I went to the cinema tonight to watch "Pain and Glory" again, which strengthened some of my thoughts. After the first viewing, I had asserted that the film would most likely not be the Palme d'Or, but in the end, "Parasite" was not a result that I was satisfied with, although it was expected by most people.
It is undeniable that "Pain and Glory" is still a movie worth watching, he is moving, there is no doubt about it. But if you have watched the film carefully, you will find that his moving points mainly come from some details of the play, that is, some words spoken by the characters in the film. There are some details that make me sure that these must come from the director's real life experiences and memories. He is very private. Those words are not created lines. He is sincere, simple, and real, because This is not a discourse that can be created out of thin air by codifying, and this sense of authenticity is inadvertently revealed and finally hits the heart of the audience. For movies with similar themes, many people have mentioned "Eight and a Half". If "Eight and a Half" also tells about the director's dilemma and memories, but "Eight and a Half" is more than "Pain and Glory" Magical colors, but in the handling of memories, "Pain and Glory" is more gentle and closer to life itself, while "Eight and a Half" is magical and unrestrained, and therefore gives the audience more imagination. Space.
"Pain" is a word repeatedly mentioned in the film, that is, the pain of the body and the pain of the soul, and the hero Salvador is always looking for ways to alleviate these pains. This leads to the follow-up story, where drugs are used to slow down this physical pain and put himself into a semi-conscious state that serves as a bridge to evocative memories in the film.
However, compared to this method, I think the director may be able to find a more "smart" way to connect the "reality" and "memory" segments in the film. Similar to the connecting elements "water", "piano sound" and so on at the beginning of the film, it can be regarded as a more "smart" or more natural way. Normally, people's memories are evoked, often through some specific objects or similar sensory experiences, and thus memories are evoked. The most typical example is Proust's "In Search of Gone Time". In the first volume "The smell of a little Madeleine cake soaked in satin tea", "Suddenly, the memory appeared before my eyes.". In the film, the repeated use of drugs to evoke memories brings a sense of unreality and procrastination to the audience. In addition to this, another similar problem is to elicit some other characters and memories through coincidence. Whether it is the chance encounter and sudden appearance of former lovers, or the discovery of a sexually enlightened painting, this coincidence acts as a wedge to lead out the appearance of other key characters in the film or the appearance of key scenes, which is also the "imperfect" part of the film.
In addition to the above, another thing that impressed me is that I reaffirmed what I thought when I saw the film for the first time: this is a way for the director to reconcile with himself, of course, not only with himself. In the second half of the film, we can learn that the protagonist Salvador has a great source of pain because he has never been able to let go of "the death of his mother", and he has always had a sense of guilt for his mother, and he failed to make his mother proud. the son, and his mistake was simply because he "showed himself", not the way his mother wanted him to be. On the other hand, it is a reconciliation with himself, because of his physical and mental pain, that he cannot continue to create. He once said, "Without movies, my life has no meaning." Similar words. And at the end of the film, he underwent surgery and resumed writing and filming. In response to this, Almodovar, in real life, as the bearer of these pains, also used this film to make a reconciliation, turning these pains into monologues and images.
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