use of color
The film is known as "the first true color film", because in this film, color is no longer a subordinate position, but has its real symbolic and expressive power. The essence of film is a kind of time and space art, but I think it is also a kind of comprehensive art at the same time. It should absorb the essence of other traditional art forms, such as the color of painting. But this is usually overlooked in film creation. The only films I have seen so far are The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Fall, which use color to a high standard.
The first black garbage dump and muddy land are connected together, showing the destruction of the environment by industrial civilization. The heroine's own green coat is a natural color, which is incompatible with industrial civilization, thus showing the heroine's attitude towards industrial civilization at that time.
The last yellow industrial waste gas, visually let us understand that he is toxic, representing the pollution of the atmosphere caused by industrial production.
There is also the source of the title of this film "Red Desert". One of the symbolic meanings of red in this film is industrial civilization. So the ship that made the heroine terrified was red, and others such as lighthouses and signal towers were all red.
The rest of the colors are used to show the inner state of the characters. For example, the first time the hostess and Collard talked in Ugo's office, the entire office walls were light green, representing the harmony and comfort of this date.
Another meaning of red is to represent passion and sexual desire, so the room where six people play erotic games is all red, and the bed in the hotel where the heroine and Collard have sex is red.
The heroine's home is icy blue, which symbolizes her inner depression and restraint. The husband doesn't really care about her, just thinks she's sick. Can't give her any real comfort either, and family life has no passion.
When the hostess went to the hotel to find Colad, the entire corridor was basically pure white, just like her inner confusion and helplessness, only the color of Colad in front was different, which was the only possibility that could bring her comfort.
After the two had sex, the room turned pink, which was a tender romance, and the heroine gained a moment of peace in her heart.
When the heroine told her inner paradise-like story to her son, the ocean is dark blue and the beach is pink, symbolizing the beauty of nature, revealing the heroine's cause: the industrial civilization has destroyed the beauty of nature, making her soul And life is out of tune.
space scheduling
The mise-en-scene (spatial scheduling) of the film is also textbook level. The spatial position between the characters represents the relationship and inner state of each other.
When the heroine and Collard went to find Ugo, Hugo was on the dock, and the heroine and Collard stood on both sides of him, forming an equilateral triangle, symbolizing the triangular relationship between the three people. Hugo entered the house, and the heroine and Kelade talked to him at the door. At this time, the heroine's heart was more inclined towards Kelade. And Hugo came out of the room and separated the two, temporarily breaking the ambiguity. But then the heroine and Collard walked towards each other, and then walked side by side, and the two entered this ambiguous state.
When playing erotic games in the red room, first the old man's wife was reading a book in the room, and then the female worker walked into the room and lay on top of her, indicating that the two have a good relationship. Then the old man entered the house and teased the female worker in front of his wife, showing that he was not afraid of her anger. Then Hugo entered the room and touched the calf of the old man's wife, indicating that the two might also have an abnormal relationship. Then the hostess entered the room and was on both sides of the room with Ugo. At this time, her heart was estranged from Ugo. Finally Collard enters the house, and the erotic game officially begins.
During the game, the layout of three men and three women is that the old man and the female worker are in the middle, Ugo and the old man's wife are on one side, and the heroine and Collard are on the side. This is the object of desire that each other identified at that time. After the heroine finished eating the quail eggs and said that she wanted to have sex, everyone went into a carnival state, and the heroine also returned to Ugo. She didn't want to cheat, so she returned to her husband. Collard kicked through this space that symbolized desire, and everyone woke up from their lust and returned to where they should be. The old man returned to his wife, and the female worker and Collard sat separately on the side of the room.
When everyone was leaving, Collard was going to get a bag for the heroine. The heroine said that the bag was not important, and Ugo wanted to pull the heroine back into the car. Collard and Hugo formed a kind of competition for the heroine at this time, and the heroine also faced the most difficult choice. Then the four people were half-hidden in the fog, as if they were about to disappear from the screen. The heroine felt that everything in front of her (everything in life) was gradually becoming illusory, and the loud whistle awakened her fear of industrial civilization, so she drove straight. Sail to the sea.
The tragedy of industrial civilization
The title shows us the pollution of industrial production with hazy factory shots and industrial noise and the black junkyard behind. The heroine's green coat contrasts sharply with the environment, which is the color of nature. Then she made a move that everyone couldn't understand, bought some bread that a man had already eaten, and then ran away to eat it. In fact, she didn't want to go through the factory to go to the store to buy it, which fully showed the heroine's fear of industrial civilization.
The heroine suddenly woke up in her sleep, and she had the dream of falling into quicksand again. Later, we found out that she had this dream because her son's little robot was okay, and the little robot was a symbol of industrial civilization. The heroine was still afraid of industrial civilization.
Hugo is introducing the heroine's condition to Collard: because of a concussion caused by a car accident, he has a mental illness. Trucks are the production capacity of industrial civilization, and the heroine may be afraid of industrial civilization because of this disaster. But there must be a deeper reason.
The heroine later expressed her feelings at the time in the name of a little girl: the world has collapsed, and I can no longer fall in love with anyone or anything. Industrial civilization has deprived her of the ability to love. While she was in the hospital, her husband was far away in London and could not give him any comfort, which was the main reason she cheated on finding comfort: to find the ability to love.
The heroine tells a story to her son, a story about her inner paradise. The blue waters and pink sands symbolize the beauty of nature, and everything sings and is full of poetry. Compared to this, the sailboats that symbolize industrial civilization are monotonous, and she lost interest after watching it a few times. However, the rapid development of industrial civilization destroyed the beauty of nature, and the heroine lost her ability to love.
Later, she seeks comfort from Collard, only to find that Collard doesn't really love her, just covets her body and can't give her real comfort. So she left him.
The heroine chose to board the ship in an attempt to integrate into industrial civilization, but the first attempt ended in failure. She shouted hoarsely to the boatman: she was torn apart, not with her husband, but with her own body, if you pinched me, I would not feel it. Her soul is still longing for the beauty of nature, but her body is stuck in this reality full of industrial civilization, so she has this sense of separation.
Finally, the heroine wore the green coat and brought her son to the factory. The son asked: Why is the smoke yellow. She posted: Because it is poisonous. The son asked again: Will the bird be poisoned? She replied: No, they are used to flying around. She finally got used to industrial civilization and reconciled with it.
The heroine may be the only normal person, and we are the patients, accustomed to the product of industrial civilization, losing the beauty of nature and life, and deviating from the essence of life.
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