I don't think so. If the purpose is to make an "epic" historical film or a "return to the past" pastoral film, it is a way to be dramatic in details and give distance in character creation, but epic films need conflicting plots , Pastoral needs to have deep thinking, so that the audience will not lose the story and lose the characters while returning to that era. And Mrs. Lafayette's short stories are definitely not a good choice.
Madame Lafayette, has a pivotal position in the history of French literature - no less than Hugo Balzac and others. Even in the opinion of the teacher of the Sorbonne culture class, we may not read Hugo's poems or Stendhal's novels, but there are two works that must be read absolutely - Molière's drama and Madame Lafayette's novel, the former The father of French drama, the pioneer of French fiction.
However, in terms of literary value, these two "must read" works are far from the same level. Molière's plays for the common people are still being staged today, but "Lafayette's novels" used for entertainment in the upper social salons have become a way of expression, just as we Chinese say "Qiong Yao Opera"—— If there is a beautifully written novel about a young woman who sees a flower and a flat tire while driving, she has won the admiration of almost all the males in the book, but because of her identity and historical background, she has to struggle in a happy marriage Between the ardent love, it is so painful that it will be called "Lafayette's novel" in modern France.
Because of his own growth environment, Lafayette knows nothing about the life of civilians, so he will only describe some arrogant women who are full of food and have nothing to do all day long and have to use love to toss themselves, except for "the tragedy created by the character's personality and historical environment" This kind of tone is quite interesting, and it is difficult to say that there is any profound ideological realm. Generally speaking, these novels are mostly pale and superficial works used to pass the time.
On the other hand, it is precisely because this lady is from a famous family and is familiar with the French court, the living habits of the upper class and some images of the royal family described by her are of considerable documentary value. Furthermore, in the era in which this lady lived, as the first modern novelist, the heroines in her writings had a hint of feminism in their buds. They carried out their missions in the torrent of history, and in the turbulent emotions. They questioned their own situation in front of them, and they focused more on their inner world, looking for their own position to decide the reason they want to go, compared to the idols who are still dying to win the love of a certain man on Chinese TV screens today. The heroine of the play is more modern and independent.
The struggle between the character's inner reason and emotion, responsibility and freedom is the main conflict that runs through several of this lady's novels. Focusing on the struggle between these well-educated noble ladies and sons facing the responsibilities of the family and even the country and the tormented feelings in their hearts, Mrs. Lafayette has done a lot of detailed descriptions of psychological activities, and the background of environmental factors has also become a future generation. An example of a "psychological novel".
To sum up, in her era, the importance of this lady to French and even European literature is beyond doubt. However, nowadays, when free love has become a mainstream, when modern women have sufficient self-awareness and independence, it is no less difficult to adapt this lady's short story than to adapt Lust and Caution (the original work La. The length of the princesse de Montpensier is also similar to that of Lust and Caution). And the core problem that needs to be solved first is to let the audience understand the motivation of the protagonist.
As two films that intend to "restore that era", this film and "Lust, Caution" can be described as faithful and meticulous in terms of historical restoration. Just as audiences in China and even the United States were amazed by Tang Wei's armpit hair, modern French audiences also reacted greatly to the "wedding night ceremony" of the aristocrats of that era. This film is very interesting to show the audience the living habits of the people at that time-how masters and servants rested, what staple foods were eaten, how to handle personal hygiene (such as scraping tongue coating), how to cure diseases (bloodletting), lords from all over France and the royal family of Paris The relationship between them, what do noble women do when they are idle at home, how can noble men fight for no reason, and so on, in addition to clothing and architecture, there is no need to pay attention to everything. If someone knows about the religious wars in France and is interested in the life of the French upper class at that time, this is a good entertaining film.
But back to the question of "motivation", this film is far from the preparation and management of the script of "Lust and Caution".
It also adopts a female perspective, with women as the absolute protagonists, and records the growth process of a woman from a simple ignorant girl full of infinite beautiful possibilities to a young mature girl who has experienced changes in the world. In Lust, Caution, all the stories revolve around Wang Jiazhi. , we saw that every step she took was the same despair and tension she experienced, resonated with her and finally understood her decision, otherwise the story of "a spy assassinated a traitor and fell in love with himself" would seem cliché, it's a brewing process.
The film is based on the role of Lambert, the screenwriter's purpose may be to first introduce the background of the film. But the reality is that if you don't know the audience of Madame Lafayette, it's easy to misunderstand him as the first protagonist, and try to cut into the movie from his point of view (human nature, preconceived). And Mélanie Thierry, regardless of whether her appearance conforms to the "classical aesthetics", her presence or aura is not enough to pull the audience's attention back from Lambert Wilson's hand - two young supporting actors The actors didn't help either (Raphaël Personnaz in Duc d'Anjou did a good job), so other than ending the story in her voice to show that it was a "her" story, the whole The film's conflict center feels not at all in the heroine's inner changes, but in Lambert's psychological activities.
Of course, this part of the director is also responsible. Compared with the conflict between the character's heart and the character, the director is obviously more obsessed with taking every opportunity to show the social scene at that time. So all interpretations, all tensions, disappear outside of these "representations". Why did Lambert fall in love with Mélanie, how self-destructive Mélanie was about Gaspard, what kind of love existed between Grégoire and Mélanie other than husband and wife, etc... Grégoire went to war - according to the original book Say, for two years, Mélanie's loneliness, the contact between her and Lambert, if you give a little space and time to create some moment, it won't be when Lambert says je vous aime Startled. The lack of these moments also hinders the heroine's growth. If she has not read the novel, it is easy to think that she is just the nympho girl from the beginning until the end of the movie. Why did she agree to marry her later husband - this is the old An important moment in Lord Buddha's novels is the moment when reason suppresses feelings, why is she connected with her former lover later, what is she thinking about... The audience is always at a loss.
So this becomes "A and B are in love, but A is married to C, C is hostile to B because he loves A deeply, and at the same time D and E fall in love with A without asking for anything in return", such a cliché, Lost the tension of Lafayette's psychological description, lost the growth of the characters, and only retained the weakest and paleest part of Lafayette's novels - boring love stories and tangled character relationships. There are Qiong Yao films in China, idol dramas in South Korea, and Twilight in the United States. There is no shortage of such stories in the world and at any time.
PS: Recommended for students who are interested in this history during the French Catholic vs Huguenot War of Religion
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