Famous chef Lao Zhu fry, fry and fry as usual. The kitchen was steaming hot, but the atmosphere dropped to freezing point after the banquet. Lao Zhu has lost his sense of taste, and only held a few chopsticks symbolically; the three daughters also have their own thoughts. The originally close family gave birth to layers of separation, and the old house that Lao Zhu worked so hard to manage was on the verge of disintegration.
Ang Lee, the director of "Food Men and Women", skillfully used family banquets as a window to observe social changes and the ups and downs of people's hearts. In this window, three daughters and a father keep announcing unexpected decisions.
First, the second family, Qian, announced that she was going to move out of the old house; then the third family, Ning, announced that she was pregnant before marriage; and then the old family, Jane, announced that she was about to end her nearly 40-year single. Under these sudden shocks, the original old mansion was crumbling.
In fact, the second child's decision is not entirely unexpected. She has a successful career and an avant-garde thinking. She has an ambiguous relationship with a married man, and has a relationship with her ex-boyfriend. More importantly, she can't stand Lao Zhu's patriarchal dictatorship. It seems that she will leave this family sooner or later. However, the decision of the eldest and the eldest was somewhat surprising. Lao San Jia Ning seems to be well-behaved, but she is the one who subverts traditional ethics the most, robbing her friend's boyfriend, not to mention that she is pregnant before marriage; Lao Da Jiazhen seems to be old-fashioned, but she chose the most romantic and most inconsistent with her Christian identity. way of marriage. Of course, the most stunned person is Lao Zhu. Adhering to the traditional family concept all his life, he finally announced his marriage to his daughter's friend Jin Rong in front of his daughters.
Overnight, the world seemed to be turned upside down. This is not because the director is trying to confuse things and intentionally create contrast. In fact, he has been telling us calmly: the inversion is an illusion, and the return is the true meaning.
At the end of the film, Jia Qian, who first proposed to leave the old house, became the only one left behind in the old house. The once-traditional deviants have returned to tradition. The so-called "curvature is complete, crooked is straight, low is full, and bad is new". Jiaqian has experienced real estate evaporation and emotional failure. After reading the vicissitudes of life, she has a deeper understanding of life and a newer understanding of tradition.
Jia Zhen, Jia Ning, and Lao Zhu's rebellion and subversion also returned, but they were half a beat slower than Jia Qian. They must first taste the happiness that they have forgotten or never had.
This kind of thought has accumulated in their hearts for too long. On the surface, they are both guardians of tradition. Jiazhen converted to Christ, Lao Zhu inherited Chinese cuisine, and Jia Ning insisted on being a qualified employee. But whether it is a prayer accompanied by hymns, a grand feast cooked by skillful hands, or a busy figure in a fast food restaurant, it is only a superficial ceremony. They are just using ritual to cover up their hesitation and emptiness. Because they lost their nature under the shackles of traditional ritual nets, just like Lao Zhu lost his sense of taste. So after Jiaqian's announcement broke the tranquility of the home, they all began to re-examine their lives and the meaning of tradition.
"Eat, men and women, people's great desire." This is something people can't avoid and can't resist. The true meaning of tradition is not the rigid rules and regulations, but the respect and sincerity that directly point to people's hearts. The so-called "reflexive and sincere, great joy." Only by removing pretense and honestly facing up to one's own desires and needs can people achieve perfection.
Lao Zhu, Jiazhen, and Jia Ning walked for a long time with the shadow of tradition. They have been showing their backs and hiding their true colors. The awakening after this re-examination is like a non-flamboyant turn around, without flowers, applause and cheers. "Suddenly looking back, that person is in the dim light." Life is ordinary, simple, but also full of flavors. Put aside distractions and devote yourself to life, in order to gain enlightenment under the washing of the waves of life.
It was in this state that Jiaqian turned around and found the true meaning of tradition. The tradition she returned was not simply the tradition that Lao Zhu was trying to maintain. Just as Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines have changed their tastes when they arrive in Taiwan. But this kind of taste extracted from the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures may make the tradition more alive.
From this point of view, Ang Lee is not narrating the separation and reunion of a family or the cultural changes of a generation, but a philosophical fable in life. That is to say, in "Diet Men and Women", ethics is the form, culture is the breath, and philosophy is the god. To put it eloquently, the still water flows deep, which is the characteristic of Ang Lee.
Jia Qian stayed in the old house alone and cooked a table of good dishes in her own way. The two parents talked calmly, and suddenly Lao Zhu regained his sense of taste. The curtain rises, but this is not the end, just a new beginning.
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