The whole movie is like a fairy tale. Every old man assumes the role of a life mentor, preaching by example, and telling a truth with his own life experience.
Among them, the one who moved me the most was an old man named Darling. When she was young, she had outstanding looks and excellent diving talent. She should have had an extraordinary life, but unfortunately she met a man. The latter story inevitably falls into a rut, with Darling becoming a housewife and her husband running around for a living. The vow of world travel during the time of love has gradually been submerged in the daily trivialities.
The turning point of the story is in a small pond.
After the marriage, Darling gave birth to several children, and the eldest daughter has grown up gracefully, with a bit of the style of her youth. One afternoon, the eldest daughter had an argument with Darling about going to school. Because the family conditions can only allow one child to go to school, it is natural to leave it to the younger brother, and the eldest daughter is dissatisfied. During the quarrel, Darling blurted out: "Women don't need to go to school, they just need to be a housewife."
Looking at the eldest daughter who left angrily, Darling fell into contemplation. She began to reflect on her current life and remembered her diving dream.
Here, the story is still unremarkable. But what happened next made me feel very uneasy.
On the afternoon of the quarrel, Darling's husband was digging a small pond in the yard. When asked the reason, he looked at Darling affectionately and said, "I want to dig a swimming pool for you, I hope you can continue to swim. Hearing her husband's words, Darling was shocked at first, then moved, and finally said casually: "But dear, this swimming pool is too small." Unexpectedly, the husband answered immediately: "That can be given to the eldest daughter. She wants to raise goldfish..." Darling looked at the pitifully small "pool" and instantly understood everything.
And when I saw this, I was choked up in my heart. Every housewife is just a shadow of the family, and they will always be the one who gives silently. Does Darling's husband not know his wife's hard work and sacrifice? He knew, otherwise he wouldn't have said that answer when asked again. But all he can do is know, because he can't really do anything for Darling's sacrifice, not even a swimming pool. In the family, the husband and children always come first.
And at the end, the elderly Darling sat alone by the small dry pond, reading the draft that floated by, and wrote his destiny on it.
The shock of such an overhead shot is far greater than the strong sense of fate.
The reason why I like this shot so much is because it doesn't have a lot of color, deliberately depicting the tragic fate of a housewife who is imprisoned and consumed, but naturally shows this thing from an outsider's perspective.
And at a certain moment in this scene, I suddenly realized Darling's situation. As if I were a member of the house, "I" became Darling's child. One morning, or a Sunday, or a boring afternoon, "I" skipped class and returned to my second-floor room, and by chance looked out the window and saw such a scene. "Mom" sat alone by a small pond that did not belong to her, lonely and in a daze.
The unspeakable tragic fate was suddenly refined into countless such trivial daily life at this moment, and everything was concentrated in such a moment. "Mom" is thinking about her own life, while "I" is watching the struggle and demise of an individual life.
At the end of the story, did Darling really reconcile with himself? maybe.
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