The most eye-catching slogan of the American media when the film was released was "Garbo laughed." Perhaps it is nothing wrong as a slogan, but as an aesthetic orientation for viewing movies, it fails. Because the only scene in this film with a big laugh at the restaurant, it is precisely when Garbo's performance is at its worst. It was almost an unnatural smile without a reason. And the performance that really made the impact of this film was her just right coldness and coolness in most of the other scenes! Nicholas upholds his consistent style in previous Liu Bieqian movies. He created a French nobleman, Golio, who had nothing to do and was romantic by nature, but in the end he wanted to let go of his political class stance. The performance is quite good. However, critics have not always rated this person highly. The usual saying is that the charm is not enough. Indeed, he may not be as radiant as James Stewart or Gary Grant, but who would dare to deny that maybe it is his tepidity that is just right, which is why Liu Bieqian favors him?
To be fair, the film should have 5 protagonists. The other three are Russian envoys. At the beginning of the show, the three of them brought the audience a short comedy: a conversation with the lobby manager in the hotel, when the other party kept saying "I'm afraid" out of courtesy, they immediately received "You are scared, it's strange, why do you always say scared" ?" Then the director began to use his "touch" to focus on how the three Russian envoys fell into the game Leo deliberately designed. In the hotel, the camera is always outside the door of their room. First, the two waiters carry two plates of delicious food and push the door into the room. The camera didn't follow up, and the three people laughed excitedly behind the door. Then a very beautiful young cigarette seller walked through the hall and opened the door to enter. The camera still didn't follow up, but the laughter from behind the door increased. For a moment, the waiter opened the door, and then the girl hurriedly opened the door and ran out, a little nervous. What's the meaning? not sure. The camera followed her down the stairs. After switching the shot of a wine waiter entering the room, he turned to the stairs again. At this time, it was not one, but three beautiful cigarette sellers in the same costume. They trot upstairs excitedly and went straight to the door. After entering the door, the room is no longer just laughter but cheers! ... The blocking of the door makes the girl feel suspense when she goes out, and the audience will follow up what's happening in the mind. Then three girls came upstairs at the same time. It suddenly dawned on us that it turned out to be so! A simple beauty trick is so vivid and interesting by Liu Bieqian's touch (In the scene of returning to the hotel after picking up Nilochka, three cigarette sellers rushed to the door again and met the cold female leader unexpectedly. She After taking a look at the embarrassing three, he said coldly: Comrades, your cigarettes are really not too small! Note that she originally said "you must have been somking a lot" instead of "somking a deal". An implicit humor in English context). The next shot directly shows the mess in the house after spending a lot of time. The three of them had completely trusted Nicholas at this time and obeyed his words. Finally, as soon as the camera turns, there are three worn-out Russian felt hats on the coat rack, the background music is slow and sad, and the hat on the rack turns into a fashionable and advanced French top hat while the background music transitions to lively joy. So far, the happy process of the three Russian proletarian revolutionary fighters being corrupted by the evil capitalist society is over.
Because they failed to perform their duties and suffered the loss of national interests, Nilotchka was sent to Paris to take over the follow-up matters. The three Russian envoys arrived at the train station with anxiety. Since he didn't know the appearance and gender of the new leader, he had to guess based on his feelings. They found a tall man with a solemn expression, who agreed that he was the new leader and was about to catch up with excitement. Suddenly the man saluted the person who actually came to pick him up, "Hi, Hitler!"... Nazis and Bolsheviks are indistinguishable to some extent. The choreographer's irony is really spicy and black. After Nilotchka arrived in Paris, his care and love for the working people at the bottom of the West obviously did not gain the class identity of the other party. When she said to the baggage porter, "This is class discrimination", the other party immediately responded "It depends on the tip!" And she shook hands with the butler of Leo, who belonged to the oppressed class, in exchange for even more It was the other party who solemnly reminded his master not to be poisoned by Marxism. The comedic effect of the complete subversion of the class position of the housekeeper is very strong! In addition, the directors also took advantage of Nilochka’s dialogue with the small restaurant owner to sharply point out the problems in the Soviet Russian system (at least what they think):
Boss: Madam, can I serve the soup? For fish soup, I also suggest you try Mushroom
Nilo: just something simple. I don't care about food issues.
Boss: Don’t care about food? What do you care about?
Nilo: The future of the toiling public!
Boss: But that's also a food issue!
Although there are too many strong ideological plots in the film, personally, Liu Bieqian does not want to deliberately satirize or vilify the Bolsheviks. At least not the focus of the film. What the director needs more is to use the collision of these two hugely different civilizations to generate the comedic energy he needs. Because simply relying on the heat generated by the contrast between Garbo's glamour and Douglas's fiery heat is obviously not enough to maintain the comedy temperature of this 110-minute film. In the scene at the end of the film, one of the Russians hung up a sign to protest against the discrimination and injustice of the other two "comrades" after the restaurant was privatized. This also seems to indicate that Liu Bieqian intends to achieve a certain degree of political balance by exposing the nature of capitalist exploitation, so that the audience can pay more attention to the movies and comedies themselves.
When the story is dominated by the romantic love of the hero and heroine, Billy White's lines are more attractive. However, Liu Bieqian was still able to seize the right time to cleverly display his unique visual style. Nilocicka and Leo met for the first time on the road barrier. After the greeting, she took out the map to let the other party show the way, and Leo looked at the opportunity to "cheat" the other party's finger on the grounds of showing the way. When Leo looked for "Where are we now" with her finger, the camera was not kept in the close-up state of the map, but cut to the middle shot facing the two. After a few seconds, Nilotchka slowly raised her head, raised her eyebrows slightly, and said with a slight sarcasm: "What I am interested in is the shortest distance between two points!" Here, Liu Bieqian once again used "Omitted". ". The map played the role of his beloved door. Because of its obscuration, the audience can’t see what Leo did, but he can completely imagine through Nilocicka’s expression and humorous and subtle lines at this time that he deliberately walked around in order to touch a woman’s hand more. Go can't find the target. A very simple scene, the scenes, lines and the actors' performances are perfectly coordinated. It's amazing!
Nilochka's hat should be considered a failure. In fact, her first peaked cap is good, with Garbo's frosty and expressionless face, which is quite cool. The replacement hat should look better. And in Paris, the capital of clothing, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a better-looking hat that is chic and exquisite. But as a result, many viewers, including me, disagree with her putting on the chimney-style women's top hat. To be exaggerated, it is simply ridiculous. Fortunately, the lingering love scene between the two in Leo's apartment has to take off, otherwise it really loses a lot of appetite! It is said that the hat was designed by Garbo himself. It seems that once Liu Bieqian's authoritarian iron fist loosens his grasp of aesthetic details, unexpected errors will occur.
However, happy stories are accompanied by a sad past. In September 1939, two months after the film was released, Liu Bieqian's wife and daughter were attacked by a German submarine on their way home from London. At that time, the adults were having a banquet on the deck, and the children were basically in the cabin below. As the hull sunk too fast after being hit, all passengers on the deck were ordered not to get to the cabin below. So his daughter, Nicola Liubieqian, unfortunately sank into the sea with the boat. The bad news came that Liu Bieqian stood silently for a long time in front of his daughter's photo.
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