On March 31, 2021, I watched Hitchcock's "Rope" at a film viewing event organized by the Peking University Film Association. Although the hardware facilities for watching movies are not as good as that of movie theaters, this does not affect my liking of this movie at all. Since this is a master work, this movie is naturally worth watching. But I'm ashamed that this is only the second Hitchcock movie I've watched, the last "Thirty-nine Steps" was already in 2018. Perhaps the first film brought too much surprise. While this film brought me a little surprise, there was also a place where Yu did not hide his flaws.
summary of the story
The structure of the film is very simple and straightforward. In pursuit of the ultimate thrill and murderous thrill, Brandon and Philip conspired to strangle their Harvard alumnus David with a rope, and hid his body in a large trunk in the living room (used for dishes and cooking utensils). Killing is only the first part of their plan, and their second part is to ask David's parents, girlfriends, and rivals to witness the feast of Blanton's murder. Of course, in order to further enhance this pleasure, Brenton wants to experience on the wire The thrill of walking, he invited Rupert, the shrewd housemaster. Rupert was Philip, Brandon, and David's college warden, and knew the temperaments and personalities of these students. The party soon began, and Philip's unease and the suspicions of the crowd led Rupert to discover their murder, and ultimately to expose it.
Flaws don't hide your flaws, you can get better
There's actually a lot to like about this movie. The use of long shots gives the whole film continuity and a stronger sense of atmosphere. The audience is like an invitee to the party, witnessing the party together. In addition, the dramatic element of the room fills the whole movie with a sense of depression and urgency. Like the dramatic elements of "The Food Delivery Lift" and "Rear Window", the room itself is a special story scene and is the most suitable place for killing people and gatherings.
The film also leaves a lot to be desired. First of all, the reasoning of the whole movie is weak. On the one hand, the reasoning is limited to the dialogue. Except for the finishing touches of the hat and the rope, there is no more reasoning to support it, which makes it a little unpleasant to watch the movie. Secondly, in terms of character settings, Aunt's role seems to have brought some one-liners to the party, but did not bring much impetus to the plot and story. From the perspective of the main story, cutting this part does not seem to affect the movie. Third, Philip's excessive panic reduces the reasoning difficulty of the entire movie. It seems more appropriate if Philip is also a person with high IQ, or the degree of panic is reduced. Finally, the appearance of the box is too small, although the movie has involved some scenes, but there is not much in the tug of war of the box. The real contradiction in the movie is actually the box, Philip and Brandon both want to show the box and don't want to open the box, and the party-goers won't pay attention to the box, but inadvertently their attention is drawn to the box, so that the dramatic conflict will be more intense. many. However, the current setting is more of a dialogue between people, and a lot of dialogue is lethal for reasoning movies. All in all, the material and basis of reasoning are weaker.
The film's flashpoint: extreme inferiority complex and extreme arrogance
The central character of the film is Brandon, why did he plan the murder? At the beginning of the film, Philip said why he wanted to kill David, which is obviously the target determined by Brandon. Why did Brandon choose David? On the one hand, the wealth of the David family makes Brandon jealous, as Rupert said at the end of the movie that Brandon would not be as good as David. Although there are not many clues in the movie, many dialogues have hinted how good and rich David is, which is precisely the reason why Brandon chose David, inferiority complex and jealousy.
Extremely arrogant, I believe it shows incisively and vividly in the movie. Even the maid noticed the strangeness of the whole party, and Brandon was still immersed in his masterpiece, thinking that he could have no flaws, but he did not expect a hat to burn all his efforts. Extreme arrogance is Brandon's main personality trait in this film.
The film, which is ahead of its time in long takes and plot arrangements, gives the audience a god-like perspective from the start, watching the actions and words of each character and witnessing this crazy party with Brandon. But looking back, if the audience was not given God's perspective from the beginning, and the audience was kept in the dark like the people who attended the party, would it be more shocking when the whole story was discovered when the box was opened and the truth was revealed .
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