This is an atypical Robert Altman movie, with no multi-line narrative, no splicing of life fragments, and no criss-crossing mise-en-scene. Altman centers the story on three women, depicting a dream, a nightmare that his grandmother had. Shelley Duvall in "The Shining" and Sissy Spacek in "Carrie" are destined to be less comfortable. A strange and mysterious atmosphere always permeates the movie. The two actresses have very distinctive and even distorted faces and gloomy appearance. The strange soundtrack makes people have a strange look and feel.
Pinkie, a girl from a small town in Texas, came to California to find a job as a nursing home nurse. The film begins with pictures of many elderly people exercising, leisure and physiotherapy in the swimming pool of the nursing home. Afterwards, Pingji stood in the corridor of the nursing home waiting for Millie. The staff came and went in a hurry, turning a blind eye to the newcomer. She could only smile and greet her awkwardly. The cold environment and atmosphere of the nursing home made people scalp tingling. Millie is the most capable nurse in the nursing home, she takes care of the elderly in an orderly manner, and she also becomes a counselor for Ping Ji's work. Ping Ji has a strong admiration and admiration for Millie. Millie's strong work ability, outgoing personality, and like to chat awkwardly are all parts that Ping Ji lacks. Almost all of Pinkie's life was arranged by Millie, and she also lived in Millie's house. But Millie doesn't get anyone's attention other than Pinkie's crush. She was sitting among a group of male employees in the cafeteria of the sanatorium and talking freely, telling her feelings and experiences, but no one was willing to pay attention to her. Ping Ji, who was eating alone, watched all this, watching Millie feel good about herself and flatter the man. Millie greeted her male neighbor outside the residence, but she also received no response. She is like an invisible person, constantly looking for a sense of existence, but constantly being ignored. When faced with young Pinkie, Millie was harsh and impatient. She scolded Ping Ji for putting shoes and milk in the house, and she often seemed absent-minded and impatient when Ping Ji spoke. It's only when she tells her story that the relationship between the two can return to normal. Ping Ji is always a listener, and she seems to enjoy it. Millie took Ping Ji to a bar in a desolate location, where she met Willie, the pregnant proprietress who devoted herself to creating bizarre totem paintings on the ground and in the swimming pool, and Edgar, the bar owner who molested women when she saw them. Willie's murals in the swimming pool appear several times in the film as psychological symbols. Millie blames Pinkie for her ex-roommate's planned dinner party, which is missed. She thinks that everyone's indifference and dislike of her is because she is frightened by Pingji, a strange girl, because Pingji does not smoke, drink, and is not "adult" at all. It is Pingji's appearance that makes her life easier a mess. Milly then went out to hunt for beauty out of self-esteem, but only brought back Edgar, the bar owner who went to the bar when she saw a woman. Faced with Ping Ji's moral questioning, Millie made Ping Ji unhappy. Fuck off. Later, Ping Ji jumped into the swimming pool to commit suicide. After being rescued, she was sent to the hospital in a coma. So far, the relationship between the two women has been reversed.
After being discharged from the hospital, Ping Ji became hot-tempered. She started putting on makeup, applying nail polish, and mingling with the men in her neighbors all day. She told Millie that she was raped by a doctor while in hospital... She "grew up", she started smoking, she was no longer an ignorant girl full of unknowns and curiosity, her heart had been "broken", she became Strong even wants to drive away Millie to monopolize the house. And Millie, out of guilt, becomes the weak, submissive side. She asked Pingji's parents to visit Pingji, but the frustrated Pingji said she didn't know her parents. Millie peeked at Ping Ji's diary and was severely scolded when she was discovered. This can't help but remind people of Bergman's "Masque" peeping at letters. The same two women, two completely opposite characters, one recorder and one observed, the two films have too many similarities. Everything seems to be reconciled after Pinkie slept in the same bed as Millie after she had a nightmare that everyone had in store. But when faced with Willie in labor, Ping Ji did not choose to seek help, and did not call the hospital or the police. She just stood in the dark and watched Millie, who would not deliver in the house, help Willie give birth, and eventually the baby boy died. With blood on her hands, Millie asked Pingji why she didn't ask for help, and slapped Pingji. The slap also seemed to wake the sleeping grandmother.
At the end of the film is the answer given by Altman, three same women, but the relationship has changed. Pinkie calls Millie Mommy, and they run a shop. Through conversations with the delivery man we learn that Edgar died in an accident. Obviously, he was killed by his mother and daughter, or even his grandmother. Edgar's messing with flowers, disregarding his wife's childbirth, and escaping from battle are the cause of his death, that is, irresponsible. When the mother and daughter came to the house where the grandmother lived, the grandmother (willie before) told Pinkie that she had a lot of dreams, which obviously were the weird stories from before. And the mother Millie ordered her daughter Ping Ji to work and do housework, in an orderly tone. She asked her to peel tomatoes, and in a previous dream, Ping Ji had said that she did not like tomatoes. In reality, she was forced to accept food she didn't like under her mother's power, which was also a loss of self. And the grandmother said, "Don't be too hard on her...". This is one of the main themes, the game and transformation of the mother-daughter relationship. Adults and minors, rationality and sensibility, infatuation and disgust, control and resistance, a series of games and restraints have caused great uncertainty and transformation in the relationship between the two.
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