It was read somewhere that man is the sum of his past experiences. Keweihe, who is a major in philosophy, clearly understands this. He does not mechanically organize the narration of the whole film in chronological order, but constantly uses flexible "jumps" and "flashbacks" to free himself in his personal history. Shuttle, at any time, capture relevant fragments of his inner world and personal experience to present to the audience, so as to select an inner line from the seemingly loose and fragmented fragments, so that the audience can accept the same amount of information. The surly protagonist builds a deeper understanding and identity.
For example, at the beginning of the film, the director directly brought the audience to the "now" (a stable origin of time and space), and the well-dressed protagonist spoke directly to the camera, briefly explaining his past emotional experience and current situation to the audience. (Divorced twice, newly married soon, and has overcome the problem of "sex addiction" that endangered marriage), the theme of the film is pointed out in a few words. Then, with the phrase "I started attending these 'Sex Addiction Rehabilitation Mutual Aid Associations' about 10 years ago," the protagonist deftly tossed the narrative thread to the "Sex Addiction Rehabilitation Mutual Aid Society" scene, where the protagonist said to a group of fellow sympathizers Started his first experience of being troubled by sex addiction: "When it comes to me, everything starts from Paris 7 years ago." Immediately, the camera flashes back to the streets of Paris in 1984 (from this we can infer that the "present" as the origin of time and space is about 2001), we see that the protagonist meets a prostitute on the street, and the protagonist's narration reminds us : The prostitute looks exactly like her wife. In order to introduce his wife to the audience, the camera flashes back to the scene of the protagonist and his wife arguing violently, allowing the audience to witness their estrangement. The narrator tells us that his wife is not his true love, so this new topic grabs the right to speak again, and the picture turns to the sweet time between the protagonist and the first lover. It seems that in order to "make things clear", the director breaks the stubbornness of the casserole to ask the end, and leads the audience to trot-like tight pace, constantly retracing their earlier life segments (even until childhood), this method is like Just like the "continuous jump" in checkers, it makes the audience go farther and farther in dizzying excitement. After going around in circles, when the film returns to the scene on the streets of Paris in 1984, because we have a deep understanding of the protagonist's personal history and the abrupt and bizarre germination of the protagonist's sex addiction, we have been able to peacefully, viewed rationally.
As a sex-themed film, what keeps the audience from being overly attracted to, or disgusted by, the film's pornography? Still has to do with the narrative strategy adopted by the writer/director. In the face of the temptation of pornography, the protagonist of the film often shows a stupid look that is dull, has no self-control, and is addicted to it. On the contrary, it makes the audience eliminate the sense of substitution and subconsciously maintain a certain psychological distance from it. What's more, when the protagonist actually takes some outrageous practical actions, what he gets is often not satisfaction, but some unhappiness and trouble. In addition to laughing, the audience will be aroused by the "misfortune" of this little man - an emotion more noble than temptation.
There is a saying that men are described as animals who only think with their lower bodies, and the protagonist of this film is obviously not included in this list. In fact, he has been trying his best to expel "prostitute obsession" from his "system", and most of the film is devoted to the boycott of the upper body, although some of the boycotts are anachronistic and comical, such as speaking to his girlfriend. Repeatedly recounting the attractiveness of strange women, and asking prostitutes for prices day and night, etc. These strategies are often futile and sometimes counterproductive. After his relationship with his third girlfriend broke up, he finally made a profound and thorough reflection, so that he could return from his lost path, rehabilitate his wrongdoing, and find a long-term emotional destination gratifyingly.
As an author's film, one of the distinguishing features of this film is that the writer and director Keweihe often escapes the identity of the "player" and directly expresses his views to the audience in front of the screen. Therefore, in addition to the progress of the plot itself, the director can freely talk about his early experience, outline the outline of the zeitgeist (existential philosophy, Vietnam War, performance art, drugs and sexual liberation are all involved in the film), and even talk about it. Some of the filming work of this film has been explained, and the aesthetic space limited to personal emotions has been extended to the social and artistic level, which greatly enriches the connotation and taste of the film, and also brings intellectual pleasure to the audience.
Since this film does not rely on dramatic and story-based conflicts to attract audiences, or sensationalism to gain sympathy, it uses emotional trauma and reflections on the ups and downs of life to move our emotions and thoughts, which requires the director Use figurative, vivid and powerful film language to describe abstract and difficult to convey thoughts and feelings. The director has done this quite successfully. The slide show of the two people taking pictures together is full of romance and sweetness in love; the animation with rough brushstrokes intuitively and lively interprets the movie script, emotional entanglement, etc., either monotonous or complex. things. The hard work of the director himself is also commendable, credibly creating a dull, powerless, swaying little character. It is also worth mentioning that the writer and director practiced the new wave of film aesthetics with the shooting of this film (there is also a tribute to Godard in the film): use a small amount of funds, select non-professional actors, live-action shooting, protagonist setting For the confused fringe, not winning by drama, strong author consciousness, etc.
In this post-modern comedy, although funny and humorous throughout, what is more valuable is that the same weight of calmness and rationality, as well as strong sadness, more powerfully convey to us the different life situation in the The feeling of emptiness makes us feel the same, and it is difficult to let go.
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