I watched it again when I was in my twenties and thought it was an elegant and delicate family drama. After a lapse of ten years, I watched it again in my thirties. I no longer paid so much attention to the "form and style" of the film. Instead, I paid attention to the character's heart and the relationship between the characters. I have a deeper understanding of this film. When I was in my forties, when I was in my fifties,... I think that if I watch this film again every ten years, maybe there will be new experiences and feelings, and new thinking — this is a classic The charm of it.
Norman and Ethel are a couple who have been together for nearly half a century. They are a couple with very different personalities, and they are also a typical couple who are infinitely close to each other over the years.
At the beginning of the film, Norman and Ithel bid farewell to the city and returned to the "villa" by the lake in the countryside.
After getting off the car, Ethel was quite excited: "Norman, come here! Come on, there are loons, they are welcoming me back."
The tired Norman listened very carefully, but said: "I can't hear anything."
Norman is such an "old stubborn" who is "incomprehensible".
This seemingly everyday "character appearance" has already heralded the two different personalities and "three views".
After entering the house, Norman frowned: "Look at this place, it's a mess!"
But the same "situation", what Ethel saw was: "It will be clean and full of warmth in just a few moments."
Norman always sees the "bad" side of the world, but Ethel has the ability to discover the "good".
They are so different and need each other so much. The chemical reaction between them is-neutralization.
In addition to their different personalities, their physical status is also an important reason for their "ideological differences" in life. At this time Norman is about to pass his 80th birthday, he is stronger, he obviously feels "powerless", and Ithel, who is about ten years younger, is still very energetic-her mental age is two younger than Norman. Over ten years old.
Before he retired, Norman was a respected university professor, a self-respecting intellectual elite. His life is a tight life, he is strict with himself and treats others harshly.
When her daughter Chelsea was growing up, she had been living tremblingly in the shadow of her father's "majesty". After she left the nest in adulthood, the "shadow of childhood" made her more and more alienated from her father, and the loving mother, Ethel, also "layed a gun" because of this-her daughter seldom came back to visit them.
In the past ten years, the most important change of my father is that he has become more and more "venomous."
After the children became independent, the father was no longer the one who controlled everything, and he couldn't understand the children's various behaviors, so he could only treat each other with "venomous tongue" and relieved his anger.
Judging from various "circumstantial evidence", Norman did not have such a "poisonous tongue" when he was old. He has always been a "poisonous tongue". After his body gradually "out of control", his "poisonous tongue" should be worse than when he was young. Incomparable. Therefore, before his daughter took her boyfriend home, Ethel repeatedly reminded Norman to "lose a little" and don't break up again.
But Norman did not heed Ethel's advice.
Ethel's boyfriend is a dentist, and Norman's "welcome ceremony" to him is to tease his profession. However, the dentist's cultivation is very good, facing Norman's "disagreement", he was very positive and perfunctory. After that, the two "negotiations" alone, Norman was always stabbing, pressing every step, but the dentist was neither arrogant nor humble, and finally won Norman's "respect".
Yes, in the face of Norman’s “venomous tongue”, if you forbear it, you will only gain his contempt, but you will become angry and disrespectful. The dentist’s tactic is to retreat, and then counterattack reasonably and appropriately, neither Loss of demeanor, let the opponent lose the reason to continue attacking.
Unexpectedly, it was Chelsea's stepson Billy that made Norman "soft". Their fate stems from little Billy's catchphrase (vulgarity)-bullshit.
In the face of this increasingly worse world, nothing can better express Norman's attitude and mental state than "bullshit".
Little Billy, like his dentist father, is smart, strong, and resilient. In the process of getting along with little Billy, Norman saw himself as a young man, and found the long-lost "sense of accomplishment".
After the collision, the thirteen-year-old Billy rescued Norman decisively and bravely. It also allowed him to learn to accept others, especially their help and kindness.
Daughter Chelsea returned to the lake again, and in the conversation with her mother, she "accused" her father's various "atrocities" out of control. Ethel slapped her and said angrily: "It just so happens that the person you mentioned is also my husband!"
Norman and Ithel’s separation, of course Norman has a great responsibility, but Chelsea is also constantly pushing away his father. In fact, the fundamental reason is that Chelsea and Norman are essentially the same kind of people.
Chelsea was awakened by the slap, and she decided to take the first step towards reconciliation. Norman, who had taken his life back, not only learned to accept, learn to tolerate, but also learned to cherish—he certainly wouldn't refuse Chelsea's steps laid for him.
This is the best time, so Norman and Chelsea, the father and daughter in and out of the play, reconciled.
At the end of the film, when Norman and Ethel are ready to leave again, it is Norman who heard the loon's farewell first. Norman is still Norman, but his "venomous tongue" has been transformed into wisdom.
In the film, Norman is an annoying "old stubborn" most of the time, and only Ithel understands him. Ethel once confessed to Norman sincerely: "You are the cutest man in the world, but only I know."
In many cases, Ethel’s knowledge is enough, but Norman has grown up after his 80th birthday, and his "cuteness" has been known to more people.
"Golden Pond" not only has real characters and emotions, but also a real environment and human state.
I don’t need to say anything about the beauty of the film’s photography. The point is that its beauty is not the beauty of postcards, but the real beauty.
The film was shot in New Hampshire, the scene is real, but the light and shadow effects have a certain degree of human intervention. In order to minimize the degree of human intervention, most of the scenes in the film were shot with natural light. The photographer who created such a perfect image is Billy Williams.
Henry Fonda and Catherine Hepburn won Oscars for Best Actor and Actress in 1982 for the film, and they have become a story in film history. This is the fourth and last time Catherine Hepburn has won the Oscar for Best Actress. After winning, she lived another 21 years. Henry Fonda received his coveted Oscar on his sickbed, and a few months later, he passed away. It can be said that the physical state of Henry Fonda and Catherine Hepburn in the film is also highly consistent with their physical state in reality at the time. This is an "assistance" for them to be able to dedicate such a textbook performance. Effective.
This article takes Norman as the "protagonist". Ten years later, if I watch the film again, I hope to write a review from Ithel’s perspective.
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