When I first saw the movie, I was often surprised by how close Brandon and Sissi were in the camera, and I felt that the film was describing the intricate relationship between siblings.
But after watching the movie, I found that this is not a story about the relationship between brothers and sisters, but a story about self-help.
[One, two sides of one body]
1.
Sissi is Brandon's contrast: Brandon has a house, a job, and a regular life; while Sissi has no fixed job and residence, and her life is chaotic. Brandon locks his heart and has no ability to establish long-term emotional relationships with others. He can only experience his own existence through sex; while Sissi is constantly giving affection in relationships with others, even to one-night stand objects. To call again and again, trying to build a relationship.
However, although they look very different on the surface, the two can't help himself / herself (the words Brandon accused of his sister in the sofa fight scene), and cannot change this crazy search for sexual vent / crazy relationship life. situation, they are all sinkers in life.
Although Brandon and Sissi are superficially opposite, their living conditions are the same. They are two sides of the same body in life.
2.
Although the living conditions are the same, the narrative status of the two in this film is different.
Sissi almost fell from the sky. We don't know anything about her past. We lack understanding of her psychology. Her existence is like a conceptual piece of paper, whose sole purpose seems to be to form an opposite mirror image of Brandon.
In fact, the film always depicts Sissi's influence on Brandon in fine detail, not the other way around. The two quarreled on the sofa for the last time, and many of the words in it were crucial. Sissy said I'm trying to help you. It was. From the first appearance to the final suicide, she has been knocking on the door of his locked heart by denying his way of dealing with feelings and showing the difference in the emotional model between the two.
But thinking about it carefully, Sissy never made any conscious actions to help his brother, and her influence on Brandon was achieved entirely by stimulating Brandon's self-reflection. So Sissi's very existence can be read as a symbol of Brandon's self-reflection.
If the film depicts the disease of modern people's inability to love, then Sissi is the alter ego of Brandon, the patient's hope of "self-rescue" through reflection in the modern society. The conflict between Brandon and Sissi is also the conflict between indulgence and salvation in Brandon himself.
Brandon and Sissi are two sides of the same coin: indulgence and salvation.
3.
In fact, there are many hints in the language of the film to this kind of two sides. Every time they are together is worth pondering.
1) The
title is wonderful. Cut several clips together: A. Brandon wakes up in bed in the morning to hear Sissy's message; B. hooks up a woman on the subway; C. hired a prostitute at home the night before to roll the sheets. The suspense is formed through the clip of ABCABCAB: Why does Brandon wake up feeling empty? Why did he seduce that woman on the subway? And gave the answer: Brandon is an office worker who indulges in sexual desire, but this indulgence does not make him happy, but makes him empty.
The only unanswered question in this opening is a woman's phone message. She kept calling Brandon's name on the phone, and Brandon ignored the phone as it kept ringing.
What is the relationship between this woman and Brandon? Will she make any difference to Brandon's lustful and empty state of life?
Looking back at Sissi's appearance after the movie, it's almost as abstract and explicit as the definition:
Brandon wakes up after a one-night stand, the curtains are drawn, and the light comes through the window into the darkroom. (Segment A.) And the next scene in Fragment A is Sissy's phone ringing. There seems to be some kind of correspondence between light and telephone.
When the phone message rang, the camera was in a fixed camera position, and the picture was centered on the angle between the two walls. The wall on the right was sunk into darkness, and the wall on the left was bathed in sunlight. Brandon came out from the dark side of the wall, behind which was a bedroom with an atmosphere of indulgence; and the answering machine on the light side of the wall was also a symbol of Sissi's salvation of that side.
I just can't think of a picture that is more in line with the literal meaning of "one body, two sides" than this two-wall design.
Sissi is the white light shining in from outside the curtain in the first picture, and there is not much warm color in this cold blue atmosphere. But it's dazzling. Brandon, like a beast living in darkness for many years, is about to lose his comfort in this white light, glimpse his own ugliness, and struggle to change himself.
In this shot, Brandon turns between the light and dark walls, with Sissi repeating, "Pick up", "Pick up"; "Brandon", "Brandon", as if to lift him from indulgence wake up. In the end, Brandon walked into the bathroom behind the dark wall, and closed the door to the camera and Sissi. This represents his initial unthinking resistance to salvation.
2) When
Sissi and Brandon are together, there is always a mirror - the most classic prop for self-examination, self-splitting, and similarity between individuals.
At the beginning of the film, Brandon ignores Sissi's initial phone message. He masturbates in the shower room. In this shot, two symmetrical shadows appear on the glass door. This may be seen as a harbinger of the imminent emergence of another self.
Sissi's first appearance is more interesting. Brandon thinks there is a thief, breaks into the bathroom, and finds that it is Sissi. Such a thrilling rhythm does not use front and back or Brandon's subjective lens. The way to deal with it is that there is a big mirror in the picture. Without Qian Qian's physical body, Qian Qian, who fell from the sky, almost doesn't feel like a real existence. But Brandon and Sissi appear face to face in the mirror, creating a mirror-image effect.
Later, Cissy catches Brandon masturbating in the bathroom, and they both appear in the mirror at the same time.
There are so many mirror doubles that there are none of the scenes where Brandon has sex with other women. This symbolizes that Brandon and Sissi are two sides of the same body.
3)
The scene where Brandon and Sissi are together is also the only couple of close-ups in the film. And basically the composition is symmetrical, it is easy to feel the equal relationship between the two.
Once at the station (to complain that Miss Mulligan's height in high heels is basically the same as that of the French shark, which just forms a sense of symmetry). At the station Brandon really begins to feel relieved that Sissi is here, and puts her hat on his head. This symbolic action can be seen as he begins to accept the influence of Sissi.
Another time, in front of the TV, in a close-up shot, the pair's symmetrical faces are unusually close to each other. They lash out at each other, and the character traits they accuse manifest themselves in opposite ways, with Sissi being Brandon's opposite reference.
[Second, rescue and failure]
1. As
mentioned above, Sissi's rescue of Brandon was achieved by showing the difference between the two in handling feelings, by denying his behavior, and by stimulating his self-reflection. .
Sissi's criticism of Brandon was revealed when she showed up. Indulgent as Brandon is, his home remains a private space, a shell of his own, with whom he maintains strangers, or merely interests, with whomever he sleeps.
However, Sissi used the key to open the door of his house and regarded it as her own, especially as she unscrupulously asked for Brandon's affection. The song she plays in the shower, repeating "I want your love" over and over again, is proof.
Her breakup phone call with her boyfriend showed that she was completely the opposite of Brandon and could give everything for the sake of love. "I don't want anybody else. I love you." "I'll do anything. I'll do anything."
She scolded Brandon: "I haven't heard from you since I left last time. That's sad."
"You think it's great that you have a job and an apartment? Your apartment is just a piece of shit, and you have no one to rely on. You only have me and your perverted boss."
The reason why Brandon can listen is because he still has a noble and vulnerable side in his heart, so he will reflect. He would open the door for the old lady at the door of the building, he would listen to classical music when he got home, he would cry and feel a little embarrassed about his reaction when he heard his sister sing "New York New York", and he also longed to go to the 1960s to be a musician. It is precisely because of this that this character is not so disgusting to the audience, and the audience will care about whether his road to self-redemption is successful.
2.
Sissi's influence on Brandon has a changing process.
1)
The arrival of his sister made him very unnatural at first.
He was stunned when he saw Sissi's naked body in the bathroom, and when he came out to see the scarf she had thrown on the ground, Brandon smelled it hesitantly. I'm inclined to understand that it's not lust, but Brandon's surprise that the presence of such a living female body in his apartment can mean not just eroticism, but emotional connection to him. I guess he hasn't felt this way for a long time. Hearing Sissy's heartbroken breakup call that night also touched Brandon.
He felt from the beginning that Sissi would force him to change. Salvation, though noble, would destroy the pattern of life he had formed. So he was reluctant to accept Sissi.
2)
Start accepting that Sissy is at the subway station.
Qian Qian stood on the edge of the platform, looking attracted by the idea of suicide. Brandon quickly pulled her back. "Stop fucking around." Her extreme performance made it too late for Brandon to give himself an order to avoid Sissi, and an instinctive concern dominated. This kind of instinct is actually the instinct that he is unwilling to let his conscience be wiped out in the indulgence and depravity.
Sissi responded to his concern. A stray hair was plucked from his shoulder. The two people's unexpected mutual concern makes Brandon's defense line fall. He put Sissi's red hat on his head, indicating that he began to accept Sissi's influence.
Sissi's singing really touched him. Sissi sings, "I wanna be a part of it." "I wanna...find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap." "These Vagabond shoes are longing to stray." This is probably their dream . (The lines in the film mention that the two siblings are Irish immigrants from New Jersey.) Embrace the city, sip on the nectar of life, stand out, and don't be afraid to embark on the journey... but they are now reduced to this. One has no fixed job and home and is always abandoned by his lover; one is alone and can only communicate with others through sex. Sissi is inviting Brandon to regain that energetic state of mind, "make a brand new start of it", and then she reminds him, "It's up to you."
3)
What stimulates Brandon to reflect the most is his sister One night stand with my boss.
In fact, the boss and Brandon are the same kind of people in a sense. They are looking for mating everywhere, but they are unwilling to give affection. It's just that Brandon is a little more elegant than his boss. Brandon didn't look down on his boss from the bottom of his heart. When the boss approached the beautiful woman in the suit at the bar, he bet with his colleagues that the boss would fuck up, and when quarreling with his sister, he didn't hide at all that he had a family with his boss and still fucked outside. contempt for such behavior.
Therefore, his sister and boss got together and made him feel that Sissi was dirty too. To be more precise, he realized that he was so disgusting that he had been having a one-night stand outside. Realizing this, Brandon's external performance was very irritable. In order to avoid the two of them, he went out for a run, and when he came back, he tore off the sheets in the room and kicked Qian Qian out of the room, who came to rub the quilt.
Lying under the white sheets, we felt that Brandon was pure at the moment.
4) The association
with the company's female staff is Brandon's attempt to change himself.
The first date was a success. "We should do this a few more times," Brandon said, indicating that he hasn't lost his ability to relate to people.
However, it was already a good start, but Qian Qian pressed on. Brandon goes back on a date, masturbates in the bathroom as usual, and is caught by Sissy. Sissi reminded him what kind of shit she was. He's still a poor bastard who finds his presence in sexual venting. Brandon asked Sissy angrily, "Are you fucking spying me?!" He felt that he was being watched morally. He did have a shameful place, and Sissi made him have to look directly. He was ashamed. So he threw away all the yellow books and fell into reflection.
The next day he found the female clerk he had dated last time and hurried to open a room. Hope to change my morbid sexual venting. but failed. He found himself powerless to change his sexuality.
5)
Brandon's failed attempt drives himself into despair over himself. He resented Sissy for making him change. Resentment of this saving power made him sink even deeper.
Hence the extremely long quarrel between the two on the sofa. Qian Qian scolded him for having a job and a house but no one to rely on, and scolding him for emotional incompetence. But he was scolding Qian Qian, why couldn't he use it on himself?
"'Sorry.' That's all you fucking say." - In fact, isn't Brandon only able to say "sorry" to his own sinking but unable to change?
"Some people fuck up all the time." "This isn't working out." - Salvation will not come to fruition. Brandon will go down forever.
"You force me into a corner and you trap me." - In fact, Sissi didn't cause any burden to Brandon in her life. Sissi had mentioned before that she didn't need Brandon's money. Then why is it said that Qian Qian "pitted him", not because Qian Qian tried to save him and "pushed him into a corner"?
"You come in here and you're a weight on me." "You're a burden." "You're just fucking dragging me down." - This kind of rescue is a burden, it just drags me deeper . Although I was sick, I wasn't in such pain.
Brandon's journey to self-rescue encounters an insurmountable setback that plunges his life into deeper trouble. So he again banishes the power of salvation out of the door. He let Sissi go.
6)
Brandon falls into indulgence again, refusing to listen to Sissy's calls. But Sissi used that direct method to win Brandon's attention again.
She committed suicide. The suicide scene was very bright, and the white dress and blood and blonde hair filled the small space of the bathroom. Blonde and red lips dazzled like when Sissy's bar sang "New York New York." Both of these scenes were the ones that touched Brandon the most. Her suicide brought him to the apex of remorse and reflection.
3.
Sissi's suicide didn't have the power to save Brandon in the end.
Brandon's change has never been successful.
Earlier, Sissi's actions like she was about to commit suicide by the subway platform won Brandon's attention. Trying to self-mutilate is the reason why she has been able to walk into Brandon's life again and again. However, every time she tried to influence Brandon, she would not succeed, otherwise she would not end up committing suicide again and again. In the hospital, the numerous cuts on her arm appeared on camera, apparently more than once.
Every time Brandon's road to salvation is a process like this: he resists Sissi's influence at first - Sissi's suicide makes him care about Sissi again - he tries to accept the change brought about by Sissi - change Failing, he starts to hate and avoid Sissi again - Sissi is trying to kill herself again.
In the last scene of the movie, Brandon not only looked at the woman's face on the subway, but also looked at the woman's lower body. He is like a trembling thief, afraid but unable to restrain his desires.
And in the foreseeable future, Qian Qian will also not make real changes. She chose inappropriate objects again and again to put her feelings into, and then was abandoned again and again, and she self-harmed again and again. She also "can't help herself".
It's an endless cycle of indulgence and salvation.
As the quarrel scene in sofa, Sissy authentic bitterly:
"And you'll Come the Back and the then WE'll have have the Just fucking conversation at The Same, Again."
[III] Tucao
what is Tucao a few words. . .
I have been trying to find a little bit of social reasons for this living situation in the film. But it seems that only the beginning of Director Brandon's speech about "viruses" has
anything to do with it : "Cynical people will say: I find you disgusting. I find you inconsolable. I find you invasive. They will say, Can we stop this virus? As if it were negative. But this virus is growing, getting bigger and bigger, with an unstoppable energy. Eventually, that resentment turns into admiration."
This unstoppable "virus" seems It is the metaphor for this inability to love in Brandon. As we said above, the boss and Brandon are actually the same kind of person to some extent. Then this symptom should be some kind of common disease in modern society. The disease develops and spreads like a virus.
And Qian Qian said in the message before committing suicide, "We are not bad people, we are just come from a bad place", which also seems to be pointing the finger at the social environment.
But there are very few such clues. This has the potential to make the film thin.
Brandon's road to salvation is actually very empty. He found that after he didn't hold up in front of the female staff, he ran back and quarreled with his sister. After the quarrel, he went out to indulge.
In fact, this failure was not enough to brew a full ten minutes of Brandon's painful vent scene in the climax. Feeling self-motivated. The director probably liked Fassbender too much, and wanted to see his helpless face and climax expression.
The sibling relationship in the film is also overly formalized. So I say Sissy is almost like a conceptual piece of paper that exists for the sole purpose of being in contrast to Brandon.
Conceptualization should be conceptualized, because the film lacks psychological depth and social breadth, and this conceptualized role has not formed a strong critical force.
Well, above.
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