"Good nature, or what is often considered as such, is the most selfish of all virtues."
Kindness, or something like that, is the most selfish virtue.
A deeply clean, well-dressed playwright Ben Knight, who often splits into two personalities, bickering with himself every day. Most of the works are based on his own mother, but when her mother was old, she refused the proposal to live with her and sent her to a nursing home. But he was willing to give his driveway to a lonely old woman who was eccentric and dirty.
Wearing a goose yellow dress, sitting in front of the piano on the stage, she used to be so beautiful, and the fingertips jumped with smart melody. Ms. Sheppard should have lived a noble life, but she succumbed to temporary cowardice and experienced an unwarranted hit-and-run traffic accident.
"The Lady Who Lives in the Truck" describes two people who seem to be indifferent and difficult to get along with, but have been "dependent" on each other for fifteen years, in a dull way, under the appearance of restraint, to feel strong emotions. Thinking deeply about Bennett and Ms. Sheppard's bizarre behavior, even the bright colors and British humor can't hide the sigh. I like this witty bit of warmth, without rigid emotional output.
Bennett's two personalities, one kind and soft-hearted, the other rational and calm. So, one person is in charge of handling the trivial matters of life and interacting with people, while the other is indifferent and records objectively. The director's performance method shot two Bennetts, one looks funny and gentle, and the other speaks sarcastically, which are a pair of very interesting contradictions. The witty self-talk in the film justifies his thoughts and behaviors.
Between Bennett and his mother, I am sure that he loves his mother, because without real feelings, it is impossible to write a play about family love, and he will not pay attention to the details related to his mother to draw materials. He has been writing through writing. Ways to deepen the connection with the mother image in the heart. In fact, I can understand this kind of performance very well. I can express a certain kind of strong emotion, joy, anger, sorrow, and fear to friends and partners generously. But once they face their parents, they will be conservative and restrained, but their affection has never diminished from beginning to end.
It doesn't matter if he refuses his mother to stay, the welfare system is perfect enough, the conditions of the nursing home are good, and he still visits his mother often. In several places in the film, Bennett's sexuality is implicitly expressed, and he should be worried that his mother will not accept it.
When you understand the twists and turns that Ms. Shepherd has gone through, it is understandable that she is strangely withdrawn. In order to atone for her sins, she firmly believed in giving up the piano, and after countless prayers and repentance, she decided that she had sinned deeply. Therefore, she refuses to sympathize, to care, and to get along, not because of her real perverse character, but because she doesn't want that ugliness and filth to contaminate others.
It is understandable that it is understandable that if we really want to tolerate her and tolerate her, there may only be a second Bennett. But humorously, Ms. Sheppard did not thank Bennett. Instead, she felt that Bennett should be grateful to her. She pointed out that Bennett's next play would be based on her.
"It is not allowed to see whiteheads in the world", birth, old age, sickness and death are inevitable. Neighbors in the film lament that going downhill is a chore (referring to the old Ms. Shepherd), but Ms. Shepherd asks Bennett to push her up the slope in a wheelchair, and then slide down the slope in a wheelchair, which On the downhill road, she was happy like a child.
If it is just an old woman who has been traumatized, then this story may be a little pale, even though it is a person who is self-degrading self-redemption, resisting the torrent of the world, being independent and unruly, this is already a A great achievement. And the addition of this split personality writer Bennett added a lot of storytelling to the story, taking in an annoying old woman with bad smell and hygiene habits for 15 years, and resolutely refused to admit that he was "taking care" of her, Although he did everything necessary to take care of Ms. Sheppard, including accepting the little note that Ms. Shepherd left about her background, and even after Ms. Shepherd died, he was unreasonably angry that he didn't find out about her death first. The person, as if the first to discover the deceased she could prove something, looked through the window and watched the community workers busying themselves.
The relationship between Bennett and Ms. Sheppard may be reassuring, giving up the names of "friendship" and "love", and rest assured that they "use" each other and owe each other nothing. Thinking about it, it's the same, not to mention what is the real "love"? Maybe only the part that can't be expressed counts.
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