A few years ago, I saw some Americans discussing the ten strangest American films in history on the Internet. Almost all of them had "Being John Malkovich" (Being John Malkovich, 1999) in their nominations. Later, I was fortunate enough to see this movie, and was deeply impressed by the fantastic ideas in the movie. It reminds me of the name of the screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Charlie Kaufman). From then on, as long as it is his work, I have to look for it. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is his latest work, released in March 2004. However, I didn't get the DVD of this movie until recently. Like Kaufman's other works, after I read it, I didn't understand it, so I found some materials and read it carefully, only to understand what it means. The name "Eternal Sunshine of the Beautiful Heart" comes from a poem "Eloisa to Abelard" (Eloisa to Abelard) by the great British poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) in the 18th century. Pope’s poem is based on a love tragedy in the 12th century in France. I read along the clues, and the following content is a record of thinking while reading. It is mainly related to a movie, a poem and a piece of classical love. The story of the second movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Beautiful Heart" is like this. One day in 2002, the male protagonist Joey met the female protagonist Clay at a party in Montaque Beach, New York. Soon, the two met again in the bookstore, so they started dating. Since the second half of 2003, the relationship between the two has turned from sweetness to deterioration. One day in early 2004, after they had a big fight, Clay found a company called Lacuna and asked them to erase Joey from their memories. Joey was furious after discovering this, because Clay had forgotten everything that had happened between them, so he decided to perform this operation too, erasing Clay from his memory. It was just before Valentine's Day in 2004. During the operation, in chronological order from near to far, Joey’s memories of Clay-related past events were deleted one by one. As the past reappeared, Joey gradually discovered that he and Clay had had a happy time after all. He regretted it and wanted to keep Clay in his memory to stop the operation. But it was too late. At this time, he couldn't interrupt the operation. He was completely living in his own consciousness. Therefore, Joey had no choice but to create interference on his own, taking Clay to the depths of the memory that the machine could not find, in order to escape the fate of being deleted. In the end, Joey's plan did not succeed, and they were found by the machine. So on the Montauk beach where the two first met, Joey told Clay, "Remember to come to Montauk to find me." Then the operation was over, and everything about Clay in Joey's memory disappeared. 3. In the last part of this article, I will return to this movie and finish the ending. Now, I want to talk about the relationship between the title of this film "Eternal Sunshine of the Beautiful Heart" and the content of the film itself. This poem is from line 209 of Pope’s "Elois to Abelard". The context is this: "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd; The pure virgin Vesta [①] is so happy! Forget the world, and also be forgotten by the world, the beautiful soul shines with eternal sunshine! Every prayer is accepted, every wish can be given up. "These four poems are directly quoted in the movie. But after I think about it carefully, I find that their meaning is not obvious. First of all, there is no character in the movie whose soul can be called "spotless" (spotless); Secondly, where the eternal sunshine is, it is also invisible. If "the eternal sunshine of the beautiful soul" refers to a good wish to be free from the troubles of the world, then why bother to insist on keeping the love to Clay. What about memories? Anyway, "Forgetting the world, and being forgotten by the world" is "how happy"! I felt that in order to clarify this question, we must understand the original poem. So, I took Pope’s "Alois to I found the whole poem of "Abelard" and read it again. The poem by Four Popes is based on real people and real events. Eloise and Abelard are indeed unique in history. Pierre · Born in 1079, Pierre Abelard was an important French philosopher of that era. His philosophical contribution was mainly the first application of logic to theological theory, which can be regarded as a pioneer of the Renaissance. In 1118, he served as a pioneer in the Renaissance. During the time when the head of the Catholic school of Notre Dame de Paris, he fell in love with his student Heloise. He was nearly 40 years old at the time, while Heloise was only 18. Heloise's uncle was from Notre Dame de Paris. The Grand Priest (Canon), she lives with her uncle's house. In order to facilitate meeting, Abelard also boarded there. Abelard dated Eloise in the name of tutoring. Soon, she became pregnant. Abelard was afraid that things would be revealed, and took Eloise to the country, where Eloise gave birth to a baby boy. Abelard decided to get married, but this incident would affect him. Because of his career development, he could only get married in secret. Eloys agreed against his will. Eloys’ uncle was very angry at Abelard’s seduce his niece, and became even more furious when he learned that he did not want to marry publicly. So, He hired two gangsters to retaliate. One night, while Abelard was asleep, they attacked him and castrated him. Suffering such a huge physical and psychological trauma, Abelard had to be in 1119 He became a monk when he became a monk in the year, and Eloise also became a nun according to his arrangement. In this way, the two had no contact for nearly ten years. Around 1130, Abelard wrote a famous long letter to his friend, narrating his life, and exhorting his friend not to care too much about what happened to him. Compared with him, the latter was lucky. of. This letter is extremely long, and is actually a medium-length autobiography, reminiscent of Sima Qian's "Book of Posts and Ren'an". The title of the letter is called "My Disaster Life" (Historia Calamitatum). The letter described his love process with Eloise as follows: "We pretend to be studying, but all the time is spent talking about love. We don't let go of this long-awaited and hard-won minute and second. We. We talk more about love than about the book spread out in front of us; we spend far more time kissing than we study. Our hands seldom touch the book, and more are touching each other’s chests. The eyes drawn together are love, not the text in the book. In order to avoid arousing suspicion, we sometimes have some disputes, but that is out of love, not dissatisfaction; they do not represent anger, but a The sweetest tenderness. What happened next? We explored the corners of the world of love together. If there is an unknown part of love itself, then we will discover it. Our ignorance of these joys makes us more I am willing to pursue them, so that our hunger and thirst for each other has never ceased." [②] This kind of text was written by a medieval scholar over half a hundred years old, which is really unexpected. To this day, I can still feel strong passion when reading such words. In 1132, Eloise saw a transcript of this letter. She couldn't help feeling ups and downs, picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Abelard. The letter expressed her current thoughts about Abelard and her love for them. She wrote: "My dear, as the whole world knows, you must know how important you are to me, knowing (if you no longer love me) this is the deepest betrayal and cruelest blow to me. , I lost you as if I lost myself; you also know that there is nothing in the world that makes me sad more than losing you. The greater the sorrow, the more comfort is needed, as long as you can comfort me; you are my sorrow The only reason for this is that only you have the power to comfort me. Sadness, laughter and comfort, all of which you can bring to me; you owe me a huge debt, especially since I have unconditionally obeyed all your requirements, even I have no power to oppose you in anything. I only found the power to destroy myself in your orders. Strange to say, I even turned my love into a kind of madness. I have lost the hope of recovery. , This is exactly what I need most. As long as you have a request, I will immediately change my clothes and thoughts, just to prove that you are both the owner of my body and my consciousness. God knows that besides you, I I don’t seek to get other things from you; I only want you, nothing else. I don’t want marriage or property. You know they won’t bring me happiness and satisfaction. I only want you. The title of wife may be more solemn or More valuable, but the word I prefer is always love. If you agree, mistress and prostitute are also okay. I believe that for you, the more I make myself appear humble, the more I can make you happy and make you famous. The harm is less. In that letter you wrote to a friend, you did not forget our past; you retelled some of my reasons for discouraging you from having an unwise marriage. However, you did not say mine Other thoughts, I would rather love than marriage, and would rather be free than bondage. God testifies that if the king is willing to marry me and let me have everything in the world forever, then for me, the more precious and glorious thing is not to be his queen. , But to become your mistress." [③] After receiving the letter, Abelard wrote a restrained reply. He said that the reason he didn't contact her was not because he was indifferent to her, but because he thought it would be good for both of them. As a result, they shared a total of seven letters [④]. These letters describe not only personal relationships, but a series of extensive literary readings. Generally speaking, they are philosophical dialogues about love, marriage, and the spiritual world. Since being copied out, interest in reading them has never disappeared for nearly 900 years. Despite these frank and dissecting internal communications, nothing happened between Eloise and Abelard, and they both died in the monastery in the end. Abelard died in 1142 and Eloise died in 1164. 5. The correspondence between Elois and Abelard was written in Latin and was officially published in 1616. It was translated into French in 1697, and from French into English in 1713. After Pope read the English translation, he was moved by Eloise's letter. So he imitated Eloise's tone and wrote an epistle poem "Eloise to Abrad" in the first person. In the poem, Pope imagines Eloise as struggling between "dignity and nature, virtue and passion" between love for God and love for his beloved. Pope also inserted a description of the cold and crude environment in which Eloise lived, which enhanced the appeal of the poem. This poem contains a lot of Eloise's memories of past love, but it is not a narrative poem. Pope assumes that the reader is already quite familiar with the story. He only wanted to express his emotions through a woman's point of view, and the focus of his poem was on Eloise's narration of the pain in his heart. As a nun, Eloise is not allowed to have personal feelings, but her love for Abelard has not extinguished. Therefore, when she was immersed in the thirst for love, she could not get rid of the guilt. She knows that as Xiusian, love for God is the first. She can't love a man more than God, but she can't suppress her heart. This poem is a famous English poem, but it seems that there is no Chinese translation yet. The original poem has more than 300 lines, which is quite long. I will try to translate the opening and closing parts below. [⑤] In the first 16 lines, Pope first described the environment in which Eloise was in, and then pointed out the theme of the whole poem: her love for Abelard. "In these deep solitudes and awful cells, Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells, And ever-musing melancholy reigns; What means this tumult in a vestal's veins? Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat? Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat? Yet, yet I love!--From Abelard it came, And Eloisa yet must kiss the name. In In these lonely and humble little rooms, there are paradise contemplations and never-ending sadness. What does such a wave mean in the heart of the nun? Why can't my mind rest in this peaceful place? Why do I feel the long-forgotten heat in my heart? Oh, I'm still in love! ——This love comes from Abelard, Eloise must kiss this name. Dear fatal name! rest ever unreveal'd, Nor pass these lips in holy silence seal'd. Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise, Where mix'd with God's, his lov'd idea lies: O write it not , my hand--the name appears Already written--wash it out, my tears! In vain lost Eloisa weeps and prays, Her heart still dictates, and her hand obeys. What a dear and unfortunate name! Never been said, never passed through the lips covered by divine silence. The thick disguise hides it in my heart, where there is love for God and love for him: Oh, my hand, don’t write him out—but his name has appeared—my tears Ah, wash it away! All the crying and praying of Eloise are in vain, her heart is the dominant, and her hands can only be obedience. "Then, Eloise recalled how she met and fell in love with Abelard. However, she had already dedicated her life to God, and she felt very contradictory. Religious piety and happy memories were about to tear her apart, so She cried out to Abelard and God for help at the same time. Even though the love has passed for 12 years, she could not remain indifferent to Abelard, and could not give all of her love to God unconditionally. It is here, Aylor Iss sighed, if he could become a "pure virgin of Vesta", "Forget the world, and be forgotten by the world, the beautiful soul shines with eternal sunshine! "That said, this is actually a grumble of helplessness. In the end, Eloise felt that her love had no way out in the real world. Only after death could she and Abelard never separate. "May one kind grave unite each hapless name, And graft my love immortal on thy fame! Then, ages hence, when all my woes are o'er, When this rebellious heart shall beat no more; If ever chance two wand'ring lovers brings To Paraclete's white walls and silver springs, O'er the pale marble shall they join their heads, And drink the falling tears each other sheds; Then sadly say, with mutual pity mov'd, " Oh may we never love as these have lov'd!" I hope a beautiful grave will reunite these two unfortunate names, and connect my love to your fame forever! With the passage of time, all of me The sorrow will end, and my uneasy heart will no longer beat; if a couple of lovers happen to roam here, they will see the white walls and silver springs here, in front of the pale tombstone, they will hug each other, and both will spill. Tears, with touch and sympathy, said sadly: "But please, our love will never be the same as them! ”From the full choir when loud Hosannas rise, And swell the pomp of dreadful sacrifice, Amid that scene if some relenting eye Glance on the stone where our cold relics lie, Devotion's self shall steal a thought from Heav'n, One human tear shall drop and be forgiv'n. And sure, if fate some future bard shall join In sad similitude of griefs to mine, Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore, And image charms he must behold no more; Such if there be, who loves so long, so well; Let him our sad, our tender story tell; The well-sung woes will soothe my pensive ghost; He best can paint'em, who shall feel'em most. When the choir praising God loudly, huge sacrifices will follow. If at this time a pair of sympathetic eyes see our cold resting place, even if our hearts are pious, There will also be a trace of thoughts leaving heaven, worldly tears will fall, and forgiveness will be granted. If there happens to be a poet between them, he will definitely feel my sorrow and condemn myself for being indifferent for so many years, and imagine that he will never encounter such a move; if there is such a poet who loves so long and deeply, Let him tell our sad and moving stories; the sorrows meticulously sang will comfort my meditating soul; he feels the most, and he can portray them best. The whole poem ends here. My understanding of the last few sentences refers to Pope himself. Pope was 29 years old when he wrote this poem. He must have touched the scene and wrote his own feelings. Pope's life is also very good. Unfortunately, he was sick since he was a child, his spine was deformed, his body was disabled, and his height was only 1. 37 meters. Therefore, he can most appreciate this sad and hopeless love. As written in the poem, Eloise and Abelard were indeed reunited after death. The cemetery of the two is still preserved in Troyes, France. Below six, I will come back to discuss the movie "Eternal Sunshine of a Beautiful Mind". As mentioned earlier, despite Joey's hard work, all his memories of Clay have been erased. So, on Valentine's Day in 2004, with an unexplainable wish, he came back to Montaque Beach and met Clay who came in the same way. However, neither of them can recognize each other. Fortunately, a nurse from Lacuna company discovered that her memory had been secretly erased, and angrily sent all the information about the surgeon back to me. Therefore, Joey and Clay both got their self-reported tapes before the operation. They finally understood what happened. Clay felt that the previous unhappiness might be unavoidable, and wanted to leave Joey who had just met again. Joey followed her into the corridor and asked her to wait. Clay told Joey that the two of them might not be able to succeed. Joey shrugged and only said "OK". The tone seemed to be that he accepted the fact, but still wanted to experience it. Clay felt the same way, so the two of them laughed awkwardly, and at the same time there was a relief in their hearts, feeling that their relationship might turn for the better. The movie ends here. I think it’s much easier to analyze the meaning of the movie title after discussing the poem "Elois to Abelard" in detail. The poem describes Eloise's extremely ambivalent mood. She still loves Abelard, but the two cannot be together. She must live a life of dedicating everything to God. The movie "The Eternal Sunshine of a Beautiful Heart" describes a kind of emotional dilemma. Joey loves Klein and is reluctant to erase her from his memory, but there are always conflicts in reality, and there is no ideal love. The longer the two get along, the less love is like a kind of pleasure, more like a torture. But what to do? Just as Eloise couldn't help but be enamored with Abelard, Joey couldn't let Clay leave. Therefore, the warm and beautiful title of "The Eternal Sunshine of the Beautiful Heart" really reveals a kind of absurd dilemma in life. In the previous script, the ending of the film design was like this, the old Clay returned to Lacuna The company once again asked to erase her memory of Joey, and the camera would tell the audience that according to the record, she had undergone many operations. This ending was later deleted, undoubtedly to prevent the audience from feeling that this ending was too dark. The ending is now ambiguous, which allows the audience to generate an unfounded optimism. At this point, a story about affection and love has been completely deconstructed, and it has become a Sisyphus paradox. If there is no eternal love in the world, just as there is no "eternal sunshine of a beautiful soul", then should we still treat love firmly? At this point, I can’t help but think of a popular song that I like very much. Let’s end the full text with its lyrics. "Although the sky is getting more and more blue / you are getting more and more ordinary by my side / but some things have been said / have not been able to change / / let this journey become more and more lonely / you are more and more at a loss in front of me / can't let go Luggage/ is my unchanging heart." --------------------------------- Note: [①] Weiss The tower (Vesta) is the female kitchen god in ancient Roman mythology. She does not have a specific and personal representative. The unquenchable flame represents her existence. Vestales are priestesses who take care of the sacred fire. They are full-time priests with high honors and privileges. They were selected from the noble class and must remain chaste for 30 years, so they were called Vesta virgins. If they violate this rule, they will be buried alive. This system was abolished in 391 BC. ［②］ The English translation of this paragraph is as follows. Unless otherwise specified, all quotations are translated by me. Under the pretext of study we spent our hours in the happiness of love, and learning held out to us the secret opportunities that our passion craved. Our speech was more of love than of the books which lay open before us; our kisses far outnumbered our reasoned words.http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/abelard-histcal.html. ［③］ The English translation is as follows, You know, beloved, as the whole world knows, how much I have lost in you, how in one wretched stroke that supreme act of flagrant treachery robbed me of my very self in robbing me of you; and how my sorrow for my loss is nothing compared with what I feel for the manner in which I lost you. Surely the greater the cause for grief the greater the need for consolation, and this no one can bring but you; you are the sole cause of my sorrow, and you alone can grant me the grace of consolation. You alone can make me sad, or bring me happiness or comfort; you alone have so great a debt to repay me, particularly now that I have carried out all your orders so implicitly that when I was powerless to oppose you in anything, I found strength at your command to destroy myself. I did more,http://www.aug.edu/langlitcom/humanitiesHBK/handbook_htm/heloise&abelard.htm . [⑤] See http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1630.html for the entire poem . For a detailed interpretation of the whole poem, please visit http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5408 . (Ruan Yifeng, August 1, 2005) Original address: http://www.ruanyifeng.com/mt-archives/2005_08_04_194.html
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