Stream of Consciousness Movie Masterpiece (for reviewing knowledge points)

Tiara 2022-10-29 11:30:45

stream of consciousness movie

Before the rise of the stream of consciousness in literature, people used to use the realism represented by Balzac to describe the visible external world in objective time sequence. Early films were greatly influenced by literature, until the theories of the psychologist Freud, the philosopher Bergson (intuitiveism) and William James converged into the "stream of consciousness" theory, which first influenced literature and then influenced the film direction. Pay attention to and dig deep into the inner world of people.


Psychotherapy

Bergman's growth experience to some extent proves Freud's theory of "childhood trauma" , and his healing method is also combined with Freud's theory of "the function of literature and art" - Freud believed that literature and art are the Adults can use the imaginative gratification of literary and artistic works to heal their wounds, Bergman said: "I find that most of these films nurture the soul, the heart, the mind, the nerves, the genitals."

Although in order to save himself, his thinking has reached a philosophical level, and he has analyzed the general psychological confusion of modern people. For Bergman, cinema is not made up of events, but mental representations that should be explored and clarified. The camera peeks into the soul, excludes dramatic conflicts, and uses metaphors and symbols to explore the difficulties of communication between people and the loneliness and pain of life in modern Western society. For this reason, his films mostly use the structure of indoor film and television dramas , showing the complicated and contradictory flow and transformation of people's hearts in small spaces.

"Modern Psychiatric Calendar" - "The repressed childhood has become the background color of all his films. All of his self-directed and self-acted works involve the following major motifs: In the face of sin, what does God do? In the face of death, is survival? Meaningful? In front of language. Can the communication between people avoid lies and misunderstandings? He is a wise man who thinks through movies, and vividly reveals the inner disability of modern people. The lack of love has become the most deadly infectious disease.


Deep meaning in the film

Dreams are mainly used to show the protagonist's subconsciousness, and at the junction of dreams and reality, they are often supplemented with inner monologues to smoothly run through the two. Dreams become the motivation of the protagonist Isaac's actions and the basis for reflection. Dreams also reflect the aftershocks of life events in his soul, and finally show the comfort and joy of the old man after realizing it.

(1) death

Shows loneliness and death . The clock has no hands, which implies that time has no meaning for Isaac, indicating that life is coming to an end; the street without people implies that Isaac has been in loneliness for a long time, and seeing a person without a face implies that Isaac has no communication partner; The carriage pulled the coffin, the corpse reached out and dragged Isaac, and the signal of death became more obvious. In the face of death, he could not find the slightest help and comfort, and the streets were terrifyingly lonely despite the strong sunlight.

Introduce narrative motivation - recalling past events and reflecting on life . Repressing the dusty past for many years, under the shadow of death, Isaac decided to face the pain and drove back to his childhood home and his mother's residence to complete the journey of life solution.

(2) Broken love

The failure of love . Returning to the old house of childhood, I see my first love Sarah again. Isaac's artistic atmosphere and religious feelings make Sarah feel inferior on the one hand, and make her feel that he is just a child on the other hand. So he lost his first love early, and before he learned to love, he lost love clumsily.

Isaac's medical career was brilliant, but his love was a failure. "Love is the best part of life, love is the deepest thing in life."

(3) Judgment

Failure, lack of self-confidence and self-doubt in love, career and family. The loss of love and the alienation of family all stem from his excessive "rationality", and extreme rationality leads to extreme indifference.

In the first quarter, Sara sat on the grass with the old Isaac without any warmth. She asked him to look in the mirror , opposite the young and beautiful Sara, which made him feel ashamed. Sara spoke sharply and left Isa behind. Ke ran into the house and kissed Sifri, playing the piano. "You know too much, but you don't know anything!" Isaac didn't know how to love .

Section II, Professional Trial. The microscope specimen turned out to be an eye; he couldn't answer the doctor's criteria; he diagnosed the patient dead, but the patient opened his eyes and laughed. The examiner gave him the crime and punishment, which was charged by his wife. Although Isaac's career was successful, in the face of death, he began to comprehensively question and judge his own life.

The third section, the wife is having an affair. Wife Karin flirts with the man and laughs wildly, then accuses Isaac that even if she is having an affair, he remains calm and silently forgives her . She took out the mirror again , looked at her aging face, and sighed at the passing of youth to her indifferent husband.

(4) Salvation

Sarah ran to the strawberry field and took the initiative to talk to Isaac. Isaac couldn’t find his parents, and Sarah helped. She led him across the golden grass stained by the setting sun, and saw the picturesque scene, the warmth, harmony and calmness of the parents by the lake.

Ultimate practical meaning: When he repents and learns to love, he is forgiven and becomes a person worthy of love.


Stream of consciousness in film

The film got rid of the past tradition of film attaching to literature or stage play, and used distinctive film techniques to express the stream of consciousness of the characters.

The biggest advantage: the transition of fantasy to reality is very natural, and dreams, memory and reality blend seamlessly. The sound is too soft.

Novelty: Present tense and past tense, people in reality and people in dreams are juxtaposed in the same picture. This method embodies the idea of ​​stream of consciousness: to break the boundaries of time and space, give full play to the characteristics of psychological consciousness that can freely move between time and space, and freely integrate the past and the present, dream and reality, memory and imagination, etc. The audience will always forget the boundary between dreams and reality, because of the blurring of the boundaries of time and space, the old Isaac's reflective consciousness always runs through every fragment of dreams and reality, becoming the invisible protagonist of the whole film.

The responses of Sarah and the old Isaac in the four dreams are related to the degree of awakening . This kind of plot setting is also the main line of the protagonist's reflection consciousness. Every step forward in reflection and understanding, the dream becomes more beautiful.

"Inner monologue"

Inner monologue is a technique that stream-of-consciousness theorists attach great importance to. Du Chardin, a pioneer of stream-of-consciousness novels, believes that a person's inner monologue "can express his most secret and closest unconscious thoughts". He advocates that artists should not interfere with the characters' words and deeds. Respect the character's established character and let the character "tell a story to himself, not to the reader" inwardly, so as to achieve a high degree of inner truth.

In addition to expressing the character's true mood, the "inner monologue" also helps to connect the "narrative time" (the time the character is currently telling) to the "event event" (the time when past events occurred). Isaac is now talking about the past. In fact, he is no longer objectively reproducing the past, but brings the mood of the present into the words and tone, thereby breaking the barriers of time and merging the past and the present, events and moods.

And the effect of this fusion of time and space is exactly what stream-of-consciousness art strives to pursue.

In the end, the use of "dreamland" and "inner monologue" ensures that the protagonist's psychological consciousness runs through the entire film, making the "invisible protagonist", as described by the theory of stream of consciousness, always like a surging river. never interrupted.


The hitchhiker symbolizes the first love Sara, and the two boys are the rational Isaac and the emotional Isaac. The question of the importance of spirit and flesh, emotion and reason in life is raised. Facing the boy's question: Which is more valuable in the science of religion? He recited a poem:

Where are the friends I've been looking for everywhere? Dawn is a time of loneliness and nostalgia. When dusk falls, I am still looking forward to it.
Although my heart is burning and burning. I see traces of his glory... I see traces of his glory and power,
Among the ears of wheat and flowers....in every sigh and breath of the air.
There is his love, his voice whispers in the summer breeze...

It implies Isaac's yearning for love and his remorse for his emotional failure.

But the girl said goodbye to Isaac before she left: The one I really love is you, today, tomorrow, and forever.


Daughter-in-law Marianne is pregnant, and son Eward is reluctant to have children, because he hates the family where his parents are at odds, and even hates inheriting the lineage. The daughter-in-law found that from Isaac's mother to her husband, everyone in the family was cold and lonely. She hoped that her children would not inherit this kind of character. "We must stop this cycle!"


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Extended Reading

Wild Strawberries quotes

  • Dr. Evald Borg: It's absurd to bring children into this world and think they'll be better off than we were.

    Marianne Borg: That's just an excuse.

    Dr. Evald Borg: Call it what you want. I was an unwanted child in a hellish marriage.

  • Marianne Borg: You're a coward.

    Dr. Evald Borg: Yes. This life sickens me. I will not be forced to take on a responsibility that will make me live for one day longer than I want to. And you know that I mean what I say.