1. Synopsis
The film tells the story of a female worker who returns from sick leave only to be told that she has been voted off. 16 people unanimously chose the latter between the bonus and her dismissal, which made her disheartened. She persuaded her boss to vote again on Monday. She had two days for everyone to change their minds: visit, make phone calls, and do their ideological work. In the end, 8 out of 16 people supported the bonus, and 8 supported her. Not because of the majority vote, she was destined to be fired. The turning point of the story is that the boss finally said that in order to consider the work mood of the workers, everyone can get bonuses, and she can stay, but a black temporary worker who supports her will not be able to sign a new contract with the factory. The heroine rejected the decision.
2. Film structure
We can label this story with two words - "persuasion", and see the shadow of 12 Angry Men. Unlike the latter, the plot of each narrative unit develops in isolation to a certain extent, and does not have much connection with each other. At the same time, the outcome of each small story is often doomed, or we cannot see the possibility of changing the decision, and the limited change is not full. As soon as each person appears on the stage, it indicates the inevitability of a certain outcome. The choice of the black man left the audience with more imagination and imagined what kind of psychological struggle he went through, but he was only a single person. As far as the theme of the story is concerned, it is not as serious as the latter-judicial fairness; if it boils down to the struggle between personal interests and moral demands, there is a risk of falling into a grand narrative and breaking away from the text.
During the viewing process, the protagonist's final ending haunted his mind. The following possibilities are envisaged:
(1) Change the views of most people, and finally successfully stay. If so, then the film is completely unworthy of mention.
(2) Without changing the minds of the majority, she lost the game of interests and was fired. If so, then this is a very real tragedy.
(3) Foreman Jean Mark's "intimidation" was revealed, and everyone was happy. Fortunately, this is not the case, otherwise it would be absurd.
This ending, more or less surprising, makes sense, and is better than I thought. .
3. Contradictions
The contradictions presented in the film are worth pondering.
(1) Personal interests and the interests of others (self-morality)
We put ourselves in the shoes and make a choice without difficulty. It is unrealistic to carry forward the "spirit" when living in poverty. And those so-called good intentions, or make the background of life retreat intentionally or unintentionally, or self-salvation of some kind of gratitude, or the spiritual comfort of invoking religion - without exception, personal interests are to be eliminated or even ignored, not participate in this game. This kind of consideration seems to be too harsh, that is, decisions that require a more "bigger" and more "noble" are based on full consideration of personal interests. To take a step back, the moral premise of "Cang Lin is truthful and aware of etiquette" is by no means groundless. We can also, like the protagonist, give some tolerance and understanding to those who support bonuses.
(2) Individual and collective
This seems to be intractable. Voter identities are obliterated in the exercise of collective power. Anything intended to express personal feelings would be considered "heretic". The consequence of being defined as heresy is expulsion. Of course, we do not see some kind of sharp opposition that the film itself presents, and we can conceive of the inevitability of this contradiction. The black man said that he was driven by his beliefs and tended to make decisions that were beneficial to the protagonist, but he also stated the risk behind this: he was isolated and could not get a contract in the end. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the ruthless rape of the individual will by collective power.
(3) Hope and
Despair The struggle between hope and despair and the transformation of the protagonist make her image three-dimensional and full.
Her hopelessness is diverse: the denial of her colleagues, the self-blame caused by the disease, the embarrassment of life that cannot be repaired by drugs, the difficult resonance of her colleagues' life, the frustration after being rejected, the guilt stemming from her own disputes, The coldness of the relationship with the lover - all this hastened her self-denial: useless, I can't do it. Anna Karenina begins by preaching almost truthfully: every unhappy family has its own unhappy family. This kind of misfortune, based on the realistic focus on the bottom group of society, reveals a sense of despair in society.
Her hope, or the hope of the society, is now and again: a grateful reward for a good intention in the past, a lovely child and a supportive partner, the company of her relatives after taking an overdose of alprazole, Temporary catharsis under rock music, the support of 8 people.
This interweaving of hope and despair is ups and downs and uncertain, but the director intends to return to the best sustenance for the relationship between people at the end.
The protagonist finally said on the phone: a beautiful victory. Why do you say that? Are you going to start looking for a job? We may interpret it this way: at the beginning of the film, the heroine tells her lover that she is lonely, and she has gained the satisfaction of the meaning of existence-this satisfaction is not related to material things, but the warmth of being trusted and cared for. It's a self-enlightening process, a path that begins with Deux jours, une nuit.
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