Some people say that sex is the most direct and profound manifestation of intimacy, because the most essential things between partners will be revealed in sex. Perhaps, this movie confirms this view to a certain extent. It seems to be just the first night of failure. However, the failure is far more than that. The real failure is the failure to let go of the past and open the future. It is the failure of two very different beings trying to establish a deep link. Because of this, this pair of lovers who loved each other so desperately ended their marriage after only six hours in a decisive way.
What drove them uncontrollably toward this failure?
Is there really no room for redemption in their relationship?
The male protagonist Edward came from an ordinary family. His father was the headmaster of a township school. He was busy and dull. . Growing up in such a family, on the one hand, Edward was not able to enjoy the warmth of the family, but on the other hand, he was not too constrained by family etiquette. When he was young, he was free and lonely.
The heroine Florence was born in a wealthy class, her father was a successful businessman, and her mother was a noblewoman. Florence received a rigorous and high-quality education from an early age, majoring in music as a violinist in a quintet. However, her relationship with her parents was estranged. Although her father provided her with a good material life, he was extremely arrogant and did not approve of her daughter's choice. As for the mother, they can talk about political current affairs at the dinner table, but they can't communicate the girl's mind in private, so that when Florence is in a state of pre-marriage fear, those unspoken hidden thoughts have nowhere to say, only Able to escape cramped in front of his godfather.
Such two people met unpreparedly at an event, and Florence fell in love with Edward almost at first sight. There is a bit of eagerness in the uninhibited, and the temperament in him is completely different from the class she lives in. It seems that there is a magic power that makes her go to him without hesitation. As for Edward, the beautiful girl in front of him was like a princess to him, and he couldn't resist her charm, especially since she was so gentle, considerate and considerate.
Florence has no shortage of suitors, such as a colleague in the band, the deadpan cellist. Needless to say, his background was naturally better than Edward's.
When I saw this scene, I screamed in my heart: No, the heroine will be with this man in the future. She can show her strong side in front of him without any scruples, and be accepted and appreciated, but in front of her boyfriend, she can only always be submissive.
But Florence did not hesitate. For her, her class was not attractive to her, serious, orthodox, and meticulous to the point of boring. She yearned for freedom, and Edward was the embodiment of freedom, at least in her opinion.
The two young people who fell in love soon talked about marriage. Florence, who should have been immersed in happiness, was anxious. Unlike Edward's eager anticipation for the wedding night, she felt a deep fear and disgust. So, where did her fear and disgust for sex come from?
To be sure, Florence's sexuality has a lot to do with her relationship with her father. Several brief episodes of the young girl Florence being alone with her father seem to be the source of her later sexual fears.
However, the director's handling is more cryptic, leading to different interpretations. One of the interpretations is accepted by most people, that is, Florence was sexually assaulted by her father when she was a child, leaving a huge psychological shadow, and then the tragedy that followed. This view of inferring the cause from the result may be true from the result, but when you think about it carefully, you are full of doubts.
First of all, if it is such a plot setting, it is impossible for a director not to shoot, not only to shoot, but also to make special shots, because this is the key plot of the whole movie, and it is an important factor in determining the character and fate of the characters. If you don't focus on depicting, what else is there to depict? And from the plot point of view, if there is a real sexual assault, Florence should not know nothing about the sexual response of men, but rely on the "pornography" that must be read before marriage to obtain the most basic sexuality. Knowledge, and after Edward was stimulated to ejaculate prematurely, her reaction was also a panicked "What it is!?" Completely confused about the male orgasm ejaculation.
On the other hand, if Florence was really sexually abused by her father when she was a teenager, then the huge trauma she suffered would definitely have a profound impact on her views on men, love and marriage, but from her and her relationship with Edward's relationship experience shows that there is no such influence. She can still love the man she loves bravely, but she has an inexplicable fear of sex.
Judging from the limited information revealed in the film and the subsequent plot, my personal opinion tends to be that in adolescence, when she began to have the initial awareness of men and women, her father did not pay attention to his daughter's psychological state at all, and did not avoid suspicion and It was the girl's daughter who was alone in a room, and she was close to her. Coupled with her father's tyranny and authority over her, every time he approached her daughter turned into Florence's unbearable disgust and fear, but he couldn't express it. , even more impossible to resist.
In the 1960s, people's attitudes towards sex tended to be conservative, and parents would not discuss sex with their children, let alone sex education. These experiences of Florence had become a shadow deposited in her heart, and she had nowhere to tell and could not Face, nature cannot cure.
Does that mean that no matter which man Florence meets, it will inevitably lead to such a tragic end? No. Facts have proved that her second husband, the cellist, will grow old hand in hand with her, have children, and be harmonious. Her tragedy is that the person she fell in love with, Edward, couldn't understand and accept that part of her. Of course, this is also Edward's tragedy. There is no doubt that the disparity in the pedigree made Edward feel a deep sense of inferiority in front of Florence. Of course, Florence also understood this, so she always took care of his feelings and put down the figure of the eldest lady and trekked in the jungle to see him, taking care of his family.
On the wedding night, Edward was completely immersed in nervousness, excitement and anticipation. He was inexperienced and didn't think much about his wife's evasion and fear. When premature ejaculation occurred, the frustration caused him to lose control and be overwhelmed. He didn't know that it was his violent reaction that evoked the painful feelings in his wife's memory, and the semen left by her husband on her thigh made her collapse instantly. Or, the husband at this time has already overlapped with the father she once hated in her memory, and the sense of shame and fear swept up, so she panicked and shouted at Edward: "Stop looking at me!" and then slammed for the door out. What she hastily escaped was not her current husband, but her former father.
And Edward, in the face of his wife's abnormal reaction, his first feeling was that he was humiliated. Because of his failure in sex, his wife humiliated his incompetence by fleeing in anger. This incompetence is not only physical. Yes, and on a personal level.
If the conflict after the failed sex brought Edward a sense of humiliation, the ensuing quarrel further hurt his self-esteem. It can be said that the hidden deep contradiction between them broke out through the most sensitive sexual relationship. When he found Florence on the beach angrily, he was so absorbed in his emotions that he didn't care about his wife's feelings, let alone listening, when his wife tried to explain her feelings to him , he interrupted roughly, you are here to humiliate me! Even Florence's ignorance of sex was her fault, forgetting that she was a rookie and at least half responsible.
In his constant questioning and accusations, any words his wife tried to express his negative emotions became dissatisfaction with him in his inferiority heart. He had to fight back with anger to maintain his self-esteem. He didn't know, in fact, he had already Miss an important opportunity to really enter the inner world of the wife. His perception of the pattern of his relationship with his wife had been formed as early as the beginning of the relationship: Florence was the strong side who was superior to him in every way, while he was in a weak position, and only the strong side had the ability to do harm, so Florence must be held responsible for what happened, and he is the victim of harm.
When his wife suggested that he could find other women to satisfy his sexual needs in order to maintain the marriage between the two, he was even more furious, scolding his wife as a liar who cheated on marriage and downright indifference. At this time, he had basically sentenced Florence to death in his heart, and was convinced of his conclusion. Naturally, he did not see or care that his judgment and accusation brought multiple blows to his wife. However, after the silence, Florence still took the initiative to come over to apologize to him, and invited him to go back to the hotel together, but Edward, who was in love with hatred, gave Florence a cold turn.
More than ten years later, Edward, who became a hippie, accidentally bumped into Florence's daughter. At that moment, he could not help but choked in his voice. Maybe, he can have a lot of sex, but he can no longer love him gradually to understand that the suggestion that Florence made at the beginning, no matter how absurd it sounded, was actually a sacrifice of her love for him. He also had to accept the fact that Florence was not a liar and aloof, that she could remarry and have children. There is a man who knows love better than him, who understands her, accepts her, and protects her, so that she can finally get out of the shadow of the past and re-establish a good intimacy. These abilities were not possessed by him when he was young, and when he understood these truths, he felt that the irreversible relationship between the two was just a naive and impulsive decision made by him. In this way, in the face of right and wrong, how can you teach people not to be hurt or lost?
Many more years passed, and the dying Edward lived alone for the remainder of his life. At the farewell concert of the 45th anniversary of the founding of Florence's orchestra, he finally saw Florence, who was also old. Edward sat in the seat they had agreed to when they were in love, and silently shouted for Florence: "Bravo!"
Those unbridled hot tears were for the deep love and hurt of the past; for Edward himself, but also for Florence.
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