How slow can a movie be made?
The Greek master Angelopoulos used a stagnant lens to tell the tragic life of a woman with a length of 3 hours. This is the "Greek Trilogy: The Sorrowful Prairie". This movie is very slow. However, the new Mexican director Carlos Legadas used a slow-moving lens to tell a man’s middle-aged affair with a length of nearly 2 and a half hours. This is "Light of Silence". This movie is very slow. Slower than "Sad Steppe".
John is a middle-aged man with bald hair and a blessed figure. He and his wife Esser have 6 children together. A family of 8 lives in northern Mexico and lives on farming. John's parents also live in the same town, and herding cows is their way of life. John's father was also a missionary, so the whole family are devout believers. Such a John fell in love with another woman, that woman was called Marianne.
John occasionally has an affair with Mary Anne, but the process is always short and painful. John confessed to his wife Ursser from the very beginning, confessing his betrayal. John knew that he loved his wife, but Mary Anne gave him another kind of happiness, a love that could not be given up. John seeks his father's help, because his father is both a father, a missionary, and even a man. He wants to know what he should do.
Father told John that he had experienced similar pain when he was young, but in the end he found that he was just wishful thinking. Father told John that the process of giving up was painful, and that such pain must be endured alone, but afterwards, he would eventually experience a kind of peace that he had never imagined. Finally, with a misty smile on his face, his father told John that he envied John. Moreover, no matter what John decides, he and his mother will support him, but the action must be fast, otherwise John will lose both women at the same time. The chance of snow in Mexico is almost zero, but at this moment the world outside the window has been covered with white snow. John couldn't make up his mind after all, although he knew what to do.
Mary Anne asked John to be found. The speechless Esser asked John to take his two children with him. John left the child in the car to watch the green tape, and he was with Marianne. So the two embraced and fell in love in silence. Afterwards, Marianne told John that this was the last time she saw him, and she didn't want everyone to suffer. However, when Marianne walked to the car with John and watched the children's joy in the car, Marianne couldn't help but stretched out her hand and gently stroked John's back. John responded to Marianne. Neither of them can let go.
John left the child and took Usser on vacation. As the car was driving in the heavy rain, Usser mentioned the happiness of the two. She said that at the time she felt that as long as John was together, whether he was silent or asleep, he could feel that he was alive. John was silent, and after a long time he confessed that he was still seeing Marianne. After that, Usser said that she wanted to vomit and asked John to stop the car. In the heavy rain, Usser walked far away, came under a tree, bowed his head and shed tears. She let go of the umbrella in her hand and let the pouring rain pour herself through. In the rainstorm, she cried bitterly. This rain, this tear, this heartbreak. Only death can stop all this. So Esser died. So the rain stopped.
The funeral is held at home. The relatives are here. Pale room, pale mattress, pale Esser. John cried. In the hospital, he hugged the doctor and cried; at home, he hugged Esser and cried; at the door, he hugged Marianne and cried. Marianne was the last to arrive. She and John stood in the backyard, staring at each other silently. Finally, John stepped forward, leaned on Marianne's shoulder, and said sadly, just wishing everything would be back to where it was. Marianne said that this is the only impossible in the world. She embraced the crying John calmly, and then stretched out a hand to cover the sun high in the sky. Through this hand, she looked at the silent light of the sky for a long time.
Marianne went into the house and said goodbye to Usser. She walked to the bed quietly, looked at the pale Esser, then slowly lowered her head and kissed Esser's lips. When Marianne raised her head, Ursser's lips flushed, and a tear fell on her cheek. The tears slowly flowed down his cheeks, Ursser's eyelashes trembled, and his eyes slowly opened. Esser said, poor John. Esser was grateful to Marianne.
John let the two little daughters come in and have a look. They saw their mother talking on the bed. The youngest daughter hurried out and called John, saying that her mother was alive. At this moment, Marianne walked out of the room quietly, and then walked out of the room quietly. John entered the room, and he saw another daughter by the bed, counting the mothers who came to her funeral. "End of the Play" is
also a story about an affair, but "Silence Light" uses a completely different approach from "Madison Bridge". In "Madison Bridge", the affection and sacrifice between the two derailed lovers is part of the director's acclaim. Therefore, the film embodies the love and cherishment between the lovers, the painfulness of parting, and the rest of the life. Lightly involved, although the pace of the film is slow, but emotions fluctuate. In "Light of Silence", the director wanted to present the helpless mood of the three parties, the bitterness of destruction when not giving up, and the peace and relief after giving up. Therefore, in "Silence Light", there is no speech or movement, which is filled with it.
At the beginning of the film, the distant view of the moon and stars changes in the lapse of time until the sun rises. Then the story was in silence, expanding step by step with the camera moving at a very slow speed. Looking at the vast wilderness, the ticking of wall clocks and the croaking of frogs outside the window are uninterrupted background sounds, which then highlight the endless loneliness and desolation. It also makes people have to focus on the subtle but deep emotions of the three. And the director's extremely focused lens restricts the audience's vision tightly, and can only focus on the core of the picture. At the end of the film, the vista of sunset setting in the west changes in the same slow lapse of time until the sky is full of stars. Everything is very slow, very slow, and you must experience it with your heart before you can see the changes.
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