In fact, what was written in the winter vacation water competition was not lifted by anyone!
I. Introduction
The film "The Bookstore" is based on Penelope Fitzgerald's novel of the same name. The story takes place in Harburg, a remote town in England, where Florence, a widow for many years, broke through many obstacles and opened a bookstore in an old local house. In 1959, when Nescafé was still a novelty, no one in the town loved literature. In addition, the vicious Mrs. Garmat never gave up the idea of turning the old house into an art center, and used her power to persecute Florence everywhere. Except for Mr. Brundich, who lives alone, and Christine, a precocious little girl, no one cares about the bookstore's survival. In the end, Florence could only leave under the indifferent gaze of others - "because she has lived in a small town for nearly ten years and does not need a bookstore". [1] The film is calm and restrained, the pictures are neat and beautiful, and the narration is eloquent. It is elegant like an English gentleman, but it shows the real humanity quietly. The despicableness of human nature is cruel, but kindness and trust have not disappeared, and can always tug at our heartstrings. The success of the film adaptation is largely due to the excellent narrative style, and its consistent and delicate expression holds up the heavy film theme.
2. Narrative features and theme presentation
"Bookstore" is always interspersed with a female voice narrator, who is responsible for supplementing the psychological activities of the characters or completing the connection between the stories. This is an all-knowing narrator, who is outside the screen, does not participate in the story, and just plays the role of "storyteller". However, with the end of the bookstore story, the stars shifted between shots, and the identity of "her" was also revealed - it turned out that the narrator who ran through the entire movie was actually the person in the story. The woman who has grown old is Christine, the little girl who helped Florence manage the bookstore. Years later, she tells about this experience that has affected her life. She used to hate reading so much, but now she runs a bookstore. As a result, the audience was able to walk out of the regret of the bookstore closing, rejoice in this warm inheritance, and imagine the decades that were omitted from the film. After being beaten head-on by the cold and hypocritical of the townspeople, Florence left with her head held high, Christine burned the bookstore, and the story seemed unsatisfactory; at the end of the film, the audience saw the neatly arranged books in the bookstore again, as if yesterday had reappeared , couldn't help but smile - the girl inherited Florence's kindness and bravery, and also guarded her original intention and dignity.
Letters are one of the important "props" that move the story forward, and the movie is also quite ingenious in handling the scenes of correspondence between different people. The letter writers read the letter directly, and at the same time restore the situation of their letter writing at that time, and present the content between round trips, which is smooth and compact. More representative in the film are several correspondence between Florence and Mr. Brundich and lawyer Thornton. Mr. Brundich's letters were always delivered by children, in a concise and rigorous style, as if he was sitting at a long table in the center of the picture when he read the content; Florence's reply to him was gentle and polite, There is also a curiosity about the elderly when the books are attached. The two have been friends for a long time in the discussion books, and although they have not met, they have established a confidant-like friendship between correspondence. In the confrontation with lawyers, Florence showed a completely different side: her eloquence was almost acerbic, which made the lawyers who were strong outsiders lose ground, and even the pace of the secretary in the office was no longer calm when writing letters. Florence's unyielding reply gives her a brief victory, but it also hints at her inevitable defeat—the town is almost a vulgar realist, the bookstore idealist in their ruthless Under the "encirclement and suppression", there is actually no chance.
The film does not start a narrative from a specific point of view of one person, but records a series of actions carried out by different people in the town around the bookstore like a documentary. Harburg is a small town with no secrets. Everyone in the town knows each other. Gossip spreads far faster and is more popular than the truth. Florence helps the fisherman Deben to tie the rope, unsuspectingly hires Milo as a bookstore employee, and cares about the Christine family, but most of them lead wolves into the house.
When Florence was forced to leave the old house, the film meaningfully presented a set of splicing shots: the people in the town stood in front of the glass windows or stared, or peeped, silently or complacently watched her failure, admiring each other's failure. A tacit ending. It is not only the numb people in the town who are "watched", but also the ruthless and strict class behind them; it is not only the upright Florence who is "watched", but also us watching the movie - showing the indifference and despicableness After human nature, the people in the film seem to be peeping at us through the screen, silently testing our bottom line.
3. Film adaptation and theme presentation
"Bookstore" is a film that fits the original book quite well. Several excellent adaptations even sublimate the theme, making the film more dramatic and the theme more in-depth.
The plot of the haunted old house was deleted from the film, the mystery of the story dissipated, and the realism of the film became more vivid. The uncontrollable factor disrupting the operation of the bookstore is gone, but the fate of the bookstore being forced to close will not change in the slightest. In fact, "Haunted" has little effect on the bookstore. Florence has enough courage to overcome the fear caused by ghosts and gods, but she cannot stop the small town people who have succumbed to the power to defect. Wandering hopelessly in the trap. Florence, like Lolita in the first book she introduced to the town, has always suffered from malicious slander from those around her.
In the film, Florence and Mr. Brundich's relationship is more plump. The two communicated through letters, and they met only once in the original book, but they had an unspeakable tacit understanding. The film adds romance to the duo's friendship, not only enriching the details of their first meeting in the manor, but also arranging their second meeting by the sea. These two friends who often read together at the beach did not "cross the border", but possessed a purer and nobler emotion than love. The old gentleman, like a Florence knight, defended her bravery and dignity, and was willing to discuss for her to walk out of the manor that had been closed for many years; The first outburst of uncontrollable outbursts came upon hearing the slander of Brundish. People who live in books will inevitably run into walls everywhere after they walk out of the book, but the two people who love books see each other's sincerity in the smears of the world.
The ending of the old house being burned down by Christine is even more dramatic. This girl who lives at the bottom and is too precocious knows more about the indifference and unbearableness of human nature than Florence, and has more determination and insight to survive. Her friendship with Florence spanned the ages, bound by a bond of love and kindness. There is a warmth rarely seen in the whole film between the two: Florence gave the lacquer ware brought back from China by the girl's grandfather, and Christine worked hard to maintain the operation of the bookstore. In the end, she "would rather be broken than tiles", burning down the dilapidated old house that was once full of books, rather than leaving it to a pompous and snobbish art center. Touchingly, Kristin carefully removed the last few books left on the shelf before taking action—though she might not be able to open them for the rest of her life when she hated reading—before setting the house on fire. Mr. Brundich, who loves books, always tore off the flashy covers of books and threw them into the fireplace, while Christine, who never read books, guarded the last remains of the bookstore. At the pier, the little girl said goodbye to Florence, who was leaving, holding a book. She was relatively silent, but she was so firm.
4. Summary
"A good book is the painstaking work of a master, a life beyond life, and it is worth cherishing and cherishing forever." Although the movie "Bookstore" is not a book, it brings us the same feeling - it is subtle and meaningful. Without losing strength.
Bookstores are the habitation of the soul, and the old house bookstore, which is targeted everywhere, also carries a vigorous and fearless soul. I remembered a detail in the film that impressed me: Christine was dissatisfied with the behavior of customers who only watched but not bought, and complained to Florence that the bookshelves she had organized were messed up; Florence replied to her : "Reading at will is the tradition of bookstores. You should allow them to stand there and look at them casually." Because of the tacit approval of every bookstore operator, this world has become a place that lights up many people's dreams— - They will never be alone in the bookstore, because the light of humanistic care is always burning there.
Florence's bookstore sells many kinds of books: religion, medicine, sports, gardening... And her purpose for literary books is "only good novels", literature between spiritual, secular and practical is still Have a place in the old house bookstore. In such a small town where everyone thinks that "understanding makes thinking lazy", literature is obviously rare. Even if reading is probably a cow chewing peonies, Florence still stubbornly guards the dignity of literature. The townspeople were snobbish and selfish, and they abandoned the dilapidated old house; Florence repaired the house so that it was no longer lonely. Florence is a kind, strong, self-respecting idealist: she wears a very ill-fitting red dress at the banquet, but she can calmly accept other people's strange gazes, and even leniently joke that it is actually a deep garnet color; She failed without shame because no one could take away her inner courage and love of books. She tried her best to survive, and she still held her head high when she failed - like an old house, like literature, although dilapidated, she did not lose her dignity. The film "Bookstore" reiterated this feeling with excellent narrative and adaptation, bringing us comfort and warmth.
[1] [English] Penelope Fitzgerald, translated by Zhang Ju: Bookstore, CITIC Publishing House, April 2019, p. 142.
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