and took the elder brother Ron over to live there. Mary and Jerry are a little unhappy about her unsolicited visit because of the frequent failure of the used car she bought and eventually scrapped. As usual they invited her to dinner, son Joe brought his new girlfriend, and the whole family chatted and laughed. Ron, who has been unhappy since the loss of his wife, is now an outsider. During the banquet, Mary also restrained herself for the first time, cautiously saying nothing, and the long shot finally landed on her tired and empty eyes. This year is almost over.
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