Quartet in the Cloud
——A brief essay on Antonioni’s "Days on the Clouds"
/Gu Yixin
arranged Michelangelo Antonioni’s film salon at Ingmar Bergman After that, the reason is self-evident. The two famous masters passed away on the same day, July 30, 2007 (it can be seen that God is better at screenwriting than we are). Compared with Bergman, Antonioni is a late bloomer. It was not until the age of 48 that he won the first prize of a top European film festival, and gradually reached the pinnacle of art. His film career spanned more than half a century, spanning the vastness and long cause of the New Wave movement, until his death at the age of 94. This is very similar to another Michelangelo in art history.
The film "Days on the Clouds" shared this time is an off-camera work by Antonioni in the 90s, based on a script written by him in the 1970s. At that time, he was eighty years old and his condition worsened. A lot of the actual shooting of the film was done by Wim Wenders, composed of Sophie Marceau, Elaine Shege, John Markovic and other top European movie stars. The lineup, co-starred in this old masterpiece belonging to Antonioni in a group tribute.
The film begins with a self-evident director’s aimless journey, showing four unrelated love stories that have disappeared in the modern interpersonal world network in the form of memories and meditations, so as to truly spy on people. Deep in the heart. As an inheritance of Antonioni’s life’s image style, the film uses a quartet-style narrative to express the author’s thoughts on interpersonal and emotional issues in modern society, full of the master’s final tribute to the film.
At the beginning of the film, the director played by Markovic fell into contemplation on a passenger plane in the clouds, wandering aimlessly through the misty streets. Accompanied by this is a long monologue, from which we know the identity of this person. He is not only the narrator of the text of the story, but also Antonioni's personal self-evident, a man who is struggling to find the so-called "fading truth". In this long narration, he even inlaid his lifelong motto in it--
"I try to use movies to capture the truth behind life, but I have nothing else in my life."
That is to say, from behind all the complex appearances, there will be an element that clarifies everything-life and things. Nature. What "Days on the Clouds" depicts seems to be the fact that we always appear, remain, or disappear in each other's lives, which constitutes all our experiences. In the movie, they are without exception full of unpredictable meaning, just like the title of the movie.
The story of the town
[Summary] A young man and a woman met in Fenarra town and fell in love at first sight, but because of some cowardice, they lost their physical intimacy; three years later, they met again, and the man chose as a perfectionist The escape from sensuality disappeared in the woman's life.
[Topic] Love always seems to be easy and elusive; what does the physical distance between lovers mean?
[1] The essence of love-
"People always long to stay in the imagination of others."
-"We are always tired of all kinds of voices, except for human words."
On the one hand, it is the voice to another life. The longing, on the one hand, longing to stay in another person’s life. Here, love is an impulse to intervene in each other's life. It is also a kind of curse, which makes people willing to be dominated by the other party and indulge in it.
——"People sometimes fall into a curse. For example, I am now dominated by your silence."
Love is not only a desire for each other, but also each other's dominance. The former is often the source of beauty, while the latter is the root cause of harm.
[2] The bound lust
At night in the hotel, the director used a series of smooth and delicate lens language to show the psychological activities of the hero and heroine. We know that on that night, men have been hesitating, while women have been waiting. However, their instinctive lust is restrained by their self-esteem and cowardice, and they have lost the opportunity of physical intimacy. Three years later, the man finally chose to escape from sensuality. The classic long shot that gently covered the girl's body with the palm of his hand without touching it seemed to be an excellent metaphor for the alienation between lovers. .
[3] The city and love
have a certain arrogant and lonely emotion in the man, and he has a sensitive hostility towards the city. While the woman chose to enter the city, she accepted the rhythm of city life and had another man.
The narration when the man left was wonderful—he couldn’t tolerate the “ignorance and numbness of the city where he was” because of his “unreachable arrogance”. The city blocked the love in his heart, and the mediocre reality was built up in his heart. The high wall of surpassing.
The story of Shuicheng
[Summary] While walking along the seashore, the director encountered a beautiful, weak and nervous woman. He learned that she had killed his father, and now she has returned to live in this place. Under the temptation of an inexplicable sense of encounter, the director and the woman began to have sex. Then, the director left quietly.
[Topic] Thinking about the authenticity and ambiguity of the story text.
[1] Suspense One
This story first involves the psychological depiction of a guilty person. She is weak, keen and neurotic. This temperament attracts the narrator (director) and readers, and makes us try to explore the truth hidden under the calm surface.
[2] Suspense II. The
woman assassinated her father twelve times, but was only sentenced to three months in prison-there is an amazing conflict between such a cruel message and such a calm narrative, which seems to mean that this woman is implicit Some unfortunate experience.
[Three] Suspense Three
Why live again where he killed his father? She pointed to a dock and said: That was the scene of the crime. This sentence once again strongly impacted our feelings, and we saw her dancing and spinning on the dock.
"The average criminal returns to the scene of the crime because of guilt, but I do it for the opposite reason." In this story, the truly moving things exist behind the scenes. For us, it is an unknown mystery.
[4] Thinking about the authenticity and ambiguity of the story text
The charm of this story is not about a director’s adventure, but about the authenticity and ambiguity of a story text. You might as well pay attention to the meaningful sentence-"Thirteen knives are more real and cordial than three knives." In other words, what made him obsessed with was the form in which the truth behind the scenes of life was revealed. Cruel information often contains all the truth in the past experience. This gentle overlook transcends sin and morality. It just shows that there is a more thrilling image behind the peaceful image of life-this is the secret of mankind and the spiritual source of Antonioni.
[5] How to explain the director’s impulse to have sex with the
woman. After the secret of the woman was revealed, she got rid of the heavy spiritual shackles, which made her attached to the strange listener of the director. As for the director, he is deeply obsessed with the stories and images she brings. This cloud and rain has a full symbolic meaning, it seems to be a dialogue between two worlds-the world we are based on observation, and the world we experience in the form of dreams.
The story of Paris
[Summary] This is a story of two pairs of extramarital affair with one clue and one secret. The husband has an affair with a woman who met in a tavern. In the end, the wife left her unfaithful husband and brought the original furniture in search of rent. At the same time, the house met a man who had suffered similarly to her. The film implies that they are close to each other because of their inner resonance.
[Topic] City; marriage; ambiguity in moral situations.
[1] Conflicting promises and moral ambiguities
A middle-aged man dealt with his wife and lover. He made separate promises, but they were unable to fulfill them. We seem to find that people always bear contradictory responsibilities, and both types of responsibilities are convincing. Especially in the emotional/marriage field where various irrational situations are concentrated, the ambiguity of morality is particularly subtle.
[2] The Dilemma of Marriage
This story seems to allude to the pale marriage relationships in modern cities. Marriage as a moral contract has its inevitable sadness. I seem to have vaguely glimpsed another word-freedom. Then, are marriage and freedom the opposite of each other? Does the emergence of the former kill the fun and possibility of life? In the film, the man actually loves his wife deeply, but the trauma is irreparable in the end-he may not really escape from his wife but the marriage itself.
[3] The healing of the trauma.
Finally, the abandoned woman met an abandoned man who had a similar experience. A dialogue appeared between them. The film hinted that they seemed to have feelings. This shows another form of "people entering each other's experience"-because of the same past, the hearts are seeking solace in each other.
The inserted chapter
after the third story ended, the film did not enter the final ensemble soon, but added a playful small chapter roaming and casual feeling. A painter is sketching from life on a mountain on the edge of the city. He captures the outline of the city and imitates the master's technique in the details. He had an interesting conversation with someone who appeared to be his wife—the conversation told us that an oil painting was a copy of the city, and his gestures were inadvertently reduced to a copy of a master of painting. Next, the director appeared in an environment full of paintings, and he began to imitate a depressing portrait for no reason.
In these two casual passages, Antonioni raises a joking and serious question-is life a copy? Feelings and destiny, are they replicas? If everyone’s life is an image, then it must be, to some extent, a copy of thousands of images similar to it at the same time. Simply put, although everyone’s experience can be understood as an independent individual Event, but in Antonioni's narrative poetics, the particularity belonging to the individual is silently cancelled, and replaced by an easy and gentle look down.
The story from the alley to the church
[Summary] A woman went to the church. On the way, a man was entangled with pure and frivolous love, but she was not moved at all. Finally she told the man that she would enter the monastery tomorrow. In the freezing rainy night, the young man left her apartment.
[Topic] What is the key to solving all worldly problems? What role does religion play?
[1] A
woman who compares the two outlooks on life : admits that desire causes people's pain, and prefers to eliminate the desire to seek peace.
Man: Indulge in impulsive adventures, perceptually pursue worldly happiness.
[2] The metaphor of the situation
This story is composed of a large number of long shots that are almost tracked in the real scene, which is full of detailed metaphors. The camera slowly advances from the alley (secular place) to the church (religious place), which metaphors the director's transition from secular emotions to religious ideals; the man stops to wash his hands and drink water when passing the water spray sculpture, while the woman does not stop. The flowing nature of "water" is turned into a symbol of vitality here. This shot makes the man win the audience's sense of intimacy; while on the way to the man sending the woman back to the apartment, a heavy rain from the sky plays a role in flushing out lust .
[3] The manifestation of religious sentiment and its meaning
"If you tell me you love me, it is like lighting a candle in a brightly lit room."
This is her euphemistic refusal—it is simply amazing. simile. She did not say "If your love for me is a candle, then it will be extinguished in the rain", but likened her heart to a house full of light, that is to say, she is self-satisfied, even happy of.
The church girl played by Elaine Xie Ge reflects the author's high hopes for religion. In other words, the author speculates that it is still possible to get rid of distress by eliminating desires. In the church chants, we can't help but recall the first three stories of the film. They merge into a complete picture and achieve tranquility in the solemn atmosphere of the church.
Of course, Antonioni’s intention may not be to point out religion as a way to get rid of secular confusion. He designed the ending of the women's choice of the monastery, not so much as a guide for the world, but as an aesthetic need. And the real intention of the story is to express the fact that "our hearts are seeking refuge", because the world always makes us feel that there is no refuge—that's all.
The ending of the rainy night The ending of the
film is arranged on the rainy night at the end of the fourth story, and ends with a meaningful long shot: the director walks into a hotel, and the camera moves slowly upwards along the facade of the hotel, passing by One window after another. From those windows, we saw the worrisome woman, the man and woman who had sex, and the lonely and vicissitudes of smoking woman. The camera finally stopped at an unmanned window. In this window, a blurred face gradually appeared, and he stared at the world outside the window with a strange expression. This is the face of the director in the film, and it represents the immortal Antonioni, the narrator hidden behind the screen.
"What I am obsessed with is the image of life. Behind one is a more real one, behind this one there is another, and behind the other there is a deeper one... It seems endless." This is all The director's monologue at the end of the film. As we can see, "Days on the Clouds" loves to capture all kinds of accidental and irrational emotions in life, and vaguely implies the alienation and rejection of people in the modern world. People merge and disappear into each other's lives. , The uncontrollable encounter is like a walk in the clouds. From the alienation of the first story, the forgetting of the second story, to the breaking and closing of the third story, and finally to the religious liberation of the fourth story, in Antonioni’s eyes, "reality" is always a mystery. The posture is released behind the appearance, or emerges in the center of the water like dreams and fantasy. When we return to the quiet contemplation and foggy streets at the beginning of the film with the memory of the four stories, we must have such a feeling: Under the lightness of the world like the clouds, life is real. How heavy.
March 2008
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