"Scent of a Woman" has two versions, the Italian version in 1974 and the Hollywood version in 1992. The Hollywood version of the starring is the famous Al Pacino. Pacino, who has been nominated for Oscars for many times, finally realized his dream with this warm and romantic healing movie. And most contemporary movie fans' first reaction when seeing this title is definitely the version of Pacino. This film not only let Pacino realize his dream of the Oscar actor, but also won the Oscar nominations for best film and best director that year. Some of the lines in the film were even selected by the American Film Institute in the list of the best lines in film history. Pacino's romantic tango, wild racing, and passionate speeches in the film left a deep impression on fans. But this still cannot conceal the obvious flaws of the film, and these flaws are almost half of the Oscar actor works are difficult to escape: the false inspirational chicken soup that can not stand scrutiny, excessive sensationalism, excessive fake warmth, excessively surrounding the so-called actors The plot construction of acting development (a more professional term is star-vehicle).
It is inevitable that the remake will be compared with the original. The original Italian version in 1974 is much less famous than the Pacino version, and it is almost a forgotten movie at the moment. But in fact, the historical weight of the Italian version is not light. In that year, it not only won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, but also won the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the French Caesars Award. An important reason why Hollywood remakes is that it also won an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film that year. This film is also very special in the personal pedigree of director Dino Risi. Risi is famous in the Italian film scene for shooting comedies. This is a rare piece of his own with a strong tragic color. Movie, and this is also one of the important differences from the Hollywood version.
Compared with the Hollywood version, Lisi’s version highlights the role of the blind male protagonist. The juvenile role in the movie is almost a bystander perspective. In the Hollywood version, the juvenile becomes a youth, and the role of the character itself is greatly increased. The purpose is for the green leaf effect. It is not so much the character traits of the officers that stand out, as it is to provide more contrast to Pacino's performance. The Lixi version portrays a tragic military officer who is vulgar, sensual, and rebellious on the surface, but desperate for life, extremely fragile and sensitive on the inside, powerless to true love, and almost giving up self-saving. The plot of the film continuously promotes and extends the debauchery of the officers. The purpose of suicide is always hidden in the film. It is not until the final outbreak that the audience suddenly realizes the loneliness, despair, and irredeemability of the character's heart and soul. This huge impact is unbearable. The film was still full of sadness until the last scene. The officer finally accepted the heroine's love in despair, and the weight of this unbearable love was the reason why he had always rejected the heroine before. The military officer's mentality of begging for death is real, but the final moments of cringe are also real, and the final acceptance of the heroine's love is even more real. This is a movie about desperate souls, a movie that suddenly exposes the extremely fragile aspects of human nature, but at the last moment it flashes the miracle of Italian desire for life.
The structure of Hollywood scripts always emphasizes the causal logic of the desire-centered behavior chain. But even from the perspective of causal logic, the Hollywood version of this script lacks a certain degree of rationality. The very important but not the most important scene of the suicide of an officer is very problematic. The distress, sorrow, and despair of the officer's heart are, in short, the reason for suicide, which was shown by Pacino in a very concrete and dramatic way. This is a very standard Hollywood method (the Italian version is completely absent). The reason for the officers to give up suicide was also very obvious, and Charlie's persuasion played a key role. But the content of this persuasion is debatable. Can only tango and drag racing save a life that has fallen apart? Or is suicide itself a show? The suicide scene is indeed designed to be a bit ritual. Pacino puts on a military uniform, and the plot of Charlie’s lie that is easily punctured is somewhat suggestive. His inner yearning may be even more eager for Charlie to witness his suicide. ? And what really longs for seems to be salvation by others? This is actually a weakness of Hollywood scripts. The Italian version did not promote suicide at all, and the theme of suicide was not really revealed until the end. The Italian version does not show the suicide process of the officer, and does not give the real reason for giving up suicide, but in fact, giving up suicide does not need a reason at all. And Hollywood logic does not allow this, everything must be visible and specific, so it superfluously constructs a reason, but in fact, it can never construct a real reasonable reason, because this is human nature.
Another big problem with the Hollywood version of this script is that it over-serves Pacino's performance. Pacino had been nominated for six Oscars before the film, but the business cards such as "The Godfather", "Hot Day Afternoon", and "Conflict" did not make Pacino a successful bid for the Olympics. For a long time, Pacino’s performance is the most impressive or label-like mark of sudden explosive passion speech charm. Movies such as "Hot Day Afternoon", "Conflict", "Scarface", and "The Godfather 3" It is an excellent example.
One of the major features of the script of this film is that the duration is a bit abnormal, a work that is not epic, and the duration is nearly two and a half hours. It's all for Pacino. Because in terms of the number of single scenes, the script of the film is not long. There are only a few important scenes, but they are all very long. The military officers’ visits to relatives are rejected, tango, drag racing, prostitutes, and speeches are all very long, and these dramas are actually designed to show the charm of the officer’s role, and the charm of this role is to a large extent a drama that needs to be seen by the actors. Supported by the performance, this is the best stage for Pacino’s performance. The tango scene embodies the charm of the body (in order to film this scene, Pacino and the actress rehearsed for three weeks), and the speech scene embodies the charm of Pacino's iconic lines. The causal logic here is also a bit far-fetched, and it over-magnifies the role of the speech and is suspected of being false.
As mentioned above, the screenwriter is not satisfied with this. It was originally a juvenile role as a spectator in the Italian version, but in the Hollywood version it has become an important image close to the protagonist. The design intent is to create two male protagonists who are full of contrasts, conflicts, and mutual salvation. Charlie's immaturity, innocence, and kindness reflect the unruly, romantic, and unrestrained nature of an officer. As a veteran method actor, Pacino is also very good at self-designing. He specially designed a "hoo-ah" mantra for the role, and the line of the play appeared more than a dozen times in the film. This is not only a method for self-hypnosis of the actors, but also an effective method for putting the audience in the situation. From the perspective of accepting impressions, this method is of course successful, after all, the Academy Awards are judged by the college judges. Watching the entire movie, the Pacino tango dance, drag racing, the roar of suicide, and the ups and downs in the speech must be the audience's deepest impression.
The Italian version of the male protagonist actually surpasses the Hollywood version in the whole film, and it is a single male protagonist. The Italian version also won the Cannes Actor Award, but the final feeling is much deeper: because the film is about How does a truly desperate and lonely soul face the existence and demise of the self, and how to face the responsibility of love. The Hollywood version of tango, drag racing, and speech dramas is more meaningful to tell the audience that life is always hopeful, and the focus is on how to discover your own strengths, while insisting on your own value and meaning, a standard chicken soup truth, correct Nonsense.
Compared with the Italian version, the Hollywood version also has a subtle but ulterior motive "decontamination" treatment. Some pornographic passages in the Italian version have been removed from the Hollywood version. The Hollywood version is indeed R-rated, but not because of pornography or violent scenes, but because of language (some swear words by Pacino). The Hollywood version deliberately removed the image of prostitutes. In the Italian version, there are not only prostitutes but also male prostitutes on the streets of Genoa. There are strip waitresses in nightclubs in Rome. This is of course related to the image design of the officer. The Italian version of the officer is not only blind, but also wears a prosthesis. The body's mutilation makes the officer's image a bit scary and hideous. Pacino's image of an officer is just blind, and the overall image is leaning towards romantic and suave, without any tendency to slip into vulgarity at all. You can hire prostitutes, but you must hire the best prostitutes in the best hotels in New York. The image design of Pacino's elaborate dress before recruiting prostitutes strengthens the romantic sentiment of the process of recruiting prostitutes, which is more like a date of love. An even more misguided change is to remove the role of the heroine Sarah in the Italian version. As a result, the role of an officer has become somewhat hollow and flat. Compared with the climax of the speech, his fragility seems to be a little fuss. Was his suicide because of his arrogance and narcissism-he loves himself too much?
The soundtrack of the film also has a strong inspirational meaning. The tactful tune is always hovering between sadness and excitement. It seems to always say that life cannot be given up like this, and it cannot be ended like this. The scene at the end of the film, I really think it's just the end of a weekend vacation, and everything is calm. This is a typical Hollywood ending. Perhaps the original false problem was solved imaginatively in the hallucinations.
For Pacino fans, this may be a very enjoyable movie that strengthens the identity of the idol's "acting skills", but other than that, everything the film has to say is too false and sweet. People will not fall so easily, nor will they get up so easily.
(Already published in the iris public account)
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