I used to have a wonderful life, but now everything has passed, my spirit is getting worse and worse, and I am afraid that they will take me away one day. So please forgive me, all my love and God, I don’t want to suffer this pain anymore, it’s good for everyone.
The future is only aging, disease and pain, so goodbye.
——James Whale wrote in his suicide note that
in Hollywood in the 1950s, James Whale's name has long been forgotten. After the Second World War, the screen is dominated by all kinds of gaudy soap operas. Even if it is a B-level horror movie, young people prefer to watch those mutant insects chasing naked beauties, the cold war theme that keeps pace with the times, and cheap excitement. And the horror classic of the silent film era? Tragic lonely monster? Frankenstein's broken face can no longer provoke screams, and it seems to people today to pretend to be deep and funny, rather than a comedy.
James Whale, a famous horror film director who filmed "Frankenstein's Bride" and so on, now lives alone in his California apartment. He is suffering from illness, cynical, and weird temper. The arrival of a young gardener, Clayton, caused waves. Clayton's appearance was a typical blue-collar style, and he didn't look smart. He was burly and bulging and almost broke his T-shirt. Whale, in the name of asking him to be a nude model (the original works by James Whale appeared in the film, but Whale also drew many sketches of naked women), approached him, watched his body, and sent his own Lonely. He regarded himself as the Crazy Doctor Pretorius, and Clayton was the monster he created, Frankenstein who belonged only to him.
Of course, he is not Ashenbach, the composer in "Soul Broken Venice". He has an ancient Greek worship of flesh and youth-trying to touch the young man with his old and wrinkled lips even with a toe, humble. And there is no blasphemous meaning; he is more like the cunning and sophisticated Humbert in "Lolita", they are tortured by inner secret desires, game-like calm temptation, careful teasing, trying to grasp the measure properly (" I can answer your questions," James Whale said to the young people who came to interview in the film, "but you have to promise me one condition. You take off a piece of clothing after I answer a question." But when young When a man took off his panties, he suffered a stroke and fainted because of his excitement), but after all he could not stop the wild beast from coming out, tearing the delicately constructed and elegant appearance to pieces, revealing weak flesh and ugliness desire. On rainy night, the dangerous balance between the two was finally broken. His face was grim and ugly. Clayton jammed his neck and almost choked him to death. "Kill me!" He stroked his body and yelled... …The next morning, James Whale was found drowning in his swimming pool.
"Gods and the Beasts" did not chronologically construct the life of the famous horror film director of this silent era like general biopics, but intercepted the last moments of his life and intertwined reality with the past through a large number of flashbacks and fantasy Together. Fragments of James Whale’s masterpiece "Frankenstein's Bride" are constantly being inserted, and that movie can almost be regarded as his confession-he is the Frankenstein who longs to be loved, even though he is ugly and not Be understood (this is obviously a metaphor for his homosexuality. It is unthinkable to disclose his homosexuality in the 2nd and 30th, which ultimately ruined his film career). Although the film only lasts for 2 hours, it covers topics such as loneliness, desire, pain, and death.
The real James Whale suffered from a stroke in his later years as shown in the movie, and the use of a large number of drugs affected his body and spirit. In the early morning of May 29, 1957, he was found dead in his swimming pool. Rumors that someone was a murderer were circulating, but the police only found evidence of suicide. Whale did hire a gardener in his later years, but Christopher Bram, the original author of the "Gods and the Beasts" novel, said that their relationship was fictitious. We don’t know the truth anymore. Why not believe the plot in the movie and give him a death full of dignity? In the hallucinations before Whale’s death, he was led back to the battlefield of World War I by Clayton, who looked like Frankenstein, just like Kane in "Citizen Kane", finally found his "rosebud" , An Ran had to lie beside her first love.
"Gods and the Beasts" won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and two nominations for Best Actor and Supporting Actress. The director Bill Condon also entered the mainstream Hollywood field of vision, and the subsequent "Dream Girl" was even more so A big success. Ian McLean, who plays James Whale, may be the most suitable candidate for the movie. Long before he became popular in the "Lord of the Rings" series, he starred in a large number of horror films produced by the British Hammer Company, and he himself is also a good candidate. gay. His old-school superb acting skills are impressive in the film.
At the end of the movie, Clayton pretended to be a monster and walked into the distance in funny steps, solemnly and with a trace of compassion. This is the best tribute and miss to this great horror film director.
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