Sebastian Lelio is, in my mind, a director who is very good at representing women. The first work I saw of him was Ordinary Woman, which was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. (“Una mujer fantástica,” which translates as “wonderful woman,” would be more appropriate.) “Ordinary Woman” is slow, long, and eloquent, and her life unfolds unhurriedly in a movie theater. At that time, my feeling for his work was "very European".
Last year's "Disobedience" brought Sebastian Lelio to the British Independent Film Awards and the London Film Critics Association. The "Gloria" that I want to share with you today was released in 2013. It was nominated for the best film at the 63rd Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear Award, and also won the top five foreign language films of the National Critics Association of the United States that year. awards. Interestingly, on the basis of the 2013 version, Lelio was almost remade in 2018, and there was the film "Gloria Bell" (starring Julian Moore).
Aside from "Gloria Bell", let's talk about Lelio's "original" - 2013's "Gloria."
The story takes place in Santiago, the capital of Chile. The protagonist of the story, Gloria, 58 years old, has been divorced for 10 years: she loves to dance and often dances alone in bars. And Gloria's life was like nothing: her sons and daughters didn't get in touch with her very often—even when she tried to reach out or help in their children's lives, she didn't get a return. When she came home every day, only a wild cat who ran into the house from nowhere was waiting for her. The next-door neighbor's quarrel about love and hatred kept her asleep night after night. The doctor gave her a bottle of potion for her eyes, and the medicine could not be broken for life, so the glasses have been placed on the bridge of her nose.
Rudolph was the spark in her life - she started a new life and started a love with Rudolph as hot as a 16-year-old boy and girl. They dated, went to shooting games together, bungee jumped... The more serious Gloria was to Rudolph, the more worried she became: Rudolph had just been divorced for a year, and unlike Gloria, his children were incomparably Rely on him - his phone calls are always interrupting their appointments, and Rudolph doesn't even say goodbye to dates or parties. On a solo trip for two, Rudolph once again left without saying goodbye. Gloria was heartbroken like a girl who had lost her love. Unlike a 16-year-old, life's experience made her determined to let go of the relationship.
When she got home, she left behind the cat that often came to her house. After a period of slump in her life, she re-dressed and returned to her own life. From the plot point of view, this is an unavoidable midlife crisis: Gloria no longer needs Gloria in the lives of her children, even if she wants to participate in or connect with them; Love, but found that she couldn't get her wish, so she had to stop - life had cut a hole in her heart, and she didn't know how to fill it.
Fortunately, at the end of the film, the director gave Gloria a place to rest. Life has once again experienced her, making her confused back to herself.
Through the combination of fiery love and "age", the director presents Gloria's life without any hassle. It is not difficult to imagine that at any stage of life, "crisis" has always existed in different forms, and we do not know when and how it will come. It's just that we need to understand and be clear about how we will return to life itself when the "crisis" comes. We will eventually return to ourselves. In this way, we will continue to iterate ourselves in the superimposed precipitation and experience, and let ourselves grow again and again.
I mentioned before that Sebastian Lelio is a "female" director (many great male directors are "female" like Bergman, Almodóvar, etc.).
This work is started by a middle-aged woman and calmly presents Gloria's life: the link with her children, her desire for love, her perception of life, her reflection on herself... This 58-year-old woman, Sometimes she's 16 under the camera, sometimes 60 - age is no longer her label.
Lelio doesn't have many works, but each one is about women. In the early stage of creation, his works were mainly in Spanish. The recent "Disobedience" and "Gloria Bell", a remake of "Gloria", are both in English. This seems to be a prelude to the international/North American market. .
"Gloria Bell" invited big stars to star, and cut/changed a few scenes, but the general story, plot arrangement, and camera usage are similar to "Gloria". In my opinion, the director has kept the "individual intention" as much as possible, and only made minor adjustments in the version of "Gloria Bell". Of course, the psychological experience brought to the audience by these two versions is a matter of opinion. .
Finish.
Text丨Photos of Yue Zhang丨Internet, official pictures
This article was originally published on the official account of "Tiantang Cinema" (WeChat: BrilliantFilms), and we warmly welcome your attention.
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