The Lord punished him and delivered him into the hands of a woman. - "The Bible: The Biography of Judith"
This is an "erotic" movie with only one main scene and two actors inspired by the SM origin novel "Venus in Furs", which is very unique in every sense. But unfortunately, it probably can't trigger sexual arousal. There are only a handful of naked scenes in the whole film. From beginning to end, there are two actors chattering about their lines, and the hero and heroine are interspersed with the adaptation of the movie. Discussion of the plot of Venus in Furs. If you are not familiar with the original work of Mossock's "Venus in Furs", it may bring certain obstacles to watching the movie.
No one could have imagined that the sloppy and crying Wanda at the beginning turned out to be like a Valkyrie at the end, tearing down Thomas' hypocritical "Declaration of Love" one by one, and even pointed out that "Venus in Fur" is a stupid movie. Play with women's drama.
The film is full of Easter eggs, from the male protagonist's phone ringing to a 40 Euro antique coat brought by Wanda to the occasional mention of the Dionysian dance, all subtly and secretly echo the plot, not to mention two Main thread: The intertwining intersection between screenwriter Thomas' personal life and the play he creates. Here are a few explanations of the easter eggs that I think may not be interpreted by the director, but it is really interesting to pause to think or search for some images that I think are meaningful while watching the movie:
1. Ringtone: "Ride of the Valkyries" - the fiancee's strong control over the male protagonist
2. There is a lyric in Lou Reed's song "Venus In Furs" mentioned by Wanda:
Whiplash girlchild in the dark
little girl holding a leather whip in the dark
It can also be noted that Wanda is not actually a mature S, but "forced himself" to play S because of Severin's step-by-step induction.
3. When discussing the script, Thomas said that he was going to use Albenberg's "Lyric Suite" as transition music, which Albenberg declared was dedicated to the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky, one of the most famous works. One is a "Lyrical Symphony"), but later generations found that Berger actually composed this piece for his secret lover, Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, and Berger also composed the initials A, B, H, and F of their names. One of the themes is embedded in the song.
4. Name tags of vintage coats that Wanda brought: Siegfried Miller Vienna 1869, while Mossock's novel Venus in Furs was published in 1870, Mossock was Austrian , and Vienna is the capital of Austria, so Thomas will react so strongly after reading the label.
5. Wanda's full name is Wanda Jordan. Jordan is derived from Old English and means Flow and descend.
6. There are all kinds of Venus at the end of the film: Venus in the mirror, Venus sleeping, the birth of Venus, Venus with broken arm
(1) Not romantic love, but deceit and self-talk
Thomas's play in the film is based on the semi-autobiographical novel "Venus in Furs" by Austrian writer Mossock. Thomas believes that the sadomasochistic relationship between Severin and Wanda in the play "is a combination of two people, a Passion, it's chemistry", he himself longs for this sadomasochistic relationship, but unfortunately his fiancée doesn't "tie him to the sofa and beat him".
Facing Thomas, who was excited to justify this "beautiful love story" and complained that everything had to rise to social problems, Wanda did not try to persuade him further, but waited quietly for Thomas to reveal his own fault:
I give you power over me forever
Thomas asks Wanda to stand in the middle of the stage when Severin says "I give you power over me forever", Thomas repeats three times in this section "I give you power" Power over me forever" is an interesting contrast to the line he's finished with, but he aggressively interferes with Wanda's way of acting.
Love is like a politics, only one party can be in power
In the face of Wanda, who is already indistinguishable from acting and with a real S temperament, Thomas unconsciously wanted to touch and kiss several times. He was immersed in Wanda's "abuse" of him, and he reluctantly confessed that "love is all about love". It's like a politics where only one party can hold power... I declare my allegiance to you... My vision for love is to give my whole heart" When the phone call from the fiancée rang, the ringtone was Wagner's "The Parade of the Valkyries" ", after picking up the phone, he used all kinds of lies to excuse his fiancee's questioning. At this moment, you can understand that neither Severin nor Thomas in the play are as loyal to their love as they brazenly proclaimed, and those vows to beg the goddess for mercy and to surrender freedom are all deceit.
Looking at Wanda's feelings for Severin again, you will find that both in the original novel and Thomas's script, they are coerced. As Wanda said:
"You are not under my control, I am being played in your hands. You say you are my slave, but you are manipulating me."
Indeed, the more Severin obeyed, the more he dominated Wanda. This is also a well-known theory about the actual dominance of sm. In a sadomasochistic relationship, the abuser seems to be the active party, but in fact, the abused party really dominates the relationship. There is a fundamental conversion of initiative in this relationship.
(2) Who is Wangda?
In the film, the male protagonist asks Wanda three times: Who are you?
Wanda is indeed very mysterious: her name is not on the application list, she conceals that she has read the script and the original book, memorizes all the lines, and acts as if she has changed her personality. The relationship with his fiancée is full of temptation. She sometimes calls herself an actress, sometimes the daughter of a police officer, and sometimes a private detective.
Judging from Wanda's revengeful behavior and naked fur dance at the end, Wanda is more like the priestess of Dionysus who also appeared inadvertently in the dialogue.
The priestess of the god of wine is not Priestess in Greek mythology, but is called Maenad, which means "madman" or "madness".
The priestess drinks recklessly and dances naked in the Dionysian ceremony that only women are allowed to participate in (some studies believe that the primitive sacrificial dance is a metaphor for sexual intercourse, and drinking too much wine makes people into a state of ecstasy) This is the end of the film Wanda tied Thomas On the genital-shaped cactus prop, while herself clad in fur, the carnival scene surrounding Thomas' frantic dance has the same intent.
The film's director and screenwriter Roman Polanski has also filmed "Bitter Moon", "Knife in the Water", "The Pianist" and other films, while "Knife in the Water", "Venus in Fur" and "Bitter Moon" can be read as a theme showing gender relations and even gender relations. The relationship between the sexes shown in it is not necessarily male and female in the biological sense, but more like male (strong side, first gender) and female (weak side, second gender) in the sense of social gender given by social reality. In connection, it can be seen that the director wants to explore the exploitative relationship between the first sex and the second sex, and wants to subvert this unequal gender stereotype and sexism through the carnival ending. Thomas wrote in the script that "love is like politics, only one party can be in power, one is willing to fight, the other is willing to suffer." However, Severin and Thomas did not achieve equal use of "full commitment" and "full freedom" To trade for the love of Wanda or Mary Sicily, so such a power relationship (or you can call it love) is inherently unequal and doomed to collapse.
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