"White Night" is still

Bazin said that Visconti's "The Earth is Fluctuating" is a combination of reality and aesthetics.

As for the "White Night" he made in 1957, Bazin didn't mention it, or I haven't seen his writings in this regard, and it's even more regrettable that Bazin died young in 1958. Adapted from Dostoevsky's "White Nights", it is obviously a thankless task, but Visconti subtly transplants it, breaking the boundaries between time and space and reality, blurring the historicality of the story, and defining it in a simple and clear in the love story.

But the Italian suspense remains. Let "White Night" drift slowly like a fog in the streets, bridges and flowing water in the dark night, until the white snow falls, and the white night can be truly identified. Until the lover who disappeared for a year appeared, Natalia jumped into his arms excitedly, and Mario left sadly.

Mastroianni's grasp of the role is reminiscent of his role in "The Beekeeper" (1986) decades later. Moisturized by the hot young girl, she was exhausted all the way. This is like an actor's powerless testimony across the times: life is the mainstay and abrasion of the years, except for old age and bloatedness, everything else seems to be worthless.

Visconti's beauty draws the same elegant spiritual arc in Angelopoulos' poetic gaze. This artistic dimension is in the same vein, making the sky of the film infinitely vast. "The Leopard", "The Earth is Fluctuating", "Twilight of the Gods", "The Big Dipper", "The Enchantress of the Warring States Period", "Little Beauty", "Roco Brothers", "Soul Break" from Visconti Judging from films such as Venice, Portrait of a Family, and Innocent, it is true that his style is varied.

This is in line with the fact that the French "New Wave" advocated at the beginning that films should return to the film itself, and that there should be a certain distance from the demarcation of literature. Therefore, Italian filmmakers such as Antonioni were criticized by the "New Wave" generals of that year. . In particular, Godard's opposition to classical narratives and his advocacy of Brecht-style alienation and incoherence became the mainstream of the "New Wave" for a while. So much so that Godard launched "The Antonioni film made by Hawks and Hitchcock" - "Contempt". Although there is some reason for them to praise Hitchcock, John Ford, Hawkes, Fritz Lang, Sam Fumue, Nicholas Ray and other great directors, they are too narrow. In fact, John Ford's style is also a changeable master, from "The Whistleblower", "The Grapes of Wrath", "Green Mountains and Green Valley" to "Guanshan Feidu", etc., he is not just a "western movie". Great director.

No director can completely ignore reality. Even in the special period of the Soviet Union, Tarkovsky would still make films that face reality like "Mirror", but he carefully integrated the lonely and bitter reality into the ethereal and melancholy mood like modern poetry. . The hardness of time and the height of spirit are the results of retrieval and confirmation after the precipitation of time.

Interestingly, the later break between Truffaut and Godard also originated here. Truffaut gradually returned to orthodoxy and paid more and more attention to the quality of literature in the script, which was naturally despised by Godard. In fact, the film was born more than 100 years ago, and there is no strict framework, which is right and which is wrong. A director who sticks to one style throughout his life is certainly remarkable. And a director's lifelong shooting style is also worthy of admiration, provided that no matter what style it is, it must be a good movie. Either one or the other, being exacting is the same as the Tao, it is better to be compatible and multi-polar, which is real and long-lasting.

Going back to "White Night", Visconti is good at using light and dark light to mobilize the emotions of the characters, which is a must. The expressions that were originally difficult to capture can be reflected in the right light or in the dark. In addition, in the scene of modern dance in the small bar, you can see that the master's scattered order and superimposed use of light and shadow have reached an extreme. And the long shot's grasp of the rhythm is always slow, delicate and clear. As the plot goes on, the induction of this atmosphere is painful and rewarding.

The snow has stopped, the night is still there, and the dream is dead. Life continues in the shadows of broken light. Mastroianni's journey from the shadows is undoubtedly a long-standing legend. He went from "Night" to "White Night" and then to "The Beekeeper". Is he still acting in movies when he is already in heaven? Thinking of Mario hugging Natalia tightly on a snowy night, and finally muttering "I love you", what an enlightening moment. But when a figure suddenly appeared on the bridge in front, he could only say "Happiness is priceless" and walk alone. This feeling of emptiness probably just confirms what he said before, "I am either ecstatic or despairing", and can only sum up his deep loss.

Maria Cher, who plays Natalia, has starred in many European and American films in her life, which makes people think of Romy Schneider, who is almost the same time as her and also from Austria. She is a fairy like snow, as mysterious as a picture. , The beauty that is unbearable for all men in the world seems to melt in one breath, making it unbearable to touch. Angels should return to heaven and stay away from this filthy reality. Does this also coincide with some strangeness and secret of their lives?

Published in 2013-9-4 "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone News"

From the film critic collection "Invisible Movies" published by Haitian Publishing House