Lucino Visconti's "Emotion" (1954), "Leopard" (1963) and this "The Cursed Man", and his "Ludwig" released in 1973, is this Known as the "Nostalgia Master", several films with the rise and fall of the noble royal family as the background. He was born in the most prominent aristocratic family in Milan, Italy in November 1906, so he is very familiar with the life of this social class. His father is the head of the Milan Opera House, and his mother is a top student who graduated from the Milan Conservatory of Music. Under the influence of his parents, Visconti has loved literature, painting, music and performance since childhood, and has considerable attainments. At the beginning of the film, the music and songs played by Martin and the sons of Constantine were written by him. The majestic music of the film is enough to show his talent in this area.
Visconti’s famous work "The Earth Was Fluctuating" (1947) and "Rocco and His Brothers" shot in 1960 belong to Italian neorealism, but these films describing the history of the rise and fall of aristocracy are not The unpretentious and realistic style of the first few movies is quite different. He may be based on a love story in Venice occupied by the Austrian army in the 19th century, or the decline of the Leopard Prince family of Sicily in the revolutionary storm in the last century, or the Essenbaek Steel in Germany in the 1930s. The family was annexed by the German Nazis as the main line, exploring the essential issues of human nature: love, lust, desire for power, and death. Sophie, who is eager for power in this film, is essentially the same as Hitler's fascist who wants to rule the world, except for a little witch. It was her ambition that caused the conspiracy, informants, assassinations, and vendettas, and performed tragedies until the family was completely destroyed.
"The Cursed Man" is Visconti's all works, the most majestic, a masterpiece whose film technique has reached the state of perfection. On the surface, this is a political film depicting the decline and fall of an aristocratic family and the fierce struggle among German fascists for power, flogging the heinous crime of extermination by the Nazis. He used a considerable amount of space to describe the depravity of the Brownshirts on the eve of being massacred by the more closely organized Blackshirts. Constantine led the crowds to sing and drink, drunk the meat forest, and engage in homosexuality. This indicates that this group of gangsters will definitely The fate of retribution. In the scene of "Book Burning", Visconti even spared no effort to render the tension of the scene, deliberately seeking work, showing that this humanitarian artist hates evil forces. In fact, this film is the same as Visconti's other works, his intention is to explore life. He tried to reveal the source of the alienation of human nature through the tragedy of killing each other by members of the Esenbek family.
Soon after Mussolini’s fall, Visconti once said: “The reason why I want to make a movie is first of all because I am eager to tell the world some real people and things, but my purpose is not to narrate these events themselves. It is to analyze the real reasons for the decline of these people." He believes that only works that explore life are real art. Because "human beings' most common actions, feelings and instinctive reactions can bring poetry or cause tremors to the surrounding things." He said: "Only people can rule the picture. The atmosphere and his emotional power created by him give the picture endless vitality and give it a three-dimensional space. The moment a person disappears from the bright picture, it will cause Everything around him turned into a lifeless still life painting." It is for this reason that Visconti filmed "The Cursed Man."
The most violent dark years in human history are those of European countries under Hitler's fascist rule; the most intimate relationship between people is that of parents and children, husbands and wives; children’s attachment to their mothers is hardly more than love. Martin Esenbeck with a deep maternal complex. If such a person can perform the tragedy of rape and murder of the biological mother, it should be said that the alienation of human nature has reached its limit. Visconti puts the characters under his camera in the most extreme environment, allowing them to love, hate, fight, and fight with each other, and explore the ills of mankind-why the desire for power and the desire for dominance sink, annihilate, and change human nature. Become an irrational devil and murderer. The external cause of the alienation of human nature is often an opportunity provided by evil forces. Nazi Germany created the best conditions for the alienation of Sophie and Martin.
The director's shots stopped on the executive chair of the company's president many times. After the violent death of the steel king, the sinister and vicious Frederick, the unbelievable Constantine, the ambitious Sophie, the treacherous and cunning behind-the-scenes manipulator Ashenbach and the sexually perverted young master Martin all coveted this. throne. This symbol of power seems to be a magic chair. As long as anyone sits on it, the heart will be murdered, the humanity will be lost, and the animal will be attacked. For it, Frederick did not hesitate to inform relatives and friends, kill people with the knife, kill the old owner and his benefactor Constantine; for it, Martin frantically poisoned his biological mother and stepfather; for it, he was worried that Huber would fall behind when he returns to the company. Sophie, in collusion with Ashenbach, throws Herbert's wife and children into the cell. Visconti tried to warn the world through this film: the vicious expansion of personal domination will inevitably produce dictatorship, and the root of the numerous crimes of fascism's extermination of humanity is the desire to dominate the world.
Visconti’s late works often reveal a negative and decadent mood. This is because he has found a human disease, but suffering from no cure for the world, he can only utter a few screams from a fallen aristocracy.
Visconti, under the tutelage of Jean Renoir, has some of the characteristics of French films in his early works, but it is difficult to find traces of French films in this "The Cursed Man". Some people criticized his film for its dramatic tendency, saying that "Rocco and His Brothers" and this film are full of Greek tragedy. Visconti responded to this: “It’s not a golden rule that movies must avoid dramatization. Thinking about the films of our father and grandfather Mérieux, you will understand: any art can be used for reference. The important thing is that your work is important to life. How deep is the inquiry, whether your film contains poetry."
One of the reasons why Visconti is recognized as a world film master is that he can constantly surpass himself and constantly explore new means of expression, instead of imprisoning himself in a specific mode of expression like some directors. Cold meals, can no longer bring new things to the audience. Although this late-blooming director has only made more than a dozen films, each film is the culmination of his new exploration, so almost every one of his films has become a masterpiece.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the actor Dick Bogart who played Frederick, the world-famous international movie star, was born in London, England in 1921 and has made no fewer than 100 films in various countries around the world. Although he has written books and published more than a dozen best-selling novels in the past 12 years, he was a household name in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. What is quite interesting is that in March 1992, he accepted the invitation of French director Bertrand Tavernier to come out again and relive his former glory in the film "Nostalgic Dad". In the past, he has portrayed countless images of different personalities in the immortal works of many famous directors, such as the old writer Claude Langham in Aaron Renai's "Mandate of Heaven", and Visconti's "Death to Death". The old musician Gustav in Venice, the former Nazi concentration camp medic Max in Cavani’s The Gatekeeper of the Night, etc.
In this film, he vividly shows the protagonist Frederick's mentality before and after taking the leadership of the company. At the beginning of the film, Ashinback urged him to act decisively in the car, and his eyes flashed with worry and hesitation when trying to seize power. Upon entering the concert hall, when Ashenbach mentioned that "maybe tonight is the best time", the moment he reached out and pushed the door, his expression seemed so panic and ambiguous, which was unpredictable. When lying in bed with Sophie conspiring on a plan to control power, that smug air showed his true state of mind at the moment. When the young master Martin announced that he would take over as the president of the company, on the one hand, he looked like a concubine to the violent death of the old master, and on the other hand, he showed that he was ordered in distress and had to obey. After the power was held, he sat in the main seat of the dining table with full jeopardy. Before speaking, he struck the table three times, and the majestic aura was uncontrollable. The domineering and domineering demeanor when he snarled at Martin who was leaving was no different from a tyrant. Before committing suicide by poisoning, he knew that he was helpless, but he pretended to be calm, without losing his general demeanor. There are so many subtexts in his faint smile, and his no-exaggerated, click-to-stop actions leave unlimited room for imagination. The success of this film is inseparable from his outstanding performance.
Dick Bogart, who is of Dutch descent, his mother is Spanish, who has lived in England for a long time and speaks fluent French, is an actor and a screenwriter, a writer and a reporter, and he can paint a good picture. He has held two solo exhibitions. A talented actor with extremely high cultural literacy and versatility. He does not aspire to be the number one star in the world, but hopes to be the person with the most perfect film acting skills. It should be said that he has fulfilled his wish. The star career has brought him a lot of distress. Bogar likes to play roles in philosophical dramas, but when he takes the stage, London girls stand up and shout to him: "Dick, you are so handsome, I Love you!” As a result, the theater was messed up. During the tour of Anui's play "Yechabel", the audience and his fans surrounded the theater and shouted his name hysterically until the police came out to intervene. , He was able to get out. Because he didn't want to cause trouble to his colleagues, he reluctantly said goodbye to stage life.
In "The Cursed Man" (formerly known as "The Macbeth of the Kluber Family"), Sophie is obviously the central character, so the main lens is often directed at Ingrid Doolin, leaving it to Dick · Bogart is often back. Although Visconti said that this is the most beautiful back figure ever seen in film history, Bogart is still brooding. In order to compensate for this shortcoming, Visconti said to him: "I want to give you a small gift." This gift is "Dead in Venice" filmed two years later.
View more about The Damned reviews
