Whether it's books or movies, or what you've met or heard, everything that doesn't leave a mark on you is not considered experience. However, what can leave traces on you must have already been there.
Now I can understand their pain and despair, their fear and ecstasy. Living the life of a beggar, sleeping on the streets, eating food discarded by others, and bathing in the open air with a communal faucet, this self-imposed exile is precisely because of fear. Hans was unable to face the death of his daughter and wife, while Michelle was in the midst of a love-hate entanglement with her first love, and needed to use life to escape reality. It can be easily seen that this is also a person who has been heartbroken by life and has abandoned faith and hope--because of this, the relationship between Michelle and him is so precious, almost a success. All the strength he needs to survive.
Two equally mutilated (spiritual and physical) people meet in a dilapidated and dirty reality. They didn't fall in love at first sight - that thing was just a fantasy of some eldest sisters and aunts when they were young. They were extremely cautious, and they gradually approached each other's boundaries with extreme anxiety, and carefully extended their tentacles to probe each other. It is a very difficult thing. People who have been deeply hurt by life are afraid of being hit again, but they also want to be affirmed and accepted. Then they fell in love. Love is as dazzling and fascinating as the fire tree and silver flowers on the night of the Paris city celebration - this kind of impulse and ecstasy mixed with passion and curiosity, but it is adored by the crazy superstition and worship of modern people. Become a myth - but what is dazzling can never last. The next day, Alex waited anxiously all night, wanting to hear Michelle tell him the secret words of I love you, but Michelle rejected him-to a lover who had just killed himself for many years. For women, what is a night of carnival?
At this time, the words of old Hans moved Michelle. Old Hans has always opposed Michelle living on their site, it turned out that his wife was like this, a woman who lived alone on the street and died tragically. Hans said to Michelle, you are still young and have hope, and you should seek a better life. At this time, Michelle uttered Alex's code words. She was determined to stay in this life because it made her feel easier, so she needed to choose Alex, a lover. So, they finally began to live together.
How difficult it is for two people to get along. They have suspicions, estrangements, and even conflicts. One night, Michelle followed Old Hans to the art gallery to see paintings. Michelle didn't begrudge her embrace (what a beautiful and friendly heart), she let Hans hug her, kiss her, touch her, and comfort him gently, you have to be careful of your heart... (tears dripping) Old Hans found the beauty of the long-lost life in young Michelle, so he couldn't bear this kind of life any longer, and soon fell into the river and died... And Alex thought that Michelle would leave without saying goodbye, so he wanted to die. At dawn, when Michelle came back, Alex rushed up without saying a word and punched her hard. Michelle was aggrieved and angry, and fought him. But then she found dense wounds on Alex's belly - in the worry and fear of losing, Alex pierced his body with broken glass...
Even if it is so difficult to get along with, what a blessing it is to have company. They use the money they "cheated" (the episode of cheating money is the most light-hearted and slightly sarcastic part of the whole film, witty and funny, making people laugh) to travel. On the seashore, on the deserted beach before dusk, run naked, and then embrace each other on the beach; on the mountain, in the deep and empty valley behind the snow, walk hand in hand; then they return to their On the bridge that depends on each other. Michelle's eyes are getting worse and worse, and she is almost blind, so she needs Alex more, and Alex is happy for this dependence and need for him. This kind of dependence and need is the affirmation of Alex's almost desperate life and the strength that supports Alex's survival. This is by no means love, not a splendid and fleeting passion like fireworks - something beautiful and powerless, but the kindness that accompanies each other in hardship and ordinary and difficult daily life. Zweig said that love is gratitude and humility. The more warmth and affection obtained in a barren land, the more precious and intense it is. "Alex, I'm going to be blind. When I'm blind, you will be the last figure left in my mind..."
Michelle never mentioned her past, but her past has always affected her reality. Alex knew that Michelle was a child of a middle-class family, she came from a world completely different from her own, so she was even more afraid of losing. He would rather live a miserable and penniless life, so he uses all kinds of methods to destroy Michelle's connection with the past - he makes Michelle accidentally throw all their money into the Seine, he sets fire to it Burned the posters looking for Michelle all over the street. Alex is like a naive and persistent child, clinging to his favorite toy and refusing to let go. But Alex doesn't have the same heart as a child. If he is taken away from the thing he relies on most, he doesn't know how to live - Michelle left a message to him and said, Alex, I don't really love Get over you, forget me, and go home to heal and disappear into Alex's life. Alex took out his pistol and blew his left hand, and muttered, no one taught me how to forget...
After serving two years in prison, Alex finally came to Michelle. She was cured of her eye disease, healthier and more beautiful than ever. She says she still loves him deeply and sees him every night in her dreams, so they make an appointment to meet on the bridge when Alex is released from prison a year later. But at this time, Michelle had already had a new life. (I didn't understand the foreign name on that house number, but I believe it was Michelle's husband's surname.) A year later, they had a happy date on the bridge, very happy. Three hours later Michelle said she had to go home and refused to explain. Alex was very annoyed and jumped off the bridge with her in his arms. As they floated up from the water, they encountered a large ship. The old couple on the boat said they were going to sail until the end. So Michelle and Alex follow them on their journey. The story ends on a happy, ebullient ending. But I believe that it is not that the director has tampered with reality in order to meet the audience's expectations of perfection, but his belief in life and people's hearts.
The truth of the matter is likely that Alex blows his head off when Michelle leaves. Or even more cruelly, after he was released from prison, he met Michelle on the street, but Michelle could only look at him across the street, and then left in a hurry. But facing the truth is not brave, at best sober. After understanding the reality, you can still believe, dare to show yourself, and accept others. This is the proper attitude. In this world, people are strangers, but what people can rely on is the mercy of strangers.
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