Time is something this movie plays with over and over again. At the beginning of the film, George says to the lifeless man in the mirror: Just get through the goddamn day. The film only tells one day, from waking up in the morning to the end of the night. On this day, past, present and future come together.
The past is the most vivid and real part. There are three memories of the two people's life together in the film, giving a glimpse of a perfect love. In the first paragraph, they were lying on the beach and drinking, and there were only these two people in the desolate background. The topic is the common little lover's snack vinegar, but it's not the little lover's snack vinegar, which is where Tom Ford hooks people. Neither of them was serious, there was a hint of intimacy in the game, Jim trusted, George was firm. This is the first time we see Jim up close: He is so sure about himself.
The second paragraph is the first encounter between the two. Jim is charismatic, George is calm and sullen, and he has a heart-to-heart at first sight. The shots of these memories are all beautiful and vivid. If you don't pay attention, the camera will switch. In an instant, it was lingering, and in an instant it returned to the lead-ash of reality. In the third paragraph, the two quarreled and chatted on the sofa. This time it was an old couple, so I won't say much more.
George is stuck in the past. Although the past is fresh, it is untouchable, which only adds to the sadness. His present is an illusion, false and true, only the memories are colored. There is a scene in the film where George is floating naked in the water, surrounded by a blur. That's what he's like now, everything seems to be happening underwater, there's no clear reality like on the shore, looking up from the water and seeing the scene on the shore vividly, that's his past with Jim.
It's not that George doesn't know that life is beautiful, on the contrary, he knows it better than anyone else. Tom Ford photographed the reality in the eyes of the old man, and it was a complete mess; when the camera returned to the old man, it became a stagnant pool again. When George looked out through the window rail of the toilet, the sound of the cello sounded, and time suddenly became heavy and slow, like a movie, frame by frame. The woman turned her face and found him, and the waltz-like music stopped abruptly. The camera slows down again to the music as George drives to work and passes a neighbor's garden. Anyone who has seen "The Taste of Cherry" will recognize this shot. The boxy windows frame the world in the eyes of a dying man, and the colors are like engravings. How beautiful someone else's garden is, how unreal it is for him. He knows the beauty of the world, but he has been invisibly separated from this world and trapped alone. The fence is used many times in the film, once in the toilet, once in the office, once when opening the safe, which may be a hint.
The reality is actually ready to accept him at any time. Charley, Carlos, Kenny, all want to come into his life. Charley had an old relationship with him in London and she was desperate to want him. George was very gentle with her, hugging her gently, and pushing her away even more. Carlos showed up as James Dean, frowning and smoking a cigarette, no ordinary ecstasy. He's young and sexy, has a very pure temperament, and to George, it seems like the messenger sent by the real world to prove that it is still enthusiastic. The encounter was brief and pleasant, and George ended up leaving Carlos alone in the parking lot under the setting sun. Kenny was the closest of the three to George. He almost came into his life.
He pulled him back to the present. By the end of the film, he was ready to return to this world.
And just like that , it came.
At the end of the day, the clarity of the present is replaced by the future. Death is the future.
This is just the end. I'm also too lazy to get into the question of what would have happened if he hadn't died. George's death may have other meanings, or it may be the director's pursuit of some kind of perfection. George completed his life on this day, and it was Jim who appeared in his eyes at the last moment. George stayed with Jim after all.
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