The film has an unrivaled intricate structure. The entire narrative process is completed by the conversion of two positions (two opposite apartment buildings) and three perspectives (Tomac, Magda, and the landlord's wife). The question of love is reduced to a core question here: What do you want? First, Tomac, who was in the position of a peeper, looked at Magda’s life through a telescope. At first, this was purely an act of lust, but when he saw Magda’s cry one day, he was questioned as a subject of love. Summoning it, he saw Magda's empty gap, and he tried to fill the gap. However, for him, the first thing he must confirm is: what does she want?
In order to get close to Magda, Tomac found a milk delivery part-time job so that he could come to the door of Magda’s apartment as an anonymous. In addition, he tricked Mag to reach the post office by forging the money order so that he could see her. It is worth mentioning that in both cases, he was anonymous as the subject of love. In fact, even after the two met, Magda never asked his name, but when he committed suicide in the end I only heard from the landlord’s wife after his behavior happened.
When Tomac followed Magda out of the post office and confessed her prying behavior, Magda was confused at first, and then when she returned to the apartment, she assumed the role of a peeped person in a provocative manner. It is to actively become an object of desire. She seems to be telling Tomac: what I want. At the same time, she told Tomac through her passionate sex scene with her boyfriend: I know what you want.
However, Magda was not as confident as she had shown, she actually assumed ignorance in a state of pretending to know. So when Tomac was injured by Magda’s boyfriend, Magda took the opportunity of Tomac to deliver milk to open the door of the apartment. What she wanted to confirm was the same question: What exactly do you want? They actually asked the same question in an interlocking attitude.
Then Tomac invited Magda to eat ice cream, but there was no ice cream in the bar, so Tomac asked for tea, and Magda asked for a glass of red wine, so Tomac also asked for a glass of red wine: here Tomac’s desire was defeated by Magda Da led. The transition from ice cream to tea to red wine is exactly a series of movements in the signifier. During the conversation, Tomac revealed that his peep came from his close friend-Martin, the son of the landlord's wife. At this time, his desire was identified with Martin's desire as well as Magda's desire through retrospective form. When Magda looked at the couple at the next table and said, "Face me, just like them," they projected themselves out to face a common love puppet.
Tomac followed Magda to her apartment. At this time, he occupied the position of Magda’s boyfriends, and the landlady replaced his peeper. This peep did not point, it was pure empty. Peeping, but this position must be occupied, and this position is also the position of the movie audience. Magda asked Tomac about the scenes he had spied on in the past, and asked him to repeat and reproduce them. Now their questions turn to themselves at the same time: What do I want? Magda reconfirmed Tomac's desire in the image of a seducer. Tomac tried to reach her private parts with both hands. However, prior ejaculation occurred before she arrived. This scene not only shows Tomac's desire, but also the transcendence of his desire. Paradoxically, this behavior has different interpretations between Magda and Tomak. The problem that Tomak has to face is his instinct as a body. But Magda had to face the remnants of Tomac's desire that could not be reduced. The positions of the two are completely reversed here.
When Tomac came home from the hospital, Magda came to Tomac’s house. At this time, she stood where Tomac had peeped at her, and reproduced the moment: she returned home, spilled the milk, and she Crying. In the hallucinations, Tomac seemed to stand beside her at the time, comforting her. The desires of both parties are stitched together in this illusion. Unlike the previous scene, which was accompanied by a solitary and powerful piano sound, at this time, the cello first confided in a dignified and tolerant voice, and then when the tomak appeared, the guitar was lightly plucked and echoed.
In the film, we face the defeat of a series of desires. Everything may not reach the destination: milk slanted out; letters sent by Magda’s Australian boyfriend; Tomac's hand extended to explore Magda’s private parts; Magda’s writing on the canvas "Come back, I’m sorry "The text; and Magda tried to touch Tomac's hand. Or it's just a hole at all: fake money transfer orders with empty accounts; interrupted card games. The hand as a tool of desire is also deliberately highlighted in the film, including three states: self-soothing (including the hanging ball game played by Magda, painting, and Tomac's self-blasphemy behavior); mutual caress; Self-harm.
Of course we remember the hallucinating warmth scene at the end, but we also noticed that when Magda’s gaze gradually faded out, the music returned to the guitar solo at the beginning. The film has thus completed a cycle of desire narrative. However, it was just back to the starting point.
2011/6/6
View more about A Short Film About Love reviews
