Most of the time, the encounter with a good movie is a long-awaited one. And this movie is not in the plan, so there are more surprises than being moved. Because I haven't seen any pre-promotion or trailer, I don't have any preconceived expectations for this movie. So unprepared to be pulled into the beginning of the new year in 1856, a woman's voice calmly described that the washed potatoes immediately formed thin ice, and the new year started with almost no expectations. Fate is coming.
This movie is something that I will never forget, surpassing all the past masterpieces in my heart. It's love and not just a love story, trying to convey such a complex message in less than two hours. After watching the movie, I watched the press conference at the Venice Film Festival in September 2020 on YouTube, as well as a series of online interviews after the movie was released. I wanted to try to briefly discuss my own feelings based on the conversations of the actors.
This is a very literary film, the narration and lines are so beautiful and moving, it's more like a drama. Relying on these words, the stage is constructed in a solitary farm in the Romanian forest. Katherine Waterston said the voiceover was the part of the script that attracted her in the first place. This form requires a high degree of control. On the one hand, it can reveal the inner activities of the characters to supplement the plot and promote the plot, but also pay attention not to over-display. They recorded voiceovers as they filmed, doing their best to ensure that each voiceover was deeply embedded in each frame.
Abigail and Tallie are very different. Abigail is like her voice-over, still water is deep and inclusive. Whether it was Dyer or Tallie, she did what she could to give. The contradiction between Abigail and Dyer is that no matter how hard they try, the gap is always there, unable to connect with each other spiritually, just like Dyer would never buy Abigail the map she wanted (but not practical and impractical). Tallie is light and heat, her arrival has injected life into Abigail, and those emotional and spiritual needs will no longer grow carefully in a small space. Is there anything more exciting in the world than this?
Like Katherine said: You feel things in a person that you have never felt before, and the other person feels the same way about you.
The scene of their first kiss cannot be overstated, those details can be taken out and analyzed forever. As soon as Tallie entered the door, he sat directly in the owner's chair, as if declaring his sovereignty (in fact, because Vanessa had a broken foot on the set and couldn't stand or walk for a long time). Tallie retreated at the last moment of temptation, but Abigail changed from passive to active. Katherine made Abigail a thoughtful person, leaning over when kissing, so high that she could look him in the eye. Abigail said that Tallie smelled like little biscuits, what did the biscuits taste like? It's sweet and warm butter, milk and sugar. It's the smell of a wife, it's home.
Katherine Waterston is definitely the best actor to play Abigail, bar none. Apparently the producers think so too. She will be able to play broken and tough so beautifully. Katherine mentioned in multiple interviews that the script was picked up while she was pregnant, and she's grateful they gave her time to wait until she had a baby. She said that a good script and director are what every actor wants, and this script will not give people time to hesitate. She read the first voiceover and decided to act. The voiceover was not cut into the feature film, and Katherine recited many times in the interview: At night I often wonder if those who have been my intimates have found me to be a steep hill whose view does not repay the ascent. Wonder if those who are close to me will find me to be a steep mountain that is not worth the risk of climbing.) Katherine was thinking that this woman was not thinking "what did I get out of life" at night, but It's "what do I offer others". It took about two years from getting the script to the start of filming. She said that it was a rare opportunity for an actor to spend such a long time coexisting with a character. I think she was pregnant at that time, and she had to prepare for a role who had just experienced the pain of losing her daughter. These feelings were not something that ordinary people could understand, let alone perform. It is not difficult to see that Katherine really loves this story. Not only does she often quote lines from the movie in interviews, she also mentioned in the interview that this is the first film she will often revisit the script after filming.
Vanessa Kirby is Katherine's first choice for Tallie, she said, we don't even know who we can go to if Vanessa refuses, thank her for taking the role. The production team made Tallie appear in the image of red hair. I think it really fits the role, because red hair is more dazzling than blonde hair. It is like a flame, which can not only provide warmth in winter, but also burn all restraints.
Another valuable thing about this movie is that the supporting actors are all excellent, especially Casey who is indeed the better actor in the Affleck family!
Here's a snippet of an interview, but it's enough to show what kind of emotion Katherine pours into this character.
Katherine read Anne Lister's diary (yes, the historical archetype of Gentleman Jack) in preparation for the role. She also spoke of reading a collection of correspondence between two women in the early nineteenth century, saying that they made the night of their first intimacy their wedding night.
Katherine said: "They were obviously living in a world where it was impossible for them to actually get married, but that idea was always on my mind while filming the film. I kept thinking about the stories I read that helped me shape the characters. (to Vanessa) I don't think I ever told you, but I would like, when I'm feeling like the surge of love in a scene, I would think I marry you, I marry you. This idea that like, IT CAN not do the I, the I CAN but feel IT, IT Inside the Choose the I CAN. (I think I have not told you, but I think that, when I feel the love in a story can not be suppressed when, I would think, I'm marrying you, I'm marrying you. That feeling is, I can't do that, but I can feel that way, and I can choose that way in my heart.)
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As we all know, chemical reactions can not be forced, either have or not. Need more to say about the chemistry between Katherine and Vanessa?
#venice film festival media meeting
Vanessa: She's easy to love.
Katherine: You too baby.
#interview
Katherine: I'm an old fashioned person who writes letters and postcards a lot.
Vanessa: You only wrote to me last week.
In the 19th century the film was set in, women were subordinates of men, they were married off before their bodies were fully grown, they could not receive education, they were just a caregiver day after day, and only when they bought a dress for themselves. Will have a presence in my husband's journal. Each era has its own limitations. Fortunately, no matter what era, there are always some people who don't follow the rules and try to break this limitation. So step by step, women are no longer affiliated, they begin to receive education, they can love people, they can own and realize their dreams. With all of the many options available today, there were women in the not-so-distant past who said no to the grey options.
As Abigail said: I often wonder at the courage and the resourcefulness of those women. Imagine faring forth into a wildness, hoping to build the foundations of a home. Among them, expect to build a home.)
Finally, back to the title The World to Come, which perhaps somehow echoes the imaginary world Abigail describes in his diary at the end of the film. A world where she lives elsewhere with Tallie and her daughter Nellie, who wears Tallie's scorching red hair, a world where they have the choice to live the life they want without being trapped in a cage Sing, and will no longer be separated by time, distance and death.
I am also looking forward to this coming world. Until then.
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