Always watching from the sidelines, always obeying 100%, no voice, no resistance. She appeared in the whole movie, plus the camera's attention to her, I thought she would bring something to the story, which might erupt in silence, but she didn't. When we believe that she loves Petra wholeheartedly, there may be some masochistic complexes, but the ending puts us in a mystery.
Petra told her: "You will get what you are entitled to: freedom and fun." So, when Petra's story came to an end, Marlene suddenly seemed to be another person, as if she had been Petra, who was crying in love, broke away from the relationship, packed his bags indifferently, and then left indifferently. Who is she?
Marlene is us, the audience of the movie.
The whole film is in Petra's bedroom. The only time we saw the "outside world" was when Marlene opened the blinds at the beginning of the film, and the strong sunlight awakened Petra who was sleeping. Marlene originally came from the "outside", bright and sunny, but when Petra gave an order, Marlene closed the blinds, the movie began, we were isolated from the "outside", and the story was staged.
From beginning to end, Marlene didn't say a word, but made a sound. She is in the work area, and she has a lot of work to do, but no moment of her attention is not on Petra. She loves her, and she loves her until she loses her voice. It doesn’t matter if she is dumb, as long as she is still I can see her Fangying and hear her voice. Isn't this similar to our experience of watching movies? Away from the stage, only sight and hearing are needed. We are deeply attracted by what we see and hear on the screen, and we are silent from beginning to end.
In those ninety minutes or two hours, we are no longer important, our "self" has temporarily disappeared, and our emotions are controlled by the movie. We sometimes cry, sometimes secretly joy, and love is helpless. We become "servants like Marlene" ". Although she lost her voice, she was always present, and the countless times the scenes fell on her also emphasized her existence. Therefore, a large part of Fassbender's "Petra's Tears" is about movie audiences and spectatorship.
Later, I learned that she had a gun. If it was so painful, why didn't she kill Karin? It's okay to kill Petra. Marlene has the ability to choose to end everything at any time, just like we can walk out of the movie theater at any time, but she can't extricate herself when things happen-we are passive. So some people compare the experience of watching a movie to dreaming. You perceive everything happening, but in the real world, you can't move in the dark.
If Marlene is the viewer, Petra is the viewer, in other words, she is the movie itself. Finally, Petra turned on the gramophone and the music rang. Marlene began to pack her bags and was anxious to leave. She no longer looked at Petra. We doubted her previous love for her. And Petra walked to the bed. When she lay down, she would not wake up anymore. It is very possible that the pill that she mentioned before can make her sleep in her stomach, and because her story is over. . Marlene closed the suitcase, walked out of the dark room, and out of the camera. We knew that she would leave the house, leave the movie theater, and return to her bright world, as if nothing had happened.
Cruel? Is Fassbender trying to say that we are so cruel to movies? The music plays, the movie ends, and the audience leaves and forgets. But Marlene is a good servant because she has a charming master. When encountering a boring master, the servant can only be absent-minded and lethargic. Fassbender is a good host.
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