The film starts with Natalie, a high school philosophy teacher, approving homework. The camera falls on a question, "Can one put oneself in the shoes of others?" Then it progresses to the difference of consciousness between husband and wife. Writer's graveyard, from death to life, the title of the film lights up, "The Future".
Boring and Escape
Natalie was also a radical when she was young, doing dangerous things. She joined the party for three years and even went to the Soviet Union, but later she chose her husband who was the same as her at the age of 18 and lived a peaceful and stable life. After 25 years of marriage, suddenly one day her husband confessed that he was cheating and said he wanted to move out. Natalie laughed at herself for being stupid and mistakenly thought that her husband still loved her all the time.
Divorce is easy, but it's frustrating to separate yourself from a 25-year marriage. Natalie thought that she would spend all her vacations in her husband's seaside cottage after marriage. The garden she took care of herself, every flower and grass she planted, and the memories of her children from childhood to adulthood are kept there. But after the divorce, I have no reason to go there anymore, and everything that was closely related to me has nothing to do with me anymore, so much time and memories in my life seem to have suddenly evaporated the meaning, sadness comes from it, and tears come down.
Philosophy makes Natalie accustomed to thinking rationally. She will not fall into the anxiety of being abandoned like her mother, but philosophy cannot prevent the generation of emotions. She will still be tortured by emotions, and suddenly cry at certain emotional nodes.
Natalie also encountered the passion of young people. She and her husband chose different directions. She knew that she didn't need anything and would not easily fall into fantasy or indulgence.
Cheating isn't just a momentary fever, it's a choice. Any choice means you have to give up something, there is no such thing as the best of both worlds.
People who feel that life is boring and boring are always eager to change their lives suddenly, but looking for a new lover can't change you or save your life. After the novelty, life remains. After all, it's not marriage or life that's boring, it's just you that's boring.
Leaving Natalie's husband did not achieve new happiness as he wished, spending Christmas alone, and the book he wanted to read turned out to be Schopenhauer. Come to rub the warmth, but Natalie took back the key, made fun of it, and then drove away.
People tend to overestimate the actual happiness in their expectations, and often underestimate or ignore the cost before they actually pay the price.
Loneliness and freedom
divorced, her mother died suddenly, and her child grew older. Natalie was at a loss for the sudden freedom. When I am tired of my family, I long for freedom, but I really have no ties, and freedom seems so empty. The feeling of not being needed is equally sad and disturbing. She remembered her student Fabien, so she temporarily left the hustle and bustle and went to live outside the city. When Natalie first arrived, she sighed that this place would not be paradise. She wore a floral dress and carefully chose a piece of grass to read. Her spiritual world, which would not be taken away by anyone, made her feel happy.
The good times didn't last long, and Natalie didn't expect that the former protégé would now seriously criticize herself. Unchangingly defending the inherent life of the middle class, fearing derailment and huge changes, and deceiving oneself to cover up cowardice, this is what the other side sees. Natalie disapproved of the revolution, and even felt that the radicals were poor. People have different ideals in life. She only wants to live a simple life. She teaches students to think independently at work. She does not criticize, evaluate, or converge. She respects herself and respects differences.
But reason is reason, and emotion is emotion. Everyone longs to be understood and recognized. She is also confused, and she doesn't know how to live a good life. At night, she hugged the black cat and cried, feeling deeply lonely again. The next day Natalie made an excuse to leave, and the differences in values caused the teachers and students to part ways amicably.
Natalie temporarily forgets that people are born alone.
Life and philosophical
life have always just flowed and said nothing. We always ask to the depths of our hearts, and we see nothing, like a tangible body wrapped in nothingness. If we don't really feel it, it will be difficult for us to firmly believe it, and it will be easy to fall into pessimism. The same is true of belief, "either let me see it or say nothing". No matter how much we look at philosophy, all we see are arguments. Without truth, we feel the passing of life, but we can’t even answer the most basic philosophical questions. Just like Natalie’s confession at her mother’s funeral, “We don’t understand that I am No one knows what I should do, neither know myself nor my mission, I am bent on finding true beauty, I want to follow it, and if there is eternity, I am willing to pay any price.
" These, Natalie was sad and weeping on the bus, but she suddenly saw her husband passing by with her new love. She couldn't help laughing at herself, breaking her tears into laughter. Life has its own sense of absurdity, but we can't help but search for meaning.
In the
winter, Natalie went to Fabien again, this time to adopt his black cat. Maybe it's just an excuse to let go of the past. It doesn't matter if there is a dispute in the past, nor does it matter if the values differ. The most precious thing between people is the sincere emotion. The faint concern that cannot be ignored, the thought to erase the estrangement, the simple concern and the sincere kindness, these trivial emotions are like the trivialities of life, far more precious than you realize.
The background music is Deep Peace. The teachers and students chatted with each other and cared about each other. They left the next day, said goodbye, and returned to their own life trajectories.
Everyone longs for inner peace and is looking for it, maybe only in pure love, the closest to true deep peace.
Natalie sent the black cat away, and the family recited the good news of the black cat, she said, I didn't even know you guys liked that cat.
At the end of the film, Natalie is holding the baby and humming a song. She has become a grandmother, has a new identity, and has a new concern. At this moment, the background music is tacky but heart-warming.
In the future, no matter what, it is enough to look forward to it.
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