http://blog.trivialfilm.com/2012/06/cul-de-sac16.html
Cul-de-sac (1966)
The film won the Golden Bear at the 16th Berlin Film Festival.
The film tells the story of a couple and a gangster. A couple lives on a small island, and their peaceful life is disrupted by an alien gangster. The gangster came from the road before high tide, and he also had a seriously injured accomplice in a car on the road. The gangster sneaked into the couple's home, cut off the phone line after contacting the boss by phone, and was ready to wait for the boss to send someone to pick him up. The husband and wife soon discovered the gangster, but under his threat, the husband and wife listened to him very much. Then, the three moved the gangsters into the house. At this time, the man in the couple was very scared, but the woman got along well with the gangster and gave him the wine she brewed. The gangster's accomplice died soon after, and the man was awakened by the gangster to dig a grave and bury his accomplice. In the early morning, the man had become a little abnormal and began to complain to the gangsters. A few days later, a car finally came to the road. So, the gangster locked up the couple and excitedly went to greet the people who came. However, only the couple's guests arrived. In order not to leak the loopholes, the gangster pretended to be the gardener of the husband and wife's house and cooked for everyone. At this time, the man was already very irritable. After the guests had dinner, he used an excuse to drive away everyone, including neighbors who were close to the woman. At night, the woman stole the gun from the gangster while he was asleep and gave it to the man. After the gangster woke up, he picked up the phone and contacted his boss, only to know that no one would come to pick him up, so he was ready to leave. However, when the gangster found the gun was missing, they threatened the couple to hand over the pistol. The man killed the gangster in a panic, and the woman asked the man to accompany her to leave the island immediately, but the man was stunned. Seeing such a situation, the woman had to leave the island with another man who came back to fetch things. Finally, the man ran wild on the high-tide highway, mad.
It's an interesting movie because it will give each audience a different feeling, not like a normal movie - everyone has the same feeling. Therefore, this film is difficult to evaluate. In addition, there is little information about the film, which makes it difficult for people to guess the original intention of Roman Polanski to shoot this film. Therefore, I can only write what I feel, and it is not the same as many opinions on the Internet.
The intention of the writer and director I realized is that Roman Polanski wanted to use this film to show the change of mentality of people in a difficult situation - the hijacker is often the closest enemy, which can be seen from the relationship between husband and wife and gangster. For example, men will shave the gangsters, men will complain to the gangsters, women will dig graves for the gangsters, women will make breakfast for the gangsters, and so on. The above is an "intimate" relationship, but the husband and wife are still the hostages of the gangsters after all, so the gangsters will use guns to guard against them and beat women who joke with the gangsters. So even if the couple don't have Stockholm Syndrome, their relationship with the gangster is "the closest enemy".
On the other hand, the film also shows the hypocrisy of love. About these, it is through the relationship between husband and wife. Since they are husband and wife, they must love each other, but various details in the film tell the audience that the two do not love each other. For example, a woman cheating with a neighbor, a woman having an affair with a man at the dinner table, and the most ironic scene—the couple scrambling to hide when a gun is pointed at them. All this shows the falsity of their relationship between husband and wife. In addition, the woman at the end of the film asks the man to leave with him not because of love, but because she needs someone to accompany her. So, when another man appeared, she completely abandoned him. In short, love is not so beautiful in this film. It can be said that "husbands and wives are birds of the same forest, and they fly away when disaster strikes."
The filming is excellent, and it can be said that the film is technically impeccable. Because such a movie with only three protagonists and a limited range of scenes can achieve plot twists, be fascinating, and not be dull and procrastinate, it is not something that ordinary writers and directors can do. It can be seen how well the film's narrative rhythm, story structure, scene framing, and editing are used. This also made me realize that Roman Polanski is indeed quite talented in film, and it is still a bit of a skill to be able to dominate the film industry for many years. In short, this 1960s movie is still pleasing to the eye and not dull, and it is a very good suspense thriller.
One extra word. The Chinese subtitles of this film lack about 70-77 minutes of subtitles, and all versions have no Chinese subtitles. The English subtitles are very complete, why no one translates them? The amount is not large.
The actor's performance is also brilliant. Although the two male protagonists Lionel Stander and Donald Pleasence are not particularly famous, it does not affect their superb performance in the film. A cowardly man and a sturdy gangster, these two characters with distinctive characters are deeply imprinted in the history of world cinema. The heroine Françoise Dorléac in the film is Catherine Deneuve's sister, but they don't look alike, and Catherine Deneuve is more beautiful. She doesn't have many frontal features in the film, so I'm not very impressed with her. It is a pity that Françoise Dorléac died young in a car accident, leaving the world without a beautiful French woman.
in conclusion. This film is very good compared to the movies of the 1960s, and even today, it will not be outdated. In addition, the story mode of "Survival in Dilemma" has also given a lot of inspiration to modern movies. At the same time, the delicate characterization also gives the film a lot of depth. Therefore, this film deserves the Golden Bear Award, but this film is a little worse than Roman Polanski's other films.
Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac
Sequence: 0842
Cul-de-sac.1966.BluRay.CC.720p.AC3.x264-CHD
2012-06-16
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