I remember a writer saying that the most beautiful scenery in the world is a woman.
We often discuss how a person and a woman are beautiful. Is beauty a face? In Fowles's writings, there is a woman who is not very good-looking but attracts a man who values his reputation to be with her at all costs. Sarah's eyes are like the sea, unpredictable and distant, making Charles fall in love at first sight. She has a unique way of thinking and an independent character different from the times. Beauty is a kind of temperament, a kind of uniqueness that is incompatible with the surrounding, noble and mysterious, like a mystery, falling into her deep and melancholy eyes, you will forget the way back.
Falling in love with a beautiful woman is a romantic thing. Charles and Mike both thought so. That's right, there are four protagonists in this movie to be exact, but only two. The director uses an avant-garde time-space interlaced structure to tell the story and love that happened in two different time and space. In the past and in reality, they are similar but not the same. One is a comedy and the other is a tragedy. One is a lofty and lonely Sarah, one is a star girl in Vanity Fair, one is a baron who gave up fame and fortune for love, and one is an actor who cheated in marriage and separated from Anna. . A pair is a lover who combines soul and flesh, and a pair is a lover who loves men and women. These two lines tell the story in parallel, and the endings do not overlap.
The layered structure, or what we call a play within a play, was undoubtedly a huge breakthrough in 1981. How to make transitions and connections so as not to make the audience feel confused in time and space and to ensure the beauty and quality of the film is very important, which is also a point that the director has done very well.
It's an excellent transition from reality to the past, and the director seamlessly connects three main aspects to complete this epic segment. The first is the excellent performance of the actors. The actress Streep perfectly interprets the transformation of Anna, who was absent from the center of real life and walked to the seaside causeway, into Sarah, who was full of passion and walked on the causeway in the past, realizing the transformation of the role. . The second is the change in composition. From the opening of the scene board, the staff who appeared in the scene, the props for setting off fireworks, etc., slowly disappeared as the actors walked towards the long embankment, realizing the transition of the scene. The third is the change in music, from the simultaneous recording of the noisy movie shooting venue to the slow enjoyment of the "Music belonging to Sarah" that appeared many times in the latter part to achieve a change in artistic conception. These three shifts quickly transport audiences into the era of the last century.
Besides, a particularly impressive transition is the second transition after the beginning, from the marriage proposal to the actual morning sleep of Mike and Anna. Unlike the seamless connection at the beginning, the transition this time is clear and straightforward. Through a very important prop, the phone. It can be distinguished from the clear and crisp telephone ringtones that are unique to modern times. It is worth mentioning that in the past, the first encounter between Charles and Sarah was eye contact, love at first sight, and the approach of the soul. In reality, the first appearance of Mike and Anna was indeed naked on the bed, It's a physical fit. In the past, going to bed was the end of the courtship process between men and women, and it was also the most difficult to achieve. However, in modern society, going to bed has become the starting point of the courtship process of modern men and women. A pair is a love that fits the soul and flesh, and a pair is a lover who is a man and a woman in the flesh. Perhaps two pairs of men and women are destined to have completely different endings from the beginning.
In addition to the sound of the props, the transitions of actions and lines are also used many times, such as transitioning from a rehearsal fall in reality to a fall in the past, and from going to London in reality to going to London in the past tense. The transition makes the two disparate parts into an organic whole. And the director makes the two parts have their own characteristics and distinctive features in terms of color, camera movement and narrative style.
In the past time, the overall tone was darker, and there were more rainy and cloudy days, but in reality, the tone was more bright. Delicate handling of local colors Different colors represent the images and characteristics of different characters. For example, Sarah's black dress represents her twisted and suppressed psychology, her lonely and mysterious soul. And Anna's dress is bright and colorful, representing the open women of the new era, sexy and charming. In the same time and space, the black that Sarah wears contrasts with the red and purple of Stina, one is lofty and the other is secular. The change of clothes is also the externalization of the character's psychology. For example, Charles' clothes changed from dark to light colors, and Sarah also changed from the original black to a white dress at the moment of reunion. In reality, Mike transitioned from light color to dark color, which is the externalization of Mike who was trapped in it from the initial love of fish and water.
In the past time and space, the lens is mainly fixed lens, which represents a kind of stability of the known results that happened in the past. And now the lens in the space-time is dominated by the movement lens, which represents an unstable factor that is happening now. At the same time, the purpose of doing this is to distinguish the dramatic performance from the life-like atmosphere. In order to achieve this, the director also worked hard on the plot and the performance of the actors. For example, in the past time and space, the plot conflicts were obviously closely arranged, with obvious beginnings and turns, and the actors' performances and lines all had obvious stage play characteristics. In reality, the plot is downplayed, conflicts are hidden, there is no obvious succession and transition, and the action lines are not strong and random. Even actors often appear naked in order to portray the state of life. Thereby, it can distinguish the relationship between the past and the present, in the play and outside the play.
The endings of these two distant stories, they take place in the same place. But one ends in a sunny day and one ends in a dark night. Sarah is a landscape, only Charles runs to her, only he can appreciate her beauty. But Mike is not Charles, he does not love Anna's soul. But Anna is very like Sarah, and finally she and Sarah gave up the tryst for self and freedom and left Mike. Sara is beautiful, her beauty is out of tune with the environment and the times, and has the thinking of modern people. Anna is also beautiful, but her beauty is given by the times. It is the unique beauty of Sarah that Charles loves deeply. Rather than saying that Mike loves Anna, it is better to say that Mike loves Anna with Sarah's shadow. Therefore, although these two stories have some similarities, the similarity is more of a contrast.
I can't help but sigh that life is like a play, but it's not a play after all!
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