note: This article contains a lot of spoilers. Mind, enter with caution.
In the mood to appreciate Cannes' masterpiece, I took a moment to finish watching this French film. With the highly topical descriptions of the shots and the topics the director tries to explore, it's not hard to imagine why such a large-scale film won the 2013 Cannes Award. Of course, the bold physical description that stirs up the inner desire is equally reflective.
Large-scale sex description
This is a story that happened on the shore of a celestial lake, of course, sex description is indispensable. The director does not shy away from using the camera to show the crazy sex and collective celestial bodies between gays. Indeed, in an era when gay films were frequently screened and screened, it was shocking to see such a large-scale film. Perhaps this is also the result of the director's advance in promoting gay films? Instead of adopting the method of commercial films to cater to the general public?
So, why did the director arrange so many sex scenes? My personal guess is that, on the one hand, it may be to attract attention, and on the other hand, it may be a reflection on the chaotic sexual behavior between gays. The story takes place on the shore of Celestial Lake, and most of the men who come here are to satisfy their physical desires. Naturally, the entire film is almost filled with naked flesh, lying on the beach, woods and lake. For the description of sex, the director did not make any cover up, naked to show the sex between the same sex.
sex? or love?
The film revolves around three men: the protagonist Frank, the fat man and the mysterious man.
Frank came to the celestial lake in search of joy, and the film used a lot of subjective lenses (first point of view) to express this role. When he came to Tianti Lake on the first day, he met a fat man who was alone. After a few exchanges, in the words of the two of them, it was "a lot of fun." Although the fat man said he just broke up with the woman, as the plot progresses, it seems that there is some kind of subtle affection between the two of them. But Frank was still attracted by the strong and mysterious man, and he almost chased after him with a moth to the flame.
The mysterious man seems to be the most naked totem for "sex", and of course Frank is also hard to resist. Although Frank doesn't seem to want the two of them to just have sex. When Frank asks for love, the mysterious man refuses.
Looking back at the entire film, most of the plot hovers between Frank's sex and love with two men. There is a constant illusion: the director seems to be constantly torturing every queer person: is it love or sex between you and your other?
Being a man, "loving" another man; or, being a woman, "loving" another woman. Are homosexuals chasing each other for love, or just for sex?
In a broader sense, are men and women chasing and caring for each other, for love, or for sex? Do human beings follow their most primitive desires or instincts (to continue offspring), or are they attached to each other for love or affection?
Finally, an ultimate torture: want sex? or love?
Of course, this is not a single-choice question after all. The film itself is an artistic presentation of the breaking point in reality. The result of this radicalization is the greatest test of the heart.
Catfish: a clue to interpretation?
People who have watched this film will be more or less impressed by the catfish that appears repeatedly in the film. Indeed, the catfish has multiple symbolic meanings. To analyze this seemingly non-existent catfish, it may be easier to understand the image the director wants to convey. But it could also be a personal, self-indulgent imagination.
Catfish = Dangerous
The fat man at the beginning of the film reminded Frank of the dangers of swimming. There are catfish at least 4-5 meters in size in the lake, and catfish is a carnivore. Not long after, the protagonist, Frank, witnesses the death of a young body at the right time and place. Of course, the killer is not a catfish. It just so happened that the place where the young man died was in the lake, and the time was at night. Catfish is a nocturnal fish that hides under the sun and sand during the day, and only goes out to devour other fish at night. The catfish is a red flag for men working on the celestial lakes.
catfish = sex
celestial body The men around the lake gather in search of sex. People who come to Tianti Lake are to catch men or get caught, and return to the most primitive impulse itself. The characteristics of the image of the catfish directly point to "sex" itself: the catfish is smooth and scaleless, looks like a phallus, has a beard, and the fat man in the film discusses the "length" of the catfish with Frank, etc.
catfish = comrade
There is a well-known theory called the "catfish effect," which is that a misfit catfish is placed in a docile sardine to keep the fish alive. The role of gays does not seem to have the effect of keeping the population alive, but it is indeed out of place.
Gay, sex and danger, what does it mean? The flesh that chases desire comes with danger.
It's like the mysterious man who keeps killing people. The young man is killed by him, the fat man (Love) is killed by him, and the detective (outside society) who is trying to rescue the protagonist is killed by him. In the end, in order to pursue this desire, Frank walked into the darkness while calling out the name of the mysterious man.
And for whom, or why, are you taking the risk?
Desire, sex, the flesh that hovers on the edge of the two, is what the catfish wants to devour. As someone said, the catfish symbolizes AIDS, which is not without reason. The director seems to be constantly beating on various serious issues that cannot be avoided between Comrades Hengchen.
The narrative method of outdoor closed time and space
Many movies use a closed space to simplify interference and create an atmosphere. What's interesting about this film is that there are only three spaces covered by the shot: the lakeside, the woods, and the parking lot. The places that express the sense of space are generally interpreted in the lakeside and the woods, and they focus on showing sex, pleasure, murder, confusion and love. The closed, single space shapes the place where men escape from the normal social order, where everything returns to the most primitive desires.
The sense of time uses the parking lot for transition, the alternation of night and day. The drinking and eating at night mentioned in the characters' dialogues are all skipped and left to the audience's imagination (and there is indeed enough room for imagination).
After all, there are elements of horror and suspense in the film, and the narrative method of this outdoor closed time and space has caused the illusion of the murder in the secret room to a certain extent.
Using a minimalist approach to depict the intricate nature of sex, love and murder, there is a feeling of Chinese freehand painting. In addition, there is no background music, and the filming method is almost documentary. The director seeks a certain balance between freehand brushwork and realism. All of this makes the whole film give a very unique sense of reincarnation in time and space. In the end, after watching this movie
in a wordy paragraph , I have to sigh what is a good movie?
Of course, the criteria for judging a good movie are not the lens, lighting, special effects, or whether it uses actors such as box-office moths. In the most popular words nowadays, a good movie should be able to hit the viewer's pain point in an instant.
It’s not a pure commercial film, it’s not a good movie. I also like Hollywood soap blockbusters very much. I’m often obsessed with one or two beautiful female pigs and male pigs. Pieces of BiBi are all. Commercial films hit the heart of my pastime. Watching films is just to kill time. This is my inner expectation. Literary films often make people think, either in tears or staring in a daze, this is still an inner expectation. If it doesn't, well, it doesn't hit the pain point, so, for me, it's not a good movie.
And this film, I personally think, is the best in that it uses an artistic lens full of contradictions and tensions to interpret the biggest problem in gay relationships - do you want sex? or love?
Finally, this movie is rated R, so watch it carefully!
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