"Four Seasons Merchant" is a feature film directed and written by Fassbender. The film is based on the background of the German "economic miracle" and tells the unfortunate life experience of fruit vendor Hans, showing the absurdity and nothingness of reality. This film reflects the inner thoughts that people generally have, and the special story background resonates even more with Germans.
1. Character creation and analysis
(1) bitter gourd - Hans
The protagonist Hans in the film is a man full of depression, whether it is his clothes or his words and actions, all of which show his sullenness. At the beginning of the film, as soon as he returned home from the army, he was scolded by his mother, but he still wanted to prove himself, so he became a fruit vendor to support himself. Beside the light green truckload of fruits, Hans looked introverted and repressed in a blue plaid shirt, and the open button of his shirt vaguely showed his desire for love. The sound of his shouting downstairs kills two birds with one stone. He is hawking and signaling his first love. Hans, who stood in front of the door of first love, was in the bright part surrounded by a lot of dark parts. The black color was his closed heart, and the first love standing in the open door was the light he longed for. But this beam of light could not resist the helplessness of reality, and Hans could only leave with regret. Hans was an alcoholic, and even if he was a poor drinker, he used it to relieve his worries. After every unpleasant encounter with his wife, he only dared to rush into the tavern to ask for a glass of wine and swallow his bitterness. In his spare time, he still called the wine and meat brothers to brag about his past at the wine table, and while talking, he returned to reality. Hans has been shrouded in the shadow of his mother since he was a child. It is his habit to be obedient, but he is unconvinced. He can only use alcohol to strengthen his courage. Both of Hans' emotional outbursts in the film are under the influence of alcohol. Once his wife found a pub and persuaded him to go home. Just after returning to reality from the memory of being fired, he picked up a chair and threw it at his wife. Once again, he came home from the pub and wanted to make out with his wife, but was rejected. Hans beat his wife violently with alcohol. Hans's death was also due to alcohol. He knew that he had a heart disease and was not suitable for drinking, but he finally drank a few drinks and sent himself into the coffin. For Hans, the pressure of life is so heavy that it cannot be relieved or vented. The rejection of his first love, the derailment of his wife and neighbors, the dissatisfaction of his mother... The pressure of emotion and career interacts, and suicide may be the best destination for this honest middle-aged man.
In addition to his wife's infidelity, the cause of Hans' tragedy was also his mother's contempt. Hans's mother was a decent woman, and it was evident from her dress that she did not belong to the class of fruit vendors. It is precisely because of this that Hans' mother always hopes that Hans will study hard and not do those jobs that make his hands dirty. Hans' mother wanted not only a decent life for herself, but also a decent life for her son. Among the children under the mother's knees, only Hans seems to be living at the bottom of the society. Perhaps this is the reason why the mother preaches to Hans all the time, and it is also the reason why Hans is under pressure. If Hans is a good guy, but he's drinking, domestic violence, and entangled with his lover, he's not a thoroughly good guy. If Hans is a bad person, he spends every day selling fruit to support his family, and sincerely apologizes for his mistakes after sobering up. Hans's good and evil are not limited to the polarities of black and white. Like people in our lives, he has some shortcomings, but they will not make people hate him.
(2) Disappointed Red Apricot - Ilmgart
Hans's wife, Ilmgart, appears as a weakling throughout the first half of the film. As a wife, she endured her husband's drinking and beatings all day long, and watched her husband and old lover flirt with each other. But she is not a silent weakling, she has sprouting feelings in her heart. The men at home treated her badly, and men outside wanted to enter her sight and body. At first, Ilmgart refused Anzel's asking price. She walked past the window full of wedding models and furniture, as if she was still expecting to return to a beautiful married life with Hans. At dinner time, Hans did not return. The beige walls and yellow decorations showed the emptiness of life and the anger of his wife. The ticking clock made his wife's heart even more anxious. As the days passed, Hans did not get back on track, and Ilmgart gradually gave up seeking consolation from Hans. Until the day Hans fainted from a heart attack, Ilmgart completely gave up on Hans emotionally and physically, and she turned to another man for comfort. As lover, Anzel first entered the heart and body of Ilmgart, and then entered Hans's family. Hans's house gradually collapsed in this way.
2. Director's Perspective - Scene Scheduling
The director shows the status and emotional relationship between the characters by arranging the position of the actors in the shot and the scheduling of the camera, and uses visual means to express the process of Hans's journey from disappointment to despair and finally to death. In this film, the characters in the picture are often placed in the center of the camera frame, which is full of classical film atmosphere. The character placed in the center of the picture dominates the entire composition and is the director's means of emphasizing the importance of the character to the audience. For example, when Hans first appeared to sell fruits downstairs, he shot a single shot of Hans' wife and his first love in medium shots (Figure 1, Figure 2). area, showing an invisible confrontation. It also hints that these two women will have a major influence on the protagonist Hans. Sure enough, the wife is the catalyst for Hans to despair, and the lover is Hans's only hope on the way to despair.
The film also uses echoing shots to show the changes in the status of the characters. For example, in Figure 3, Hans sits in the main seat and faces the camera. As a hired Anzel, he only shows his side face, indicating the status of Hans' master. In Figure 4, the position of the master is occupied by Harry, Hans is facing away from the camera, and his face in the picture is very small, and it is blocked by other characters, indicating that his position is being replaced by others. This character relationship is clearly pointed out at the end of the film, when his wife asked Harry if he would marry her, and Harry readily agreed.
The director also conveys emotion directly by letting the characters look directly at the camera, and the actors who look directly at the camera look directly at the camera.
Taking the audience as the first recipient of emotion, let the audience experience the emotion before other characters in the film. For example, the close-up of Ilmgart's face in Figures 5 and 6 makes her face occupy a large area of the screen, and her emotions are magnified and conveyed.
3. Conclusion
"Four Seasons Merchant" belongs to Fassbender's early works. In this film, it shows the director's simple, real and smooth style, and expresses the life of little people under a special economic background. Through the life experiences of the little people, it reflects the sense of emptiness and loneliness shared by people in the times, and creates conflicts in the trivial things of life, which resonates with people.
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