"The Defendant Nurse" was the 2014 seeded contestant representing the Netherlands for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. As far as my personal viewing experience is concerned, the winners of the best foreign language film at the Oscars in recent years generally have the following commonalities: they have their own set of distinctive lens language; tell a "rebellious" story full of cultural reflection; There is a personal presentation of the social environment of the local non-English speaking region; the video style and narrative content contain some of the artistic traditions familiar to American audiences. Even though I haven't watched the other films in the competition, "Nurse Defendant" should be very competitive by the above standards. Let's start with the story - a
guide for beginners
Because the narration of the story does not aim to let the audience and the characters discover the truth of the facts at the same time, but to show the audience the real process of the whole "insider" incident at the beginning, that is, the audience knows from the beginning of the story that the protagonist is innocent. , all the suspense is centered on making the audience wait for the other characters in the story to find out the truth — which, of course, can basically be thought of as having no suspense. The audience always knows more facts than characters, which means that the director is consciously making a certain distance between the audience and the story itself, trying to make the audience not be "led by the nose" by the storyline, but to be able to reflect more outside the story. The content, for example, that the characters discover themselves in the process of discovering the truth.
And this calm, relatively objective, and distance-filled narrative method will inevitably dissolve the dramatic conflict of the event itself, making the film's rhythm seem protracted. And this kind of length is just like the blank treatment in Chinese traditional paintings. The director hopes that the audience will have time to appreciate the scenery along the road while watching. The prosecutor in the story is watching the life of the accused nurse, and we are watching the whirlpool that the prosecutor is trapped in. We are all spectators, but at the same time, we are all being watched. Both inside and outside the play are life, and the movie should be a kind of mirror. Kam, as each of us has nowhere to hide. It is also a suspenseful movie about doctors and patients. Contemporary audiences who are entertainment-oriented may be more likely to appreciate "Side Effects" with more complicated plots, more clues, and more blurred endings than this movie. But film is not only an industry, but also an art. Indigestible things are often more nutritious. The self-cultivation of the audience is the inner driving force for the development of film art, and my greatest ideal is to become a missionary of film aesthetics. Now, please follow me to uncover the slow-paced veil of "Nurse Defendant", and let's take a look at its inner beauty.
From the perspective of language - the first condition for intermediate film fans to watch the film
in the Oscar for the best foreign language film is to have a unique and systematic film language style. I think the lens language features of "The Defendant Nurse" are mainly reflected in the following two points: 1. The combination of a large number of close-up and close-ups. 2. Rendering of a large number of wide-angle lenses. The director almost relied on these two "masses" to shroud the film in a depressed and distorted atmosphere from beginning to end.
First of all, let's talk about near and special. Since everyone is an intermediate movie fan, I believe everyone will not be unfamiliar with the concept of Jingbei. French art theorist Malraux believes that the invention of the close-up is the rebirth of the film from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. However, a large number of close-up, close-up, and close-up are rarely seen in movies, because this will compress the entire film space very compactly, making people feel depressed and suffocated - this is the visual effect that the director of this film is striving for. Even, he still felt that the extensive use of close-up and close-up was not enough to suppress and close enough, so he often used backlight processing and setting dark foreground to further compress the space inside the figure, making the audience feel as if there were a pair of mysterious characters. The hand stretched out from the darkness and tightly covered the character's mouth and nose, and the air seemed to freeze in the gloom.
Then, let's talk about the wide-angle lens. Du Niang said: The basic characteristics of wide-angle lenses are that the lens has a large viewing angle and a wide field of view. The scope of the scene observed from a certain point of view is much larger than that seen by the human eye at the same point of view; the depth of field is long, which can show a considerable clear range; it can emphasize the perspective effect of the picture, and is good at exaggerating the foreground and expressing the scenery of the scene. The sense of distance and proximity, which is conducive to enhancing the appeal of the picture. I think the mother-in-law is right. Usually wide-angle lenses are used in large panorama scenes to show the vastness of the environment, or to do some complex scene scheduling with the spirit of clarity.
But a lot of the shots in this film are close-ups and close-ups, so what happens when you use a wide angle for close-ups and close-ups? The curve of the picture is distorted, that is, all the scenes will appear to arc protruding toward the center of the picture. A common use of this distortion is to express the subjective perspective of the mentally ill—with the exception of Chinese films, of course. Chinese movies have always adhered to the audio-visual law of a special screen entertainment - what is the use, everything is random, life has a limit, bad movies have no limit, and you can do it and cherish it. Take it back! As a director who is conscious of film language, what do people want to express with this wide-angle distortion? Allow me to elaborate.
First, it will make the distance between the left and right ends of the screen appear longer. The so-called "appearing" means that this is not a physical space but a psychological space. Specifically in this film, it means that although you and I are in the same room and there may be only one table apart, the difference in our understanding of the truth makes us psychologically far away and far apart. Second, it will make the distance between the foreground and background of the picture appear farther, that is, the three-dimensional effect of the movie will be stronger - is there any effect of naked eye 3D? ? ? ! ! ! In this way, combined with the processing of light and shade, there will be a strong contrast and contrast between the subject and the background of the movie screen, so as to achieve the effect of compressing space, reshaping space, and building space - don't forget the movie It is also a space art. Third, it will make the impact of the front and back shots stronger. Because the protruding visual perception stretches the distance between the foreground and the background, it will compress the visual space of the front and back of the subject. It may be seen from the background that the subject of the conversation is far away, but the visual perception is directly Formed a sense of "hand-to-hand combat", which invisibly strengthened the expressive tension of the dramatic conflict.
Back from History - The Thinking Divergence of Advanced Film Fans
In fact, frankly speaking, I don’t know very much about Dutch cinema, and I am completely blank about the history of Dutch cinema. But as mentioned in the opening paragraph, foreign-language films that can be favored by the Oscar jury generally have a conscious or unintentional synchronic connection with the classic American film tradition. In terms of the use of visual elements, Nurse Defendant always reminds me of Hollywood film noir. I'm definitely discussing the flow and turn of film noir here, I just want to make an analogy with similar tone styles. Such as strong and sensitive contrast, such as the use of a large number of shadows, of course, the most important thing is the use of "cage" imagery.
Almost all writings on the characteristics of film noir have a common subset—the “cage”-like visual symbols represented by shutters, railings, and handrails. In the constant repetition of this symbol, the characters' survival predicament can be intuitively perceived by the audience. "The Defendant Nurse" can be said to have brought this visual impression to the extreme. While watching the movie, no matter where you hover your mouse on the progress bar, you can find similar symbols in random frame stops: blinds, bed rails, curtain folds, collage tiles, window dividers, and even It's the plank stripes on the court. The most fun is actually the striped dress of the prosecutor and the accused nurse, the female No. 1 and No. 2.
In fact, from the parallel narrative at the beginning of the story, we will know that there must be a fateful entanglement between these two women. The opposition, equality, similarity, and unity between them are sublimated to a height full of possibility and interpretation space in the "Glass Shadow" group of shots. I am watching you, you are watching me, I am watching you watching me, and you are watching me watching you, so you become me who is watching you, and I become you who is being watched by me. (Sorry, that's how unruly my style is!) We all construct ourselves and our entire world of self-consciousness by watching and being watched by others. So you are me and I am you. In the face of the truth, or in the face of life, the prosecutor and the accused nurse are actually the same person. Today, the nurse is behind bars, tomorrow may be the prosecutor, and the day after tomorrow may be all of us. I believe this is definitely not an over-interpretation of the film, because attentive senior fans can see that when the prosecutor turns around and decides to help the nurse, she has been wearing a striped top, and when the nurse is reminiscing about her tragic past, she is also in her memory. Always wear striped clothes. This is an isomorphism.
Of course, discovering the film's kinship with Hollywood doesn't have to be so complicated. Are you familiar with the warmth in prison and the nostalgia for inmates? Is there anything that reminds you of a classic that regrets the Oscars? Yep, The Shawshank Redemption!
From the beginning of culture, hard-core moviegoers
can see the flattering gestures of "unsound legal system" and "learning from the United States" in "Nurse Defendant". This is the "outside the United States" imagined by Americans, because maybe in their eyes, the whole world is "the West" except for the American territory.
But why is this film a "rebellious" story of cultural reflection? I'll give you two clues here. One is reflection on the media. Obviously, the media's intervention and the media's image of the accused nurse greatly influenced the judge's judgment, which was an important reason for the nurse to be wronged for six years. They constructed a good nurse who was devoted and dedicated to her job into a witch-like murderer through a large number of "facts". But when the grievances were appealed, the media swarmed again, trying to redress the grievances for the nurses one after another. So the prosecutor said a refined line: "They're here again." In this era of media instead of ontology, we can't help but ask, what exactly is reality?
Another is a reflection on psychoanalysis. From Freud to Lacan, from horoscopes to blood types, psychoanalysis and personality tests seem to have become a must-have for modern home travel. But can people really be analyzed? Can the history of man really represent the whole of man? Can childhood shadows, family background, and life experiences really be used as criteria for examining and judging a person? Can people really be objectified so easily? In this paradox of betraying the self with self-consciousness, can human beings still be redeemed? In the scene where the nurse confronts the prosecutor, she makes a powerful inquiries about the tradition of human reason since the Enlightenment.
I like movies, I love podiums, and my ideal is to become a film activist. If there is a similar job, please introduce it to me. If there is no similar job, please come and listen to me at the next academic screening. Because time waits for no one, my alma mater is running out of time to shelter me.
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