The story unfolds in a piano sound, and the picture is quite "shock". Wrinkled skin, fingers that are no longer flexible, can't keep up with the rhythm, age spots that gradually appear, can't concentrate, repeat themselves unconsciously... revealing a taste of no longer youth. But it's the glamour (and the power of capital) of the music, presumably, that this group of dying artists is still rehearsing for "Beecham House," a fundraising gala for a retirement home for retired musicians.
01
Cowards don't have a good old age
Old Age is Not for Sissies
This is a recurring line in the play, "Cowards don't have a good old age."
The heroine Jean played by Maggie Smith was originally an excellent soprano singer. After she came to the nursing home, she was invited by her former companions (Wilf—naughty boy, Reggie—ex-husband, Cissy—friend & fans) to perform. "Rigoletto" quartet, but she refused because she was worried that she would not play well, and said a famous line to Reggie:
"I'm going to say something very rude to you, f**k you!"
Reggie, who still deeply loves Jean, remained silent, but his good friend Wilf then made a brotherly cry:
"Now I'm going to say something that would be rude to you, just f**king do it."
But none of that was enough to change Jean's mind, until it was revealed that if she didn't agree to take part in the quartet, her former rival, aka The Loser, would be the finale. "over my dead body." Jean said (oh, the goddamn competitive spirit).
Why do we have to grow old?
Maybe we, who claim to be still young, can't feel the loss of old age, and can't read the emotions in this question. Perhaps to put it another way, "Why do we have to grow up" is much easier to understand. It is nothing more than a change that is not controlled by one's will. Everything we do today—learning, understanding, gaining, and losing—is in fact preparing for this unexpected change. However, it is not until the moment of change, or even after a long time, that we realize that this Preparation is never good.
At that moment, do not be sissy. I guess that's what the director wants. After all, the 75-year-old director of the film debut is not sissy.
02
Opera vs Rap
Opera vs rap
"It's rap, not read" and "light yellow dress and fluffy hair" are probably the most popular stalks recently. Even ignorant people like me who haven't watched "Youth With You 2" have learned a thing or two under the bombardment of countless hot searches. Sometimes it's just so coincidental. In "Quartet", Reggie also explained the concepts of opera and rap when he gave a lecture to students.
Art has this eclectic charm. It doesn't matter whether there is white snow in the spring or the people in the lower Riba, existence has its meaning. Qualified fans should be like Reggie, "doing a lot of research" and actively researching, rather than following the trend or following the trend. But unfortunately, at present, the latter is always the majority. There was a sound of thunder, and suddenly it was like catkins caused by the wind.
Fortunately, I have no preference. I just don't like the yellowish dress because it looks black.
03
women are fickle
La donna è mobile
This world famous song comes from Verdi's opera Rigoletto. The master, Kilgoletto, is ugly and hunchbacked, and is a jester who is accustomed to being catered to by the Duke of Mantua. The duke was frivolous and frivolous, and took pleasure in playing with women, even his courtiers, wives and daughters. And Rigoletto helped Zhou to abuse, aroused the resentment of everyone, everyone decided to retaliate, let him abduct his daughter Gilda for the Duke unconsciously. Rigoletto decides to assassinate the Duke after discovering that he has given his daughter to the Duke. But Gilda was deeply in love with the duke, and after learning of the assassination plan, she was willing to die for the duke. Rigoletto has to face the cruel fate of the killer he bought to kill his own daughter.
"Women are capricious", was sung by the duke when he fell in love with another girl, Madalina, when he was flirtatious and made excuses for his behavior. He blamed women for being fickle and flamboyant, but in fact, he was just a playboy who was rambunctious, hypocritical, and provocative.
Did you initially think that this song is from the point of view of "blaming women"? I thought so too. After checking the information, I found out that it should be said that "men are fickle".
Although Wilf is mischievous, "something out of control due to illness", but this attitude of facing himself is still commendable - better than the hypocrite Duke.
And the so-called "women's fickle", it is not know where to start. In my opinion, the role of women has changed little since ancient times.
For a long time in the past, in film, television and even literary works, female characters were mostly synonymous with "forbearance" and "vulnerability". Even Shakespeare said, "Frailty, thy name is woman!" Although I don't know from which year, the big heroine suddenly became the mainstream, but there will always be countless male characters to match her on the so-called road of forging ahead, and the heroine's main skill is still "showing weakness".
In short, I feel like I haven't seen any normal female characters (or maybe I have little knowledge). Maybe it's because normal people don't explode. On the other hand, men, no matter what their role is, they have a lot to do - loyalty, good and evil are put aside first, anyway, it has nothing to do with the word forbearance. Even if they are a little bit involved, such as Secretary Dakang, Qi Tongwei and others in "The Name of the People" (sorry, I have watched too few dramas recently), they are all "conspiracy", unlike most female characters, they are pure "Identify with forbearance", unless "I can't bear it anymore, I don't need to bear it anymore", but there must be a period of time to endure it well, and it is necessary to evolve into a Niu Hulu Zhen Huan when it is not good at being a "virtuous and virtuous" gentleman.
This is not conducive to establishing a realistic and normal gender perspective (but it is hard to say whether it is necessary to emphasize gender differences now, public tastes are changing too fast), but it is very likely to cause gender conflicts. If possible, I would expect women to at least be fickle in their roles.
04
lines i like
Words
Do not give the suspense for eternality.
Works of art are of an infinite loneliness, nothing can reach them so little as criticism.
Let me just say no modesty, that all great artists need a great director. And, here I am.
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