"After writing and directing five feature films, I finally got the chance to make the comedy I've always wanted to make." Harry, a blind playwright, recalls 14 years ago. In fact, his real name is Mateo. He used to be a small accomplished film director. In 1994, he was preparing for the shooting of the new film "Woman and Suitcase", which is the comedy.
It's a typical play-within-a-play, a tactic used by the Spanish ghost director Pedro Almodóvar, tried and tested for decades, such as inserting "Desire Express" in "All About My Mother" , inserting the mime "Shrunk Lover" in "Tell Her". The latest "Broken Embrace" is the maximization of a play within a play, about the tragic love between a male director and an actress. This is also the fourth time that Almodovar and Penélope Cruz have been together.
As early as 1993, when Almodovar was filming "Kika", the two had contact, but Almodovar thought that Cruz was still a little immature, so she was not allowed to play for the time being. The first time they really worked together was in 1997, when Cruz's role in the movie "Living Fragrance" was insignificant and only appeared for ten minutes. Almodovar is undoubtedly Cruz's Bole, and it is such a short ten minutes that it paved the way for Cruz to go from Spain to Hollywood. In 1999, Almodovar made a film "All About My Mother" that swept the awards at major film festivals around the world, and Cruz played a supporting actress again. There aren't many plays, it's enough to be superb, and Cruz has won the best supporting actress more than once. Cruz actually played the female lead in Almodovar's film in 2006's "Return".
There are not many films that the two have collaborated on, there are only four of them, but Almodovar always praised Cruz on different occasions: "She is a natural actress."
And Cruz admired Almodovar even more . She had seen all of Almodóvar's films as a teenager, and she aspired to be an actress.
Between reality and fiction,
Mateo is modifying the script of "Woman and Suitcase" in the office. A wealthy businessman's "second wife" is about to audition. Mateo's agent Judy reminds him: For such a rich master , let's be polite.
The audition was terrible, and it was clear that instead of focusing on work, Mateo focused on his mistress Lena, who was amazing. Years later, Harry recalls seeing Lena for the first time and it was love at first sight. The two fell in love, and it was a matter of course.
Can we see this movie as a parody of real life? In "Broken Embrace," the director and actor developed a fiery romance. In the actual film work, Almodovar is cautious, he stated: "When I made all the films, I never had sexual relations with any actress. This is the principle of my life. Because that will affect the work." Of course, this should be his rational control of his emotions, because there is a lesson, as early as the 1980s, when he was filming with actress Carmen Maura (Carmen Maura) There were emotional entanglements during the movie, which seriously affected their work status.
There are always so many beautiful women in Almodovar's movies, and there are also several queen actresses. As he said, he will not have sex with actresses.
Through "Broken Embrace", did Almodovar subconsciously indulge his own desires unscrupulously - to hide his ears in the ideal form of art?
Love and Hidden Rules
The "hidden rules" of the TV and film industry have always been a secret topic. As for directors marrying actors and actresses, it is not new, such as China's Feng Xiaogang to Xu Fan, Chen Kaige to Chen Hong, and Gu Changwei to Jiang Wenli, as well as Hong Kong's Chen Kexin and Wu Junru, etc.
There are also some lace news, maybe they are just a working relationship, but this working relationship is really important to them. For example, Gao Yuanyuan made a debut in Wang Xiaoshuai's "Seventeen-Year-Old Bicycle", and later entered the game smoothly. Commercial film industry. Zhang Jingchu has made a lot of movies and TV series before, but because of Gu Changwei's "Peacock", he has become famous internationally. Wang Quan'an and Yu Nan achieved each other's achievements. The former directed the movie "Lunar Eclipse" for the first time, and the latter showed good charm in the first acting. There is no doubt that Yu Nan became Wang Quan'an's early royal heroine, and the couple's relationship was also semi-public, but they broke up in the end.
Just like the gossip that once grabbed the limelight, Zhang Yimou was in favor of Gong Li. They also had a relationship that was semi-public. The second-generation "seeking girl" Zhang Ziyi also had an affair with Zhang Yimou. The result of the two generations of actresses is to go international. Whether a big-name director has a star-making plan, the entertainment industry simply names these female stars with face, body, and scandal, but controversial in terms of acting skills: "Star Girl", "Ann Girl", "" "Feng Girl", "Jing Girl", "Peak Girl", "Rock Girl"...
And in "Broken Embrace", the love between Mario and Lena is not the "unspoken rule" that everyone calls it. Love is enough to fall apart.
The Bottom Line of Desire
Cruz's Lena had a close relationship with the director. The wealthy old businessman soon noticed something was wrong, and sent his son to "track and report" Mario and Lena's every move under the pretext of a documentary.
Mario and Lena are both restrained by wealthy businessmen, because the wealthy businessmen have money and are investors in the film "Women and Suitcases". Before the movie could be finished, the couple eloped quickly, because Lena could no longer stand the tyranny of the rich businessman.
In retaliation, the wealthy businessmen bribed the film's staff to choose unsatisfactory scenes, cut the film into an idiot film, and advertised its premiere in newspapers. At this time, the son of the wealthy businessman also tracked down the elopement. Mario wants to go back to town to find out what's going on, but when he and Lena are driving back, they have an unfortunate accident. The whole process was photographed by the son of a wealthy businessman, and it was also from beginning to end.
In this car accident, Lena was killed in Huangquan, and Mario saved his life but went blind. Mario can no longer make movies, but he can still write scripts, and he lives in the world under the name of Harry...
Almodovar is good at making movies about women, and in this "Broken Embrace", to men And women's attention can be equated with. In addition, the son of a wealthy businessman in the movie appears as a homosexual. Just like the two special movies "The Law of Desire" and "Bad Education", many people regard them as the presentation of Almodovar's autobiography. , the concern for homosexuals and the questioning of religion reflect Almodóvar's life in his youth. He himself has said that the experiences of his youth are reflected in the film. Almodovar said that he had no sexual interest in actresses, and only Cruz provoked his desire.
Although Cruz is a promiscuous woman, she has been changing boyfriends in recent years, all of them are famous actors, such as Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Josh Haney Josh Hartnett. Today, Cruz's new boyfriend is Javier Bardem, whom he met while filming the Woody Allen movie "Midnight in Barcelona." But Cruz did not have a spark of love with Almodovar after all. In addition to desire, they were more of mutual respect and admiration.
"Broken Embrace" is gay director Almodovar's 17th feature film and his most expensive film to date. In fact, "Woman and Suitcase", which is a "play within a play", was adapted from his movie "Woman on the Brink of Mental Breakdown" 20 years ago. The heroine of this old movie is Carmen Mora, and Mora also So it became a hit. At that time, Almodovar may have had a desire for women.
20 years later, Cruz's sexy starred in "Broken Embrace", and also re-interpreted "Woman on the Brink", and director Almodovar also embraced those broken times. It is reported that Almodovar's latest film "The Skin I Live In" (The Skin I Live In) is expected to be staged this year and next year, and its heroine is still Cruz. The story of a man and a woman, or the story of a director and an actress, isn't over, it's not over.
(Text/Wu Duoyun "Men Li" July 2010 issue of the print media draft, please do not transfer)
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