just like at the beginning, appeared before my confused eyes.
This time, I will try to catch you?
That daring delusion, I'm still infatuated with it?
Well, let you scramble, you push me to embrace; let you rush
out of the mist, surging around me!
With your arrival, the air is filled with spiritual atmosphere,
the blood of youth, and I am excited again.
You have brought joyous scenes of happy times, and
some lovely figures have risen with them;
just like an ancient legend that has gradually faded away,
Faustian conjecture--the theme melody
"Both good and evil are lost. The original intention, but in the absolute extreme, existence and nothingness overlap." --- Dominic
's above paragraph is a dedication to "Faust", and it is not an exaggeration to dedicate it to this film. It is very difficult to review the film "Youth", because as director Coppola said, this is a private film that is mixed with philosophy, religion, language, theological history and so on. Like a hodgepodge, mysterious, chaotic but meaningful. From the overall point of view of the plot, it seems to be a variant of "Faust", although some people disagree with this point of view. But I still think that there are still many clues that can be found and implicated.
Legend has it that those who die on Easter can enter heaven. In the film, Dominic devoted his life to the study of human language, for his own interest and persistence. He lost the love of his life, and until he was seventy years old, he still did not have any great achievements, just like Faust who sat in his study all his life and did nothing. Losers, life is almost meaningless. So Donimick prepared a lot of strychnine for himself, and Faust brought the poisonous wine to his lips. To their surprise, on Easter Day, their fortunes have changed dramatically since then.
Dominic was struck by lightning, not only did he not die, but also unexpectedly returned to his youth, and gained a magical power, which made him unforgettable and predict the future. He has more time and energy to continue his research and study, and in "Faust", Faust meets the demon Mephistopheles as his servant, who can relieve his worries and get everything he needs . But in fact, the power of luck has made them all in danger. Dominic, who has mastered multiple languages, is tracked and persecuted by Romanian extremists enslaved by the Nazis, and he has to flee to neutral Switzerland to learn various techniques of disguising his identity. Faust and Mephistopheles signed a 'devil contract' to sell their souls.
The demon Mephistopheles had told Faust that he was "the spirit of negation" and that "evil" was his essence. That is, he is actually another Faustian personality. And Dominic also discovered his alter ego, whether in dreams, in water, or in mirrors. They also encountered the same "Faust" problem, facing the real value and meaning of life, facing career and love, and facing some difficult choices that cannot be made. They are one good and one evil, one is pursuing love, the other is pursuing knowledge. One form above, one form below. They often do some seemingly non-existent arguments and struggles, balance but contradictory. The other Dominic is more like a rational bystander, appearing at the right time, swaying Dominic's thoughts, interweaving and echoing. Like the words Dominic murmured to himself at the end 'Both good and evil lose their meaning, and in the absolute extreme, being and nothingness overlap. '
Dominic gave up his research and left his girlfriend. He couldn't bear to deprive his lover of his youth, and he couldn't bear to watch his beloved grow old day by day. Time gave him another chance to succeed and he chose to give up. When he returned to the hotel, he looked at the photos of his girlfriend regaining his youth and burst into tears. Hearing the other Dominic's indifferent and mocking words, he smashed the other Dominic in the mirror, recovered his identity, and finally collapsed in one morning. Died in the snow.
The angel took Faust's soul to heaven, and the last third rose appeared in the hands of Dominique's icy corpse. Some people say that the ending of Dominica is a little sad, just like 1900 chose to die alone on a ship, which is extremely desolate and regrettable. But I am grateful for this, because they all made the choices they thought were right before they died, and they all fulfilled their last dream.
Zhuang Zhou's metaphor of dreaming butterflies---philosophical thinking
"I know very well, I'm just dreaming, and in a few minutes, I will wake up."---Dominic
's opening film "Life is like a dream... only... Tao" and the end film The buried lines of Zhuang Zhou Mengdie in Dominic's mouth have more or less enhanced the theme of the film. In "Ten Empty Six Songs, Like a Dream", "Secrets are hard to distinguish, and dreams are made empty. Unexpected Zhou is a butterfly, but knowing that people are fish." In a poem, the allusions of Zhuang Zhou's dream of butterflies were used to express that everything is empty, Life is like a dream thought. Zhuang Zhou Mengdie told everyone that as long as the dream is real enough, people have no ability to know that they are dreaming. As long as people can break the boundaries of life and death, things and self, they will be happy everywhere.
Extremes meet, and when people pursue something, they always destroy or lose another. In the film, Dominic talks to another personality twice in a completely nude state, presumably to remove all obstacles and return to the most primitive state of human beings, like consciousness. The original language of human beings also came from consciousness. In this dream, Dominic’s consciousness was often influenced by another personality. After using his consciousness, the fascist extremists committed suicide, and he said to himself, “I have no choice.”
Dominic sometimes can't tell the difference between dreams and reality. He can't remember the female spy he has sex with, and he thinks about the cars he sees in his dreams. He realizes that these may be just a dream, but it feels so lacking and so real, He was indeed sober, he knew what to do and what to say, he knew the existence of another Dominic, he said, "My other personality is my guardian angel, but at the same time I am imprisoned." There are many double symbolic themes in the film, the young and the old Dominic, the Veronica who looks like Laura, the Indian Shiva hidden in Veronica, the images and images are like dreams, overlapping and entangled with each other , No one knows which is true and which is false, just like not knowing whether Zhuang Zhou dreamed of butterflies or Zhuang Zhou who dreamed of butterflies, there is no way to know whether it is sadness or joy. Descartes once talked about the pure existence of material objects and the difference between human soul and body in "Metaphysical Meditations". In this film, the director has made a perfection of the "self" of these dual personalities, either explicitly or implicitly. interpretation. Another personality of Dominic once asked: "Where do you want me to put the rose?" Dominic replied: "One on my hand and the other on my knee." The so-called "metaphysical" It is called the Tao, and what is below the form is called the utensil.” The top is the spirit, the bottom is the material, one abstract and one concrete. Represents two Dominicas, one idealistic and the other materialistic.
Did Dominic finally break the realm of things? The answer is no and yes, he has regained his youth and gained magical power. God has given him another chance to complete his pursuit and dream. To save human civilization, he used his own invented language to record the nuclear war that will happen in the future. He used to give Veronica suggestive language one after another to wake up Shiva in her body. Origin, complete work. But when he found that this would promote Veronica's aging, Dominique finally chose love and gave up the pursuit of knowledge in the face of reason and emotion, knowledge and love. When he broke the other Dominic in the mirror, he abandoned that material Dominic.
A beautiful love overwhelmed the career that was about to be accomplished, and Dominic's selfishness of 'only me' was once again. The moment he shattered the mirror was like the scene in Fight Club when Norton shot himself. Fragments of glass and buildings that have crashed one after another, the destruction of pure material and the collapse of pure spirit, will eventually return to their own reality.
When Dominic returned to the Choice Cafe again, in a flash of time, he said to his friend, "I know very well that I am just dreaming, and in a few minutes, I will wake up." Looking back, Dominic changed back to seven The old man Xun woke up from the dream, and Dominic's youth again ended. The dream he made with his heart gave him a chance to choose again. Although Dominic still lost the person he loved the most, he kept it. The love of youth. Zhuang Zhou woke up. In his dream, he was as leisurely as a butterfly, and he was lying on the edge of the bed. Dominique also woke up. He, who had repeated his youth in his dream, froze to death by the roadside, holding the third rose in his hand.
Proust's Remembrance----Photography Consciousness
"If I confuse real experience with spring dreams, then my life is more interesting than I imagined." ---Dominic
Proust believes that time can change everything , destroying everything, but reviving past selves stored in dreams and subconsciousness through recollection. Under the stream of consciousness, the boundaries of time and space can often be broken, random dreams, imagination, cross-representation and recovery of the past years, like weaving a colorful dream with the subconscious.
The director Coppola played a stream of consciousness in this film this time, starting from the ticking of the clock at the beginning of the film, accompanied by fragmented images, sometimes abstract, rotating, zooming, looming, like a vortex It brought us into Dominica's consciousness, "the passing time, the language, and the lost love." 'Time · Reincarnation' is a key word in this film, from Dominica's unexpected recovery of youth, Accidentally met a lover again, from 1938 to 1956, from 70 to 40 years old, and finally the elderly Dominic died in the snow, we realized that this is a spring night dream of conscious memory.
There are often upside-down spins in the film, in Dominic's dreams, in his subconscious. Dominique sometimes mutters to himself in monologues, sometimes talks to himself in another consciousness, roses that appear out of thin air, the moon that is full or missing in a flash, and many scenes of smoking and fogging, including re-encountering with him. Veronica with the same face as Laura. A large number of inverted, overlapping and interspersed pictures and mirror images enhance the fantasy feeling of time reversal and transformation.
This very stream-of-consciousness shooting method brings a very dramatic and natural feeling, as if Proust's long and distant memories are general. Those hazy clips, repeated and suggestive images, and those subconscious monologues all make this film memorable.
Coppola's return---rose meaning
"The moment I disappear from your life, your youth and beauty will come back."---Dominic
Coppola's return after ten years, giving us a The film is called "Youth Without Youth". Dominic returned to youth and gave himself three roses. Only Coppola knows the ultimate meaning of the rose, and only he can interpret it.
Judging from the film, the first rose is metaphysical and given to love. The second rose is presented to the knowledge, and the third rose returned to Dominica's body, given to himself, to the person who created and pursued love and knowledge.
If I say, I would like to think that the third rose is dedicated to those who have passed away, beautiful youth and love.
What is still possessed seems to be far away from the eyes, and what has passed away is brought to life again.
Perhaps, each of us has our own three roses, and you, where would you choose to put them?
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