When it comes to this movie, the director Denis Degu must be mentioned. He is a director and a little-known musician.
Influenced by Japanese film master Ichikawa Kun's 1963 tale of a Kabuki actor's revenge, this extreme Japanese aesthetic creates a heroine with a dangerous quality.
After watching an interview clip, Dennis said: "The whole movie is like a gamble, and this potential danger is even more fascinating because you hardly notice it. The actors must express the ambiguous feelings just right. . At first I wanted to use the front and back angles to emphasize the tension between them, but then I found that the best way is to have them appear in the same shot, like two people in a cage. Only animals, watch them fight against each other."
In addition to the main line of revenge, the film has established class confrontation from the beginning. Melanie was born in a butcher family. Her parents' daily work and smiling faces determine this little girl's stubborn and unyielding character. In addition to her love for the piano, it also contains her vision and hope to change her life in the future. Even at night, the girl's fingers kept flicking, and there was only a smile on the corner of her mouth, as if she saw a bright road leading to the future in the playing.
And all of this fell into the abyss due to the negligence of the pianist Anne on a small detail. The dream of giving and looking forward to it was shattered. The sadness and howling that should belong to the child did not appear. Although the girl was in tears, she was still expressionless. She walked out of the studio and slowly and calmly closed the lid of a piano. Another girl has a crippled finger.
From this we can see that Melanie has been extremely cruel since childhood. We have no reason to blame a child's character for being so fearful. If you haven't experienced a sensitive childhood, you won't understand the knot of strong self-esteem and hidden low self-esteem.
I like this translation very much. It has a dangerous and ambiguous atmosphere, which is very suitable for the theme of the film. It seems that Melanie's revenge is at every step, controlling everything with a victorious attitude, and the cold-bloodedness is chilling.
Not so.
I clearly saw a sigh of love in addition to revenge.
The same vulnerability makes them miss out on love.
Melanie's character does not have many lines in the film, and most of the time his expression is calm like a pool of water. After her dream was shattered, she hid all her emotions, turning that vulnerability into hatred. We can get a glimpse of her real and vivid emotional expression. For the first time at the beginning of the film, the girl flicks her fingers quickly at night, with a fascinated smile on the corner of her mouth. The second time, when she handed over the precious face cream, Annie's hand caressed her face unintentionally, Melanie closed her eyes, and her face was full of intoxicated nostalgia. The third time was when I came across a childhood playmate when I was choosing a costume. I was excited from the bottom of my heart, but when I turned around and saw Annie, I immediately restrained and put on that cold, controlling face.
In contrast, Annie's emotional expression is also forbearance and restraint. When a friend told her, "Did you notice the way that girl looked at you? Keep your eyes peeled." She seemed at a loss. Melanie kissed the corner of her mouth, and she still looked at a loss. When playing hide-and-seek, she was frightened by the child's sudden appearance and let go of her hand. After the performance failed, Melanie said "I'm sorry", and she forgave her without asking the reason. The feelings for Melanie sprouted in this panic again and again. In my opinion, she is more vulnerable than Melanie, and Melanie is like a life-saving straw in the hands of the drowning. Insignificant, but the only one in her world.
Obviously, this pianist's life is not as glamorous as it seems on the surface. When her love was seen through by her friends, she endured her excitement and said with tears: "Everything about me belongs to my husband, everything comes from his family, what am I? None."
How could Melanie not see through. I would rather believe that her revenge is not as cold as her face. After all, how many uncertainties are hidden in it is something she could not predict, and the road to revenge is actually at a loss.
Some time ago, a photo was popular on the Internet, and what hate reflected in the mirror was its opposite, love.
Love and hate are two-faced. When she understands that Annie is a tragic figure at the bottom like her, or that she feels the same fragile empathy, she is full of attachment to the touch of Annie's fingers, and her eyes are full of pity and love. . So when she first appeared as a translator, she could have revenge for ruining this important show, rather than helping her. Melanie is cruel, but it does not mean that she has no kindness and innocence.
Everything changed. It started with Annie's signature during the backstage celebration. Melanie, who was standing outside the door and was silently happy for Annie's wonderful performance, was deeply stabbed by this scene in her memory, and the class opposition once again built a high wall. Only this time, there is also love that is cut off at the same time.
Since then, the road of revenge has officially opened, the seduction of Annie, and the ruthless training of little Fusigu, just like the name of the chicken-----"jealousy". Jealousy brought back heartbroken memories of what was supposed to be mine, Melanie's.
Even so, Melanie's revenge only started from young Fusigu. Even if she realized her importance to Annie, she didn't think about hurting Annie directly at first. The cellist's sexual assault gave her a good opportunity. She pierced his instep fiercely, just as resolutely as she closed the piano cover back then, but she didn't expect him to insist on acting. The unpredictability of all this made their love step by step. Push to a dead end.
In the last performance, Melanie, who was absent, looked through the crack of the door to see Annie, who was playing out of order. At that moment, her eyes were confused, she couldn't tell whether it was happiness or guilt, only her expression was calm as usual. After the show, Melanie faced Annie for a long while, only spit out "I'm sorry", she just stood there like that, not hiding or hiding. Looking at Annie through the car window, the eyes of the two were so calm and turbulent...and this scene of staring at each other became the climax of the film in my eyes.
In the end, Melanie got into the car, and Ann held Mei's hand and shed tears of recovery and forgiveness. Melanie, however, remained calm, except for the lightly frowning brow and the clenched fingertips that betrayed her heart. complex.
Little Fusigu, who was supposed to be a genius, lost her arm, and she has achieved her original purpose. Asking for an autographed photo and the Mozart statue presented to little Fusigu should have echoed the end of the sigh that opened her heart. Unexpectedly, Annie, who was in the dark, hadn't smelled the fall of the flower of love, but she mentioned all her bravery, and wrote the expectation of the new life and her love for Melanie on the back of the photo.
There is no going back. With Melanie's extreme character, he is bound to go to a road of destruction, even if it is a thorny road paved with love.
Love has become the most murderous weapon.
Anne's world collapsed because of Melanie, and her dream of love was shattered. At the beginning of the film, Melanie's world collapsed because of Annie, and her dream of life was shattered. It's like that entangled stare, you can never tell who wins or loses in this gladiatorial fight.
At the end of the film, Melanie walks alone on a desolate road, with a faint smile. I tried several times to identify the emotion on the corner of her mouth, but I still couldn't tell what was surging under that calm face.
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Actors are the soul of a movie. The performances of Melanie's childhood girl and Deborah are very exciting. The little girl only has one line: "No", but she interprets Melanie's extreme character in a thrilling way. Melanie's emotions in the whole film are almost entirely conveyed by eyes, but for Deborah, it is not too contrived, and it is just right. And Annie, played by Catherine, expresses the forbearance and vulnerability to the fullest.
More than once in French movies, I have seen the smoothness of the actors' mastery of the instruments. The whole film runs through the piano pieces of Bach, Schubert and Shostakovich, which makes the French actor's artistic attainments even more amazing.
When scoring, I hesitated for a while. First, I felt that the setting of revenge against Little Fusigu was too cruel. Second, I only blamed the director for being too cruel, even if Melanie took the photo in the end. But if the film does not develop in this way, it will not reflect the final contradiction and conflict. This is always regrettable and inevitable. Compared with the perfect performance of the actors, the film structure has certain flaws.
Some people say that people who watch this film get cold behind their backs. How should I put it? I think everyone has a Melanie presence in their hearts, that kind of determination and indifference when they destroy their feelings. I can't help but think that it is also revenge, but Japanese movies pay more attention to giving people hope. French films have never been shy about discovering the incomprehensible side of human nature. (eg: Natalie, Heart of Winter)
We cannot simply and rudely judge human nature in the name of morality, we can only learn to forgive after watching the movie.
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