The 155-minute movie is indeed a bit long for Coldme's niche movie viewing. I can't sit still when I see the second half of the movie. I think it can be shortened a bit.
The movie is called "A women under the influence", or translated as "Women under the influence", why is it called that, after reading I think this woman is never herself, she has been She plays various roles at the request of others, so it is called "the affected woman". This influence comes from all the people around her, her husband, her children, her father, her mother-in-law. This influence is intangible. Why did she become crazy? It is generally considered to be under the pressure of life, to raise three children, without the help of her husband, and to receive friends that her husband brings home. I haven't studied psychology, but I think it's just a superficial reason, psychologically speaking, maybe she's been in a state of tension all the time, she never had the opportunity and time to take off her mask and be herself, a person's spirit She has always been in a tense state, but there is a limit to this constant tension. In the end, she couldn't control her expression, which was a manifestation of excessive tension.
Home should be the most relaxing place for everyone. After a day's work, you can remove your mask and release yourself. But at Mabel's home, there was little time for her alone or with her husband. One scene repeated many times in the film is the glass door between the dining room and the bedroom, with a curtain inside. I think the symbolism of the door is that behind the door is Mabel her own space and the restaurant outside the door is the public space. The first time Nick brought the co-workers back, the door was locked. He pulled it several times without opening it. Then he ran upstairs to the bedroom and opened the door from the inside, while Mabel was in the bedroom at this time. She always wanted to maintain her space, but her husband never gave her the opportunity. There are "outsiders" in this family all the time. Nick's co-workers, friends, children's grandparents, grandparents, family doctors, Nick regards his home as a living room, and he thinks it is good to be with friends, But he ignored his wife's feelings. Mabel wants to maintain her inner balance by maintaining her own space, and this struggle can be seen all over the film. She tries to get the kids out of her bedroom and send them to school, but Nick lets them go to school. Playing around in bed, even inviting the child's grandmother to come along. The bedroom was a private space for the couple, and eventually became a place for the children to fight, which Mabel could not bear. Nick's friends are here, and though she's exhausted, she's going to play the role of a hospitable hostess. She often locked herself in the bathroom, the only place she could be alone. Hanging the sign "private" in the bathroom at home is strange at first glance, but it is especially necessary in this home, and it is also a symbolic meaning. The structure of this house is quite strange. You can walk to the bathroom of the bedroom from the second floor, and you feel that it is connected everywhere. Living in such a house has no sense of privacy.
Mabel is a person who is easily influenced by others. She can't find the value of her own existence. She said to her children: "The only thing I have ever done in my life is to give birth to the three of you". At the same time, she also cares about what others think of her. She often asks her husband, "Do you love me?" and asks her children, "What kind of person do you think your mother is?" Need to gain a sense of presence from other people's evaluations. Confident people tend not to care too much about what others say because they can build their own powerful inner world. The child's senses are keen, and the older child said that the mother is very good, very beautiful, and very nervous. The child saw her tense state of mind all the time.
Nick is a manipulative person, everything he says to Mabel is imperative, orders Mabel to do what he wants, he says loves Mabel, but doesn't really think about what Mabel needs, doesn't stand by her position. The overall film is very depressing, and some details are interesting. For example, after Mabel went to the mental hospital, Nick took the children to the beach. In his usual way, he ordered the children to "hurry up!" and accidentally pushed his daughter down. The children's grandmother is also an iron-fisted figure, determined to interfere in her son's marriage and drive Mabel out of the family, but she doesn't actually have the power. Mabel's father was also a man of his own. Under the common influence of these people, Mabel, who did not have a strong heart and self-confidence, finally went crazy. People around her are asking her to play the role they need all the time, a good wife, a good mother, a good daughter, a good daughter-in-law, a person who has been wearing a mask for too long, has forgotten how to face the real self, how to get along with himself, Eventually she had her own time alone, and she was also wandering the streets.
The final ending of the movie is to imply that the family is developing in a good way, because in the end Nick knew what Mabel's psychological problems were, he drove away all the guests, and finally the family was just him, Mabel and the children, returning to a home The original appearance, not the party that messes up a bunch of people every day. Mabel is telling everyone a joke at the dinner table, Nick interrupts her "be yourself", this is the only time he says that, and it's at the end of the movie, the subtitles translate to "just click", and the literal translation "be yourself" is also ok . When people tell a joke, they are playing the role of the joke, so as to avoid the embarrassment of laughing at themselves. Nick hopes that Mabel will stop playing someone else and be himself. The last shot is in the bedroom, with just Nick and Mabel. Mabel is happy and she puts on music.
The actress's acting skills are really good, that funny expression is just a mental illness, and she can see her inner struggle. However, this film is still too long and depressing, and it should be not bad to shorten it to 100 minutes.
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