"Last year in Marienbad" screenplay
Screenwriter/(French) Aaron Robb-Gree Ye
Director/Aaron Renai
Translation/Huang Yushi
introduction
People often ask Aaron Renai and I how we worked together to write and shoot this film. To answer this question alone, we need to clarify our entire view of film expression methods.
A film director and his screenwriter can cooperate in various ways. It can almost be said that there can be as many working methods as there are films. However, in traditional commercial films, the most commonly used method seems to be: to more or less separate the background and image, story and style from each other; in one sentence, separate "content" and "form" from each other.
For example, when the author wants to show two characters in a dialogue, he writes the dialogue they want to speak, and writes some details about the setting; if he wants to be more precise, he can also use their movements and faces The expressions are stipulated one by one; but how to shoot this scene, whether to express it from a distance, or let the faces of these two characters occupy the entire screen, how the camera moves, how to edit the film, etc., finally have to be The director decides. Secondly, just because these two characters can be expressed directly or shot from a long distance, the editing of the camera can be reversed when showing their faces quickly, so the audience can have different interpretations when watching the scene, even Can produce contradictory meanings. When they are talking, the camera can also focus on other very different things, perhaps just the environment around them: such as the wall of the house where they are, the street they are walking through, or what appears in front of them. The huge waves of the ocean and so on. In extreme cases, the scenes, dialogues and gestures of the characters shot with this method will appear very ordinary compared with the form and activity of the image, and they cannot leave a deep impression, because only the image is important. Yes, only images seem to be able to express a certain meaning.
Because of this, film has become an art: it creates a world that gives people a sense of reality through various forms of pictures. And we should only look for its true content from its form. In fact, this is not the case for any kind of artistic work, such as a novel, how to choose the appropriate narrative strictness, verb timing, sentence rhythm and vocabulary, etc., is much more important than the actual storyline. Let’s take a look, is there a veritable novelist who would give his story to a “sentence expert” to write the final draft and read it to readers? When we start conceiving a novel, we always think of the plot and its style at the same time; and the first thing the author thinks of is style, just like when a painter decides to paint a row of skyscrapers, he first What I think of may be all straight lines on the screen.
There is no doubt that the movie is exactly like this: to conceive a movie story, in my opinion, is actually to conceive various specific images of the story, including various details related to it, including not only the actions and background of the characters, but also Including the angle of the lens and the movement of the camera, as well as the connection of the scene. The reason why Aaron Renai was able to work with me was that our views on the film were completely the same from the beginning. This is not only reflected in the general view, but to be more accurate, even in the smallest details of the arrangement and the overall film. The structure is the same. What I wrote is probably what he has already thought of, and what he added during shooting may also be what I would write.
It is necessary to emphasize this point. Because this kind of situation that fully understands each other may be a rare example. However, it is based on this understanding that we decide to cooperate, or to work according to a common plan; therefore, it seems unbelievable that we almost always work separately because of our complete agreement. .
At first, it was a few filmmakers who thought of the two of us to work together to make a film. In the late winter of 1959-60, one day, Pierre Guro and Raymond Fromman asked if I would like to meet Renai, which meant that I would write him some movie scripts in the future. I immediately agreed. Because I have seen Lei Nai's works and appreciate the meticulous and rigorous structure of these works. In his works, I have seen some goals that I have always worked hard to achieve, a solemn atmosphere, slow rhythm, a sense of stage, and even the occasional stiff posture that is close to religious ceremonies. The movement, language and setting are reminiscent of the characteristics of ancient Greek art of a statue and an opera. In addition, I can see that Lei Nai’s works are an attempt to create a purely spiritual time and space—the dream, or the time and space in memory, the time and space of any kind of emotional life—and for the traditional He hardly thinks about the causality of the story and the chronological order that must not be changed in the development of the story.
Anyone is familiar with the linear plot structure of old-fashioned movies. This kind of movie never omits all the links of an event that anyone can predict: the phone rang, a person picked up the receiver, and then we saw the person on the other end of the wire, the first person to appear said he Go to see him, then hang up the phone, go out, go down the stairs, get into his car, drive a few streets, park in front of a house, enter the house, go up the stairs, ring the doorbell, so someone comes out to open the door, etc. Wait. In real life, our brain activity is faster than this-sometimes or slower. Its style changes are more, richer, and more erratic: it often skips certain paragraphs, often vividly preserves the truthful memory of certain "unimportant" details, and it is often not too repetitive or afraid of being reversed. . And this kind of spiritual time with various characteristics, with its emptiness, all kinds of stubborn ideas, and its ambiguous realm, is what we are most interested in, because this is what really is Our feelings and the rhythm of life.
When I met Renai for the first time, we talked about these issues. And our views on each issue are the same. In the second week, I gave him the outline of the four screenplays; he said that he was willing to make all of those four screenplays, and at the same time he would make at least two of my novels into movies. After several days of deliberation, we decided to start with the script we had named "Last Year in Marienbad" (sometimes we call it "Last Year").
After that, I started writing, but instead of writing a "story", I wrote down a table book for shooting. In other words, I wrote it down in detail on a site-by-site basis according to what I imagined in my mind at the time of the film’s screening. , Of course, it also includes dialogue and sound. Lei Nai often comes to see what I have written, lest there is something that doesn't match what he imagined. After writing, we immediately had several long discussions, and the results once again proved that we are completely consistent with each other. Renai had such a thorough understanding of what I was trying to show, so the few suggestions for amendments he made—for example, a few sentences of dialogue—all met my liking, as if they were made by myself.
The same was true during the actual shooting: Ray Nai did the work alone—that is, only the actors and chief photographer Shasha Ferney were with him, and I was not there. And I have never been to the scene, because when they filmed this film in Bavaria and then in Paris, I happened to go to Brest and Turkey. Renai once published an article about the strange atmosphere he felt during the weeks when he filmed the film in the frozen Limburg and the cold Hilleichmann Park. He also talked about Alberta West and Sai How did Rieger and Pidoyev slowly and completely master the personalities of our three anonymous characters. They don't have their own past, and there is nothing between them except the relationship created by their posture and voice, their own existence and their own imagination.
When I returned to France and saw this film, it was ready for editing, and it basically had its current appearance, which was exactly what I had hoped for. In the use of the lens, the background, and the movement of the camera, Lei Nai always followed my recommendations as much as possible, but this was not due to an agreement in principle, but because he and I felt exactly the same; at the same time, it was also correct. Because of this, the changes he made are, in my opinion, necessary. Naturally, what he did was far from respecting my suggestions in any respect: he realized my suggestions, he made everything in the film exist, gain strength, and have a direct reach into the audience. The power of the sense palace, therefore, anything he adds to the film of his own (although he has repeatedly insisted that he has only done some "simplification" work), I also fully understand. In each scene, where the script was not written, and what he had to create on his own was all just to produce the strongest and most convincing effect.
So, what I still need to do now is to modify some paragraphs of the script and let Henry Guby finish the final editing work. Now here I can point out that in the whole film, there are only one or two places...: In my opinion, a certain intimate action is not obvious enough, and a certain crazy scene can be more moving... …But I just raised these small questions to make myself feel at ease, because we had decided that when we finally came out with this movie, we would both sign it together, regardless of the screenwriter and the director.
Isn't the story itself a true directing technique? Just by looking at the outline of this story, we can feel that it is impossible to shoot in a traditional way. What I am talking about is a linear film story that develops in accordance with "logic". What the whole film says is, in fact, just a process of persuasion: the reality it presents is completely created by the protagonist based on his own imagination and words. If his perseverance and the firm belief in his heart finally win, then this victory is achieved in a labyrinth composed of countless false pursuits, countless variations, failures and repetitions!
All this happened in an extremely huge hotel, this hotel is simply an international palace, huge, mysterious, and splendid, but at the same time eerie and terrifying: this is a place made of marble and chalk, with countless pillars and walls. A world of flowers, gilded roof statues, and dumb waiters. Here, those who are unknown, polite, undoubtedly extremely wealthy, and at the same time doing nothing, strictly-but not enthusiastically-abide by the rules of their game (playing poker, playing dominoes) ……), participate in dance parties, have boring chats or target competitions. In this suffocated world isolated from the outside world, people and things seem to be constrained by certain spells, just like people are in a dream state, and they only feel that they are completely controlled by a certain inevitable trend. Going in or trying to make the slightest change in everything in front of you is completely futile.
A stranger stumbled from one hall to another, sometimes full of elegant guests in the hotel, and sometimes empty, passing through the doorways and seeing many large mirrors in front of him. Walked through endless aisles. He heard many fragments of sentences or words in his ears. His eyes turned from a strange face to another strange face. But he saw the face of a young woman again and again. When she was confined in this golden wire cage, she was very beautiful and maybe still alive. Therefore, he wants her to get what she can never get (especially in the labyrinth that no longer exists at this time, which is especially impossible): He wants to give her a past, a future, and freedom. He told her that he and her had met last year and were extremely in love with each other. He has come here to meet her according to her own arrangements. He also said that he intends to take her away from here immediately.
Is this stranger just a pervert? Is he crazy? Or did he admit the wrong person? In any case, the young woman only regarded all this as a joke at the beginning, and regarded it as a joke like many other games. But the man never laughed. He was resolute and serious, completely convinced of what he was gradually telling about the situation of their past encounters. He insisted repeatedly and presented evidence... The young woman could hardly control herself anymore. She slowly said something. Concession little by little. So she felt scared. She wanted to avoid him. She is unwilling to leave her false but reassuring world, she has become accustomed to this world; at the same time, for her, another man who is a symbol of this world is the one who has no illusions peeping at her at any time. The man who seems to be far away from her and always expresses concern for her may in fact be her husband. However, the things the stranger said were getting closer and closer to reality, and they became more and more reasonable, making her more and more compelled to believe that they were true. Finally, the present and the past are completely integrated into one, and the increasingly tense relationship between these three main characters has produced many tragic fantasies in the heart of the heroine; rape, murder, suicide... Then, she Suddenly I was about to succumb to the stranger... and in fact she had already succumbed. After making the last attempt to refuse, after giving her protector managed to regain her last chance, she seemed to have agreed with everything the stranger had said about her, and had agreed to follow him to seek some One thing, something inexplicable, something different from the general: love, poetry, freedom...or death...
Since none of these three characters have names, in the script, we use three letters to represent them completely for convenience. We call the man who may be the husband M, the heroine A, and the stranger, of course, we call him X. We are completely ignorant of how they are and how they live. Our knowledge of them is limited to what we have seen in the film: the residents of a hotel in the tourist area, the people who live here, are like living in prisons, completely isolated from the outside world. What do they do when they stay elsewhere? We can only answer: Do nothing! Nowhere else exists for them. As for the "past" that the protagonist reluctantly brought into this closed and empty world, we can't help but feel more and more that it was completely fabricated out of thin air. "Last year" is empty talk, and the place Mariambad is now no longer found on any map (Note 1). And this "past" only makes people feel emptied when it is summoned with enough power; at the same time, when it is finally recognized, it has actually become the present, and it seems to be the present from beginning to end.
There is no doubt that movies are an artistic means of expressing such stories. The most fundamental characteristic of the picture on the screen is its presentity. Literary works need to use a series of grammatical tenses to show the relationship between one thing and that one thing, but we can say: the verbs used on the screen are all present tense (this is exactly the "novel film "The reason why the past tense is so strange and so absurd is absolutely indispensable to traditional novels!): In essence, what we see on the screen is what is happening, and what we see is the state of affairs itself. , Not a description of it.
Of course, even an extremely insightful audience can understand those reminiscence shots. For example, only a few seconds of blurry shots are enough to make him understand that he will show his memories of the past: he knows what he wants to see in the future. It’s the past, and then you can use your normal focus to show the rest of the scene. It will never make him feel awkward, although there is no difference in image between the memory and the current thing. , That image is still in the present tense in fact.
Since these presenters agree to use this method to express memories, of course, it is easy to agree to use the same method to express imagination; in the movie theaters near us, we have never heard anyone comment on the court scenes in certain detective stories. Expressed a protest. There, we saw inferences about the facts of the case. This inference may be correct or wrong. It was completely imagined or expressed in words by the judge handling the case; then we also saw that many witnesses appeared in court to testify At that time, some people said it was fake work, some plots were somewhat contradictory, and some were close to reality, but all these plots were used to express the same image, the same sense of reality, the same present tense, and the same. Objective attitude. Moreover, if we want to express a certain character's imagination of the future, etc., the situation is completely the same.
What really are these images? They are all imaginations; an imagination, as long as it is quite vivid and vivid, always seems to be present. The memories we "see again", distant places, future appointments, and even the past that we rearranged for our own convenience, when we are completely indifferent to everything around us, all will be like a movie in We appear in our hearts one after another. But at another time, all our senses are busy responding to this certain external world. Therefore, the film in our hearts treats the real, present and past fragments of scenes, or future fragments of scenes that are provided to us by sight and hearing, and even scenes that are entirely out of illusion. Allow these scenes to alternate with each other.
What happens when two people have a conversation? Take such a simple conversation as an example:
"Let's go to the beach for a walk? Find a wide unmanned beach where we can lie down and enjoy the sun..."
"Go to the beach in this weather? We have to stay in the house all day, waiting for the rain to stop!"
"Then we can get some wood to burn the big stove..." Wait.
The street or house where they are located has disappeared from the speaker's imagination, and they are replaced by the scene they described. The two of them really exchanged their vision: the endless beach on which they lie, the rain pouring on the glass windows, the raging flames. And at this time—while listening to this conversation—if what appears on the screen is not the street or the house, but a man and a woman lying on the beach under the sun, and then it rains, these two The individual ran into the house to escape, and as soon as he entered the house, the man immediately put the wood in the fireplace, etc. The movie audience would never find it incomprehensible.
Knowing this, we will fully understand the meaning of the image in "Last year in Marienbad", because this movie is actually just a story about two characters-a man and a woman, the man Put forward a suggestion, the woman tried her best to refuse, and finally the two people joined together, as if things in the world have always been like this.
Since movie audiences have always been able to accept reminiscence scenes and objective inferences, we feel that they will not lack psychological preparation for such a story. Some people may say that if they do not give the audience some "explanations" when necessary, and let them know the position of each scene in the chronological order and objective reality, then they may be inexplicable. But we decided to completely trust the audience and allow them to rely on their purely subjective assumptions from start to finish. In this way, they may have two attitudes: one is that they follow the "Cartesian" diagram-as far as possible in a linear chronological order, in the most reasonable way they think-to re-arrange the story, so that the audience even If you don’t feel that the film is incomprehensible, you will definitely find it difficult to understand; another attitude is to allow yourself to completely let the strange image, the voice of the actors, the vocal cords, the music in the film, the rhythm of the montage, and the emotions of the characters, etc. Driven by... Such audiences will feel that this is the "easiest to understand" movie in the world; this movie is always only dealing with their senses, their sights, hearings and feelings. at the same time. As long as they agree to abandon the existing concepts, psychological analysis, and somewhat clumsy explanations (these are all cookie-cutter novels and movies that are not afraid to be disgusting, they are barely stuffed in their minds, and they are all abstract ideas of the last truth. ), they will feel that this story is also the most true and reasonable, and it is most suitable for our own daily emotional life.
The script published here, in principle, is exactly the same as the original manuscript submitted to Renai for shooting, but it is easier to read and slightly modified in form (for example, the initial effect and image description are all separate paragraphs. of). However, even at that time, we had anticipated that certain off-scene narratives (that is, the words spoken by characters who were not on the screen at the time) were in order to match the final picture (that is, to make it match the picture. The content or the time occupied completely match) must be changed or supplemented. Naturally, these few supplementary words are added to the manuscript.
Attentive audiences will naturally notice that there are still discrepancies between the script and the film they actually saw. Some of these changes in the film are due to the limitations of specific material conditions. For example, the building used as the background is not suitable, sometimes even purely to save money, and some are decided by the director based on his own feelings. However, I still published the script according to the original manuscript in Darry. This by no means means that I disagree with Aaron Renai’s changes, because, as I said before, he just made the film more perfect; the only reason Yes, since this script is now personally signed by me, then I won’t be able to take advantage of others’ beauty.
Readers will rarely see specific terms in this book, and some of the explanations about the breakout, specific shooting and moving lens, etc. may be laughable to experts. This is because I am not an expert myself, and it is the first time I write a movie script. In any case, I hope this situation can make readers not feel so boring from beginning to end when reading this script.
Aaron Robb-Lee
It started with a burst of romantic, enthusiastic music that sounded like we heard at the end of certain movies with strong and exciting climaxes (this is a woodwind, brass, string, etc.) It is composed of a huge symphony orchestra, etc.), the opening title is in the conventional style: the names of people, etc. are written in plain fonts, black fonts are backed by a gray background, or white fonts are backed by a gray background ; These names or groups of names are embedded in the boxes, and the boxes appear one after another on the screen according to a normal or even slower rhythm.
Then, these frames slowly changed. The sides of the frames became wider and more fancy, and finally turned into a gorgeous photo frame. At first, the frame was flat, but later it was painted with shadows. It's completely three-dimensional.
When the title appeared to the end, the frame became real, the pattern was very complicated, and it was covered with various decorations. At the same time, the outer edge of the frame has gradually widened, allowing the audience to see a part of the wall where these frames are hung. The wall itself is also very beautifully decorated with golden patterns and carved wooden boards.
The last two film titles were not shot separately, but slowly revealed by panning the camera. However, when the first frame was moved to the center of the frame, the camera did not stop, but still moved slowly and regularly. While moving, move across a section of the wall with only some wooden board decorations, golden patterns and floating sculptures, etc., and then move to the last box with the last name or names of the film. In the opening captions, the arrangement of names can start with some unimportant people and put the names of important people behind, or, especially when the title is about to end, mix the unimportant and important names with each other. This last subtitle seemed to be seen from a farther away, and a large part of the wall was exposed around it. The camera does not stop after moving to this subtitle, but continues to pan along the wall.
With the development of the picture when the opening captions appear, the music has slowly become a man's voice-slow, heavy, quite loud but somewhat indifferent: this is an elegant stage tone, with a clear rhythm, but nothing emotion.
The voice continued to speak, but even though the music had completely stopped, we still couldn’t hear what he was saying (at least it was difficult for us to understand anyway), because there was a strong ringing or similar sound. The effect (the two identical sounds are staggered back and forth, and then slowly approached, until the sound is finally completely normal).
X’s voice: Once again—(Note 2) I’m walking here, again, walking down these corridors, walking through these halls, these cloisters, in this—a building belonging to another century, this huge, Luxurious, weird, and gloomy hotels-here are endless corridors one after another-the deserted corridors are full of dim, indifferent decorations: carved wooden panels, embossed floral ornaments, plaster patterns , Marble, bronze mirrors, gloomy pictures, tall pillars, heavy curtains—carved door frames, rows of doorways, and cloisters—transverse corridors, which lead to the empty living room, full of The rooms with various decorations and the silent halls of another century...
After the credits are over, the camera continues to move slowly, linearly, and singly along the corridor. We can only see one side of the corridor. The light is quite dim, with only the light coming in through the windows arranged at a certain distance on the opposite side. . There is no sun at this time, and it may already be evening. However, the electric lights everywhere were not turned on; after a certain interval, due to the light from the invisible window on the opposite side, we could see the flower decorations on the surface more clearly.
The entire wall is exposed on the surface, from the top of the wall to the foot of the wall, and a small part of the floor and ceiling are also exposed. The lens is not directly facing the wall, but has a slight slope (the lens moves forward in this direction).
Such a carefully exposed wall by yard, that is, the wall that has flashed between the borders of the last two opening titles, that is, the surface is decorated with innumerable curvilinear patterns and waists. Lines, wall bands, lamp stands, embossments, etc.
In addition, on the blank wall, there are still face paintings in the mirror frame, all hung at a height of about one person. What we have seen here are mainly old-fashioned oil paintings depicting French-style gardens. The gardens are covered with geometric lawns, bushes trimmed into cones, pyramids, etc., and paths paved with gravel. , Stone railings and some huge statues with square seats, these statues all have a stiff, rather stern look; there are also some photos of the hotel itself, especially the scene on the photo, this is The corridor where we are now (photos, for example, can show the view of the two walls here from near to far). Finally, there is a theater poster (also with a frame), the title of which is a few unrecognizable foreign characters. Perhaps there is only one line of big characters on the poster that is hardly recognizable: the last scene tonight...
In this cloister, you can also see some large columns and semi-exposed columns, some closed wide doors, and some doorways leading to the extremely long cross aisles or halls and outer corridors.
In the whole scene, no one was seen. It's just accidental. For example, in the corner of the hall or at the far end of the aisle, you can see a stiff waiter in a servant costume, or a statue (but there is no like seat).
If you can’t keep shooting in a straight line, you can also replace it with a mysterious image consisting of countless aisles and living rooms crisscrossing each other, but you must be careful to keep the audience slowly and always moving in one direction. The feeling of going forward.
While all this was going on, the indifferent, monotonous voice continued to speak. When the opening of the film was about to end, what he said was roughly understandable.
X’s voice: …Here, the sound of advancing footsteps has been sucked away by these carpets. This thick and soft carpet makes people hear nothing, like a person who has walked here again and again. Go down these aisles-through these halls, these cloisters, in this building of another century, in this huge, luxurious, weird, gloomy hotel-here, endless corridors connect silence Unmanned corridors-everywhere are covered with dim, indifferent decorations: carved wooden boards, embossed plutonium, plaster patterns-marble, bronze mirrors, dark pictures, tall pillars, heavy curtains- Carved door frames, rows of doorways, cloisters, and traversing corridors-these corridors lead to the empty living room full of decorations of another century-lead to the silent hall, where footsteps have been heard. I was sucked away by all these carpets. This thick and soft carpet made people hear nothing-as if the ears were very far away from here, very far from the floor, and from the carpet, and there was no one in the decorations. The place is very far away, very far from the intricate patterns on the wall below the ceiling. The patterns that express branches and garlands are like some dried leaves, as if the ground here is still covered with messy sand...
The scenes that follow this conversation do not exactly match the locations mentioned in the words. However, one feature must always be maintained when shooting, and this feature should also be maintained throughout the film, that is, even in light and dark places, the picture should be very clear and prominent, so that everything looks like it has been. The same as light.
The camera has been moving from the beginning, and it didn't stop at all when skimming over the more important pictures (garden scenes). At the same time, the pictures of these gardens do not all appear in well-lit places, because they are not necessarily facing and arranged at a certain distance (the distance is always the same, so the elapsed time is also the same) on the other side of the wall ( Still invisible) of the window.
At the end of the cloister, there is a door, or even a large row of doors (the decorations of these doors are extremely ornate), and the camera still passes through the door according to the activity that did not stop at the end of the photo header. All the decorations here must be equally cumbersome, complicated, and with a gloomy atmosphere. There may also be tall pillars, stone steps, and colonnades. At the same time, the light here seems to be darker, although the picture is not obscured by it; on the contrary, certain subtle places (various reliefs on the top of the stigma) are very clear under the same prominent darkness. But we have no way of knowing where the light that penetrated in made the picture produce this peculiar effect.
Finally, we saw a dark room. It was really dark. There was only one light (very blurry at first, but gradually became clearer as the camera moved closer), shining in the direction of the movement of the screen. This hall can also be said to be a theater, but the furnishings in it are not the same as ordinary theaters: many chairs and recliners are scattered in groups, but they all face the same direction. There are people sitting on all these chairs, most of them are men in evening dresses, but there are also a few very beautiful women. We can only see their faces from the side or from the angle behind the side. The light comes from the stage. All these people's bodies are completely still, and their facial expressions are completely fixed, even their eyelids do not move. The light gets brighter as you get to the front row, but the scene in the whole room still resembles a theater, and the faces of those people are completely illuminated by the light from the stage they are watching.
The voiceover did not stop when the camera pushed into this room. Then, when rows of audience heads appeared on the screen, the tone gradually became less indifferent and more "emotional."
X’s voice: …or slate, where I used to walk forward, as if I was going to your date-in these are covered with carved wood panels, embossed patterns, azurite ornaments, pictures, framed oil paintings Between the walls, between all these things, I used to walk forward step by step-I have been waiting for you between all these things, this is leaving the place where I stand now, in front of you, I still Waiting for the man who will never come again, now he no longer threatens to separate us again and take you away from me (pause slightly) Are you coming?
After a moment of silence, a woman's voice (we didn't see this woman on the screen) began to answer. Her voice also had a stage accent, but it was slower, quieter, and more rhythmic. It was a beautiful, deep voice, but it was obviously suppressed; it was the voice of the actress that we will see soon.
Actress’ voice: We have to wait—and wait—a few minutes—just a few minutes, a few seconds... (silence)
The man's voice sounded again, as if he were on a stage, speaking this line in a more and more stage-like tone.
X's voice: It only takes a few seconds, as if you are leaving him-you are still a little hesitant before leaving yourself-as if his shadow that has turned gray and white is threatening to appear here- Appear in this same place, in this place you used to have excessive fear, or hope-imagined it with excessive imagination, because you are afraid of suddenly losing this loyal relationship...
The tone of this speech became slower and slower, and finally stopped. I will not say it for the time being. After a moment of silence, the actress began to answer again.
Voice of the actress: No, this hope-this hope has now completely lost its goal. This fear of losing such a connection, such a prison, such a lie has passed-the whole story is now over. It's over-just pass it again...
After shooting the first row of audiences, the camera was still moving, it was almost completely facing the audience, revisiting the rows of expressionless faces illuminated by the light on the stage. But the speed of mobile photography gradually slowed down, and finally stopped facing a few viewers who were completely motionless.
The scene of the stage was suddenly connected below. The light on the stage was bright and the scene of the stage occupies the entire screen.
The setting on the stage is a French (or Italian) garden, which reminds people of the pictures they have seen in the aisle. In fact, the setting is completely imitating one of the designs. A high platform made of gravel, behind the platform is a row of stone railings (from here you can overlook some lawns that are not visible on the screen), one side of the high platform is a statue, (the statue stands on a square seat, one or Two seemingly ancient figures, their talking posture seems to have a certain meaning, but what is it?) On the other side is a colonnade, or a few pillars, or a part of a flower shed, a Maybe someone will walk out the door from there.
There are two actors on the stage, a woman from 25 to 30 years old and a man from 35 to 40 years old, both of whom are dressed in costumes from the last century. They all face the Tao mentioned above. Men stand closer to the stage than women. We only see him in profile, and the image of the woman is even more backward.
The actress then finished what she said in a voice-over at the end of the previous scene.
Actress: ...a few seconds-it's all over...
Now the answer to her is no longer the voice of X we heard from the beginning of the film, but the actor on the stage.
Actor: ...It's over forever-all that is left is the marble-like past, like these statues, like this garden carved out of stone-many halls in this hotel are now completely empty, in the hotel Those silent waiters who were undoubtedly dead still stand watching in the corners of the corridors. Along these corridors, in these unmanned halls, I am walking forward to meet you. , I stepped across the open doors and came to see you, as if I was walking past two rows of motionless faces, those stiff, waiting and indifferent faces, and I was already waiting for you Now, waiting forever, but when I was waiting for you, you might still hesitate there, still looking at the door that leads to this garden...
The actor and actress have been standing still since they appeared on the screen. They stopped talking now, but still stood still. The silence lasted for a long time, until a bell (several clear and well-proportioned bells) broke the completely still situation: the man was still standing stiff, but the woman turned around, not turning to him, but Turn to the audience (that is, turn to the camera) and begin to answer his words.
Actress: That's great. (Pauses for a while, without making any gestures to him, then continues) Now I belong to you.
Amid a burst of warm applause from the public (not revealed), the stage curtain fell. The two actors still stood there as before, and did not bow to the audience. In the applause, the stage curtain rose and fell twice, but the two actors never showed anything. The woman's posture is very special here, completely like a statue: raising her arm and placing a hand on the shoulder on the other side, this posture must be recognized immediately when she sees it again. The applause continued, very enthusiastic, and the time was very long; then it slowly became the kind of music we heard at the beginning of the film (much like the music at the end of a tragedy), and the tone of the music became more and more Strong, the applause was completely submerged in the end, and the applause had slowly stopped when the stage curtain fell for the last time. A new shot was started below.
In the theater shot from the opposite angle, the theater's lights are now completely bright. The applause had ceased, and the audience stood up. They stood in groups in groups (the chairs did not fill the room completely). The camera walked through these people almost in a circle. A few people are still looking at the (unrevealed) stage. They no longer applaud, but they still stand motionless, staring at the front, as if the play that just ended has fascinated them. These people generally stand alone; but in a bunch of people, there are individual people who pose exactly the same posture as them, which makes people feel strange: in this bunch of people, some people (one or Two) did not look at the central figure in this group. The enthusiasm and intense music continued with its original momentum, completely drowning out people's conversations.
The camera stopped next to a woman standing alone. She was about twenty-five to thirty years old. She had a beautiful face, but she showed an empty look (we will use the letter A to represent her) and she is tall. , Exactly like a statue. Her posture was exactly the same as that of the actress on the stage just now when the curtain fell. But this fixed lens is not long.
What follows is a set of fixed shots, showing the crowds we have just seen. The posture of these people has not changed at all, or there have been only minor changes. Some people still turned their faces to the unrevealed stage. Their conversation is sometimes fierce, but they are always very polite (because the music is so loud, we can't hear anything). The gestures made by a few people seem to have its meaning, but we don't understand (because we don't know what they are talking about), and they all behave calmly and politely. All these shots must be converted at a very fast speed. The young woman A, who is standing alone, has to reappear at least twice; she has not moved; in this series of shots, some new shots must be inserted at the end. They will not show this theater, but this hotel. See other halls and rooms.
In this way, following the theater footage is a set of shots of hotel interiors and residents taken in different places and at different times. These lenses are fixed lenses, but each lens takes longer and longer. At the same time, the number of characters is decreasing, and their position on the screen is moving more and more to the edge of the screen. These scenes now only serve as background. In the center of the viewer’s field of vision, there are only some fragmentary decorations (or nothing), and the characters are getting closer and closer to the two sides of the picture, or forming a somewhat blurred foreground (some parts of the body, seen from the back Avatars, etc.), or form the background of an organized group of people.
The sound of the music is now slowly lowering, and we can occasionally hear some fragmentary words like this:...to make people believe...murder...actors...lie...have to...you can't...this It was a long time ago...tomorrow...and so on.
Then, the music stopped completely. Except for a sudden burst of noise occasionally, it was actually silent; now we can hear some longer fragments of conversations, such as elephants:
...What's the connection: no connection, my dear, no connection at all, although she, or she may have done or said something that reminds us of...
or:
... Besides, the weather is beyond imagination. You don't want to go out for a few months, but suddenly, when you didn't expect it at all...
or:
Did you see it with your own eyes?
No, my friend told me that...ah, then...he told you...
The fragments of these conversations just make people feel boring when listening.
In addition, the voice of the conversation became slower and slower. The rhythm of these shots is getting slower and slower.
This group of hotel shots ends with a fixed shot that has all the above characteristics and makes people feel extremely prominent. The rhythm of this shot is very slow. On the immediate left of the screen is a close-up of a human head with a blurry image. It is close to the edge of the screen and not directly facing the camera. This is X, the protagonist of the film, but when the audience sees him, he doesn't feel any difference between him and similar characters that have appeared before. In the center of the frame, you can clearly see some scenes shot at a medium distance: for example, it looks like an ornately decorated stove top with a nine-branch candlestick and a huge mirror with a finely carved frame. Finally, on the right or in the background of the picture (preferably in another room that can be seen through the doorway), we see a man and a woman standing there talking in a low voice. The voices of their conversation are just some vague whispers that can barely be heard.
The head of X in the foreground turned in that direction, but he didn't turn around suddenly; the camera did not clearly indicate the direction of his line of sight: the audience must only feel that X might be peering at the man and woman. Neither the man nor the woman seemed to care about X at all (besides, he was indeed far away from them).
Their conversations were very vague at first, but in fact they could not understand them at all; then their voices gradually became louder, and we began to understand their words, especially what the man said, because his voice became louder and louder.
Man: Others? Who are they? , You don’t have to worry about what they are thinking.
Woman: You all know...
Man: I know you said that you don't listen to anyone but mine.
Woman: I am listening to you now.
During this conversation, the camera moved, as if to make the couple more in the center of the frame, but the camera did not move closer to them, so they basically stayed in the background of the frame. While the camera is moving like this, X's head comes out of the picture.
From here, all the words spoken by the characters can be heard very clearly (although the sound is clearly coming from the background).
Man: Then you just listen to me talk about the grievances in my heart. I can't stand the current role anymore. I can't stand this silence, these walls, this kind of whisper that you want to confine me...
Woman: Don't be so loud, please speak a little lower.
Man: The whispers you use to keep me confined are more uncomfortable than silence. The days we two spent together inseparably are worse than death. You and I are like two coffins buried side by side in a frozen garden...
When he said the last few words, the woman turned her head away; she looked forward (toward the camera) with an uneasy expression, sometimes looking left and right (but still close to the front), as if she was paying attention to the surroundings Is there anyone.
Woman: Stop talking!
Man: The arrangement of this garden makes people feel very comfortable. There are manicured trees everywhere and neat trails everywhere. On these trails we walked side by side, one arm apart from each other, day after day. Distance, but never got closer to each other, never...
Woman: Stop talking, stop talking!
When the woman said these words, she started to abandon the man and walked forward (this man has been standing motionless like her since the beginning of this scene). After a few seconds, the man decided to follow her. The two of them stood side by side, keeping a foot and a half away from each other, and walked towards the camera.
silence. We can only hear their approaching footsteps, especially the sound of women's high heels stepping on the carpeted parquet floor.
When they walked to the foreground of the picture, the camera followed to shoot them on the spot, keeping them in the frame all the time. They walked silently, through the rooms, and walked away from the other direction; they The sound of footsteps also slowly disappeared.
This man and woman-at a distance-met two men (they are very elegantly dressed like all the others we have seen since the beginning of the film and we will see in the future). Not from the opposite direction, but from the other direction (the route the two men took may be at right angles to the route taken by the man and the woman). The camera, which has always been centered on the pair of men and women, is now following the two men, but the camera transformation should be as natural as possible.
The two men were talking in a low voice. We can't hear what they are saying. The camera followed them at a distance, and this follow-up may not be very obvious. Some people walk through the screen without a certain purpose; occasionally a part of the human body appears in close-up shots.
We heard some fragments of conversations from unknown sources:
…Really, that’s kind of unbelievable...
...We met once, a long time ago...
...I don't remember clearly. That must be in the 28th or 29th year...
At this time, the music slowly started unknowingly; this is no longer the romantic tune at the beginning of the film; on the contrary, the music is mainly composed of scattered notes or fragments of music; tone Very unstable, and intermittently, showing a kind of uneasy mood.
Another man was looking at the framed picture hanging on the wall (it was a picture of a French garden, but it was barely visible from the movie). When the two men passed in front of him, The camera stopped, shooting the former, and the other two men walked out of the frame, and what we see now is only the unmoving back of that person. In this picture (in this still shot), in addition to the non-moving character, we also see a huge mirror (which is exactly the same as the side we see on the stove), almost at the same time Seeing the shadows of the man and woman we just saw appeared in the mirror, they stopped far away and continued their (inaudible) conversation.
Immediately afterwards, the camera directly photographed the man and woman from the opposite angle, without the reflection of the mirror. They were still standing as far away as before, and the gorgeous and complicated scenery (a row of arches) in the middle made them almost unnoticed. We saw them talking, but we couldn't hear what they were talking about. Their position is close to the center of the picture, slightly to the left.
The image of X (still just a head, or slightly more) appears in the foreground on the right side of the screen. X was looking at the man and woman at this time. The lens changes position accordingly. It moved slightly, so that the man and woman were completely in the center of the picture. When the camera moves like this, X completely disappears from the field of view.
The intermittent music, which had become more stable at the end of the previous scene, seemed to slowly stop due to lack of self-confidence. In the same way, the sentences of the fragments that can still be heard (...the summer of 1922...no one knows what happened afterwards...a very beautiful woman...imagine...) ended up completely silent. , In this silence, we heard the man's voice, which was very low at first, but slowly returned to a normal height.
Man: ...endure this silence, these walls, this kind of whisper that you want to confine me to is worse than the silence, in these days we spent here side by side and never changed, we stepped Walking up and down these corridors with slow steps, only one arm apart from each other, but never got closer to each other, never stretched out our hands, our mouths, and arms were born In order to hug, the mouth is born to...
Woman: Stop talking, stop talking!
The camera changed suddenly.
The new footage shows that the man and woman are continuing their conversation. The two figures still stand far away, and at the same time are no longer in the center of the picture. Now, X’s voice replaced the man and continued (but we still can’t see X now).
X's voice: ... This was born to embrace the arms, this was born to see your eyes, and now you must turn away from your side-to these walls covered with decorations of another century. Black carved wooden boards, golden patterns, polished mirrors, ancient portraits-plaster wreaths with intricate lines-patterned column tops, false doors and windows, false pillars, painted with oil shadow.
When the dialogue uttered in the voice-over sounded in melody, what we saw on the screen were certain scenes in an unmanned hotel (not necessarily a fixed lens): many living rooms, corridors, arches, colonnades, etc., It's as if the camera is looking for a person who has gone somewhere now. After X's voice is completely still, this search activity must be carried out in complete silence for a long period of time.
Then, we suddenly (without fading out) saw a living room crowded with people (it may be, for example, an empty living room that has appeared in the previous set of shots. The shooting angle is also exactly the same).
In the foreground of the picture stand three men and a woman, they are talking politely and warmly. They are all in evening clothes. Moving forward, there is another group of people sitting or standing. Everything is static: no significant physical activity.
In the beginning part of the scene, the camera never moved. That group of people does not occupy the entire field of vision of the audience, nor is they even in the center of the picture.
With the appearance of this living room full of people, we immediately heard a noise from a gathering. But this assembly is very chaotic, full of all kinds of noises. In the vague chaos, we can only hear a few words that can understand the meaning occasionally. The impression of a sudden burst of sound from the silence was only caused by a higher shout (appearing at the same time as the scene) of a character in the background at the beginning of the scene. The words he shouted were:
Too strange!
After this exclamation higher than the other voices, we heard a vague whisper mixed with other voices in the room. One of the three men spoke a few words to the woman, but he spoke to her ears, and no one could hear what he was saying.
The other man (that is, neither the marveling man nor the man talking to the woman) standing in the center of the picture went on to speak:
A man: Actually, this is not strange at all. The whole thing was completely started by him himself, so of course he knew all about the future development.
There was a restrained laughter, accompanied by a not-so-high exclamation: Ah, then...If it is so...this can be completely understood...but it's still a bit funny...
In the last burst of exclamation and laughter, the camera slowly moved away and stopped in front of another group of people (this group of people is generally still). Here is another man and woman. But younger than the previous pair, they smiled leisurely. The young couple was farther from the camera than the four in front, but their conversation could be heard clearly.
Young man: Haven't you been here long?
Young woman: But you know, I've been here before.
Young man: Do you like this place very much?
Young woman: Me? No, that can't be said. (Her voice is getting more and more vague, and in the end it is almost completely inaudible) This is all an opportunity: we often come back here. My father can't help but...
The camera slowly moved closer to the pair of young men and women, and at the same time, their voices were getting lower and lower (not higher and higher). We saw a blurry close-up of the young couple, and then the camera left them as if passing through them, and their voices disappeared completely. After the camera completely moved away from the young couple, it suddenly stopped to shoot them from the back.
Now we see the back of the person standing alone, now looking at the picture of the (garden) on the wall. But he didn't seem to be looking at the painting, but at the frame in which the painting was embedded. Almost at the same time, he turned his head (we originally saw him in profile) to look at something (because the position of the thing is outside the screen, the audience can't see it), and he went there forever. Looking up (this shot was taken faster).
In this scene, we heard some fragmentary and incomprehensible sentences from unknown sources:...Expanding one's influence...It's nothing more than the old stuff...People always close their eyes...One Only shoes with broken heels...
From this chaotic sound, we can clearly hear the last few words of a sentence a person said: ... But this is unavoidable. This was a woman's voice; right after that, the voice of X appeared like its echo, very low, but very close: ... But this is unavoidable. It was at this moment that the man turned his head to look at something outside the scene, as if he wanted to see who was talking. After a moment of silence, we heard another man (also outside the scene) before the scene change (see below), saying this sentence: Do you know the enemy?
Another fixed lens: what is shown here may be exactly the object viewed by the character above. There are a total of four people here: A (the heroine in the film), a man in his fifties (high stature, gray hair, looks very "elegant", we call him M) and the other two are not important The character (one is a man who has appeared in the previous crowd, and the other is an older woman). M stands farther away—smiling and standing still; the older woman sits in an armchair; the man I’ve seen before (in his forties, he looks very serious, But very cute) Sitting on the arm of another chair, telling a story. A stands a little further away from those people; her eyes are fixed on the man who is talking; her standing posture is exactly the same as when she appeared twice before.
The camera moved slightly, as if to correct the position of the group of people in the frame; the camera continued to move, giving an impression as if it was to make A (she is standing slightly off) centered in the center of the frame; but when When she had reached the center of the picture, the camera movement did not stop, so all these characters, including A, came out of the picture one by one. The camera continued to move until it moved closer to another group of people who were talking: two men were sitting, and the other was standing there (they seem to have been seen in several scenes of the front living room). One of the two sitting people was talking.
A man, and then another man said (the first half of their words were said in a voice-over at the end of the scene before the first group of people appeared): Do you know the story? (New footage. The first speaker and his three listeners A, M, and a man appear on the screen.) Everyone was talking about this last year. Frank convinced her that he was a friend of her father's and was here to take care of her in particular. Of course, the way of looking after is a bit funny. She only discovered these things later: one night, he managed to get in (the camera continued to move, so although we could still hear his voice, but the person speaking and the group with him We can’t see all the people.) His room, as if he broke in accidentally, then he came up with a very ridiculous excuse: He said he wanted to tell her about the ancient paintings in her room... that There was no one else in the room at that time! But at the time (the camera continued to push forward, we now see another group of people, there is another person talking, his voice seems to follow the person in front) did not think about this problem. Although he does have a German passport, that doesn't prove any problem. But it is totally unreasonable for him to come here, my dear, completely, absolutely without way...
The speech was interrupted by the laughter of a young woman. The passionate, deep laughter was very short, but afterwards it drowned out the man's voice.
After the laughter appeared for a second or two, the camera cut out and replaced it with another shot showing the group of people including A. The woman who laughed was A. The storyteller and the older woman are also smiling or laughing. Only M remains unmoved (or just smiles); he stands there in his original posture.
Then the camera began to move in the same direction as before, keeping the exact same angle as when it was moved, and moved towards the three men who were standing not far away. But this group of people, although there are exactly three people, they are no longer the original group. Two of the three people are sitting at a small card table facing each other, and the other is standing between them facing the camera. But now the standing person is M, and one of the other two people (the other is the person speaking earlier) is X, the protagonist of the film. The only thing in this group that hasn’t changed is the one who talked about the German passport; but now he doesn’t speak anymore. Always maintain the same posture, so at first glance, we will feel that the other two people in this Xiangren are still the two originally seen).
The conversation between X and M started with a voice-over when the camera moved towards them.
M's voice: No, don't play that now... I suggest that we change to another game: I know a game, and no one can beat me if you want to play it...
X's voice: If you never lose, it's not a game!
M's voice: I might lose too. (Pause briefly, M appears on the screen at this time; it is him who speaks)
M: (Go on)... But generally I can always win.
X: Let's try.
M: (Put the cards one by one in front of the X) This game is played by two people. We laid out the cards like this. This is seven, this is five. Three sheets. One sheet. The two players in the game take turns to take the cards. He is willing to take as many cards as he wants, but there is a condition that he can only take the cards placed in the same row each time. Whoever takes the last one loses. (Pause briefly, then he points to the cards lying on the table) Let's start now.
M stood there blankly, looking exactly the same as in the previous scene. He placed the cards in front of X according to the following pattern: They played the cards quickly and silently, without musical accompaniment at all. X thought for a while, and took a card from the row of seven. M quickly took one from a row of five. X thought for two or three seconds, then took all the remaining cards in the row of seven cards. M still didn't even think about it, and picked up two more from the row of five. X also took one from this line. I took two from the row of three. X thought for a few seconds, as if realizing that he had already lost, he couldn't help but smiled and picked up the last one in the row of five cards. M picked up one of the two remaining cards in the row of three. There is only one card left on the table; because all the cards are backed, we don't see what this card is. However, while they were playing cards, the camera slowly moved closer to the table and stopped for a while at the last remaining card, as if it had some special meaning. This shot is silent from beginning to end, only A’s laughter (A is invisible) once broke the tranquil atmosphere temporarily, when X was left on the table with the last card, A laughed as before. A few times. The laughter continued until this scene, and then stopped completely after it was over.
Before the laughter stopped, we saw a close-up of A's upper body. There was no smile on her face, her face was gloomy, she didn't have any expressions, she just looked beautiful. But we can still hear her laughter, which lasted for a few seconds. At this time, only the image of A can be seen very clearly, but there are still a group of people behind her in the distance, and part of the crowd has stretched out of the camera. After a long period of silence, we heard X's voice again (X is now invisible), still so deep, direct, clear and indifferent, the position of the lens has not changed.
X's voice: You are still like that. As if we were separated only yesterday.
A few seconds after this sentence was finished, A turned his head to one side. What we originally saw was her front, but now what we saw was her half profile. There is no doubt that she is now looking at something invisible to the audience. Then we heard the voice of a man talking with a young woman, the voice seemed to be in our ears.
Man’s voice: Has your situation changed a bit these days?
Young woman's voice: Nothing has changed, just as you have seen, didn't you say that I am still like that?
Man’s voice: Are you still married?
During the conversation, A was still expressionless, and her eyes were still fixed in the original direction.
After the last sentence was finished, the lens suddenly changed; the new lens may show what A's eyes see (but we are not sure). What we see now is another corner of the same living room. Two people are standing in the center of the picture: a man (maybe someone we have already seen) and a young woman (she appeared above) One of the pair of young men and women); but they are completely in the background, very far away from us. They talked, laughed, and so on. They were still walking, and now they took two steps forward. They continued the conversation above, and their voices sounded close to their ears.
Young woman: Ah, no!
Man: You are wrong. This kind of life is really interesting.
Young woman: I like freedom.
Another shot showing the pair of men and women, the characters are very close to the camera, and it is a fixed shot (still in the original place). They continued to talk, their voices relaxed and cheerful.
Man: So, how about here?
Young woman: Why not here?
Man: This is a very strange place.
Young woman: You mean, you can be free
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