In the United States, there is a song like this:
Liz Bolton took the axe and struck her mother forty times. When she realized what she had done, she slashed her father forty times.
This is not a simple ballad, the Liz Bolton mentioned in it is indeed a person in American history.
Although he was suspected of killing his father and stepmother, he was acquitted because of his weak image and lack of evidence.
In this way, the incident of beheading the father of a naked woman that shocked the United States was put on the big screen after shelving for a century.
"Lizzy"
Those who are familiar with this story should have seen the 2014 version of "The Woman with the Axe" .
However, that version was dominated by the court trial of Liz's murder and the courtroom debate.
It is more a reflection of the values of women who have been kidnapped in a patriarchal society.
In this version, there are not only the "bloody" that challenges the audience's physiology, but also the "resistance" that is imminent .
At the same time, the ambiguous same-sex love between the heroine and the servant was added.
1892 Massachusetts, USA
Liz Bolton, 32, is not yet married.
At this age, let alone put it in the past, it has already become a leftover girl now.
To put it uglier, it is the 32-year-old lady.
The old lady lives with her sister, father, stepmother, and has few friends.
Can read poems to pigeons, the only entertainment is to go to the opera house.
One night, after asking her father's permission, Liz went to the opera.
Who would have thought that the epileptic seizure, in the end, can only be escorted home by everyone.
The reason why he fell ill, the doctor explained that it was because of excessive pressure.
Indeed, being born in such a family, how can one not collapse.
My father is like a combination of a fascist and an old man. In order to save money, he never uses lights.
All the while, the traditional lighting of the Middle Ages has been maintained: candles and kerosene lamps.
On weekdays, Liz also endured the violence of her father's words and actions.
Anonymously sent threatening letters, brutally hacked to death her daughter's pigeon with an axe, and even forced Liz to eat it.
In the eyes of this tyrant, nothing else matters except land and money.
The hateful thing is that he not only exploited the peasants, but also the new young maid in the family.
The maid's name is Bridget, from Ireland.
However, to the employer, it doesn't matter what the girl's name is, what matters is that she works neatly and has good eyesight.
Even if her employer climbed into her bed, she could remain silent, obey unconditionally, and be a good girl.
Bridget could hold back because she needed the job.
Liz couldn't watch a young girl being insulted, and she kept compensating Bridget in her own way.
Teach her to read and read.
Bridget's mother passed away and will comfort her.
Will enlighten the ignorant Bridget on an equal footing and tell her:
Men never need to be sensible, but women do.
For Liz, Bridget was undoubtedly a light in a depressing life.
She is pure, ignorant, timid, and yet so intelligent.
Liz couldn't bear to see her being ravaged by her father, even though she had been exploited by that fascist for a long time.
In such an old western society, two women who sympathize with each other can easily develop different emotions.
At the beginning, the two were always on the edge of temptation.
In front of the full-length mirror, Bridget fastened button by button.
Inadvertently, fingers touch exposed skin.
Lust was surging, but helplessly was interrupted by a knock on the door.
In the stairwell, the small interaction between the two of them sending letters made people a little excited.
The tryst at the secret base completely pierced that layer of cellophane.
The two women who put aside secular values, although they are at the forefront of the times, have also paid a price for it.
Liz's father just saw the scene of their cheating.
So, the nightmare officially began.
Not only did Mr. Bolton threaten Liz, he banned Bridget from interacting with him.
If Liz didn't listen to her father, Bridget would not only get fired, but also get no letters of recommendation.
Under such circumstances, she would have to be sent back to Ireland.
What is even more unreasonable is that the father wants to give the property to Liz's uncle, an evil and despicable villain.
But Liz's fate is to be sent to a distant place.
After being oppressed for 32 years, it is now possible to get no money and to continue to endure the humiliation of his father.
Liz quit, picked up the axe, and slashed her father in the face.
This cut is 41 knives.
Liz is very smart, she knows very well that if her stepmother dies before her father, she will inherit the entire inheritance.
So, before Mr. Bolton fell, the axe had already been stained with the blood of another life.
Looking at the two unrecognizable corpses, it is not difficult to guess how much hatred the murderer has accumulated in his heart.
As the first witness and immediate family of the deceased, Liz was watched by the police for a long time.
The court is also in, the prison is also living, and the jury is tirelessly debating several times.
In the end, Liz was still acquitted.
Why?
Because people of that era did not believe that a woman with such status and prestige would commit the evil act of murdering her father.
The limitations of the times not only condone men's arbitrary oppression of women, but also restrain people's thinking.
To them, a woman, a woman of status, is not destined to resist.
The film reveals a unique literary and artistic temperament from beginning to end. Flashbacks and interludes are used very restrained, and a complete story is told just right.
Because the director was born in horror films, he added a lot of suspense elements.
Such as: threatening letters, the uncle of Liz's roe-headed rat, the dim candlelight in the room, the squeaks of various furniture and floors under pressure, the axe brought into the bucket by the camera, etc.
Thriller, tension, perverted distortion, but also explicit blood.
Actress Chloe Sevigny is also one of the producers.
It can be said that this is the work she has worked hard for many years.
In the film, Sevigny performs extremely well, always with an unhappy and defensive expression on her face.
The determined look is sometimes scary, but the situation is very sympathetic.
And Kristen Stewart , who played the maid , this time, also put away the usual cool smile, coupled with the Irish accent, and threw herself into the role.
The movie mostly has Sevigny playing, with Stewart competently serving as Greenleaf.
However, there is no solid evidence in history for the two people's same-sex relationship.
But in the context of this film, this friendship is quite reasonable, after all, their only solace is each other.
In Xiaoying's view, the weaker part of the movie is the finale.
After the murder, the director's interpretation of Liz stopped. It was a pity that it stopped abruptly after explaining the situation of several people.
All that is left for the audience is consternation. How does such a murderer spend the rest of his life?
Is the world's description of her true?
Or maybe Liz isn't some crazy murderer, just a woman born in the wrong age.
It was the dislocation of her life that made her go bleak and difficult on the road of resistance.
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