Charlie Chaplin_Mr. Verdoux_1947
8.5
The two extremes of human destiny are Charlo of Chaplin on one side, and Verdoux of Chaplin on the other. Of course, it could also be Verdoux of Orson Wells. As Andre Bazin said, "Charlo can't adapt to society, but Verdou has adapted too much." We see Chaplin replace the protagonist from Charlo to Verdou, as if seeing Jesus in Cana. Turning water into wine makes this film the most humanistic one in his author's sequence. It will probably be equally shocking no matter how many times it has been rewatched, it has a wide range of explorations, and a long aftertaste.
Charlo is a tramp and a saint. A kind person never follows the vulgar flow, but self-exiles, and is always an unfinished product. He only represents symbols, not reality. Common sense has always failed on him, and the environment has never been friendly enough to him, even making him inferior, but he is no longer in the Five Elements. The value in the eyes of ordinary people is insignificant to him, and he is almost indifferent even in the face of the complexity of the world. Imagination always turns major events. Only life itself has allowed him to show his talent. In essence, Charlo is close to a spokesperson for nihilism, and all the established things are still to be confronted in his opinion.
On the other hand, Mr. Verdoux is a businessman, who knows the truth in the torrent and still stays behind, which is already a finished product. In the beginning of the film, even the insects have to be protected, but it is the murderer who killed 14 women in a row. Those evils make him seem to be indifferent to love laws or rules on the surface, but in fact he is the most conservative and the person who follows the most unspoken society. He has countless names because he is everyone. Verdoux implies an iron law that has been reflected in mediocre people, that is, if life cannot rely on imagination to solve the world's suffering, it can rely on education and assimilation to solve it. What he symbolizes is the anger of countless ordinary people in society towards their incompetence. "Wait, I haven't drunk rum yet." This is Verdue's death sentence and the fate that most of the humanity will usher in.
Charlo chooses such a life without motives, but Verdoux's motives for choosing life are very abundant; Charlo's accidental absurdity is gifted, and Verdue's ruthlessness is learned. The saint is always the victim, and the mediocre is always the bully. The other translation of the film, "Comedy of the Killer" is very accurate, and Charlowe represents the "Comedy of the Killed".
In this capital-dominated order, those who steal the hook will punish the country, and the death of one person is a tragedy. The death of a hundred people is a statistic. Sea water can be turned into gasoline, and the tip of spades can represent luck. The hard workers left their families around overnight, and the speculative arms dealers stepped back to the pinnacle. 500 shares of Continental Petroleum, 500 shares of United Copper Mine, and 100 shares of Central Carbide are still profitable at 20 points. Life falls on them, without any possibility. So their biggest goal is to become Endymion, in order to stay young forever.
"Big Buddha Plus" says that "time is precious in the business community", and the train wheel scene that rhymes in the film is what this means. Mr. Verdoux was busy in and out of various cities, claiming to do business, that is, to kill. He deceived his family and said that he had a job, and his actual job was to deceive and hurt other people. Capital movements are raging. He counts banknotes and turns pages quickly, constantly referring to the time of his watch. Obviously this analogy is saying that in a society with this structure, if you want to prosper your own business, you need to kill other people. Not only to kill other people, but also to fight against the clock, to kill every day and night. The last war that broke out was nothing but a grander metaphor for the social landscape that competed and killed each other. Verdoux is not a word of murderer that can be summed up. He is too complicated and too accurate, and should be regarded as a set of standard social templates.
"Schopenhauer, fair." The line by Chaplin used the mouth of Lasene to express Charlo's ridicule of pessimism, which surprised Mr. Verdoux who was about to kill the killer sitting across the table.
In this vertical-axis lens, the positions of the two on the frame are completely balanced. It is very clear that this is Mr. Verdoux talking to the mirror. In the mirror, Lassene was in the position of Charlo. It was not the woman in front of him that Mr. Verdoux wanted to kill by poison, but the completely opposite self. But in the end, the man in the mirror won, and Verdoux could not be so cruel. "When the world becomes harsh and dark, I will think of another world." This sentence is the warmest words in the whole film.
For me personally, the only problem is that in this atypical Chaplin movie, the few classic silent comedy elements are presented abruptly, fishing with Annabella, drinking with Annabella, and Annabella. The exaggerated antics of these three plays hide and seek have a certain disconnect with the main line of the plot, and they have not helped the character creation. But Chaplin's fans may not be taboo.
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