From the girl who gave birth out of wedlock in "Juneo" to the older single young woman in "Youth" to the woman suffering from postpartum depression in "Tali", director Jason Reitman has been trying to focus on specific Of female groups. He is best at dealing with light comedy themes. Although this series of works touches difficult social issues, they still have a brisk tone and finally fall into a warm and bright ending. On the whole, the perspective is valuable, but not profound, but if the purpose of art is to ask questions rather than solve them, then Jason Reitman, as a creator, has obviously completed tasks in his field of expertise.
The story of "Tali" is a clear three-part structure. The first third of the film uses a nearly naturalistic approach to show the life of Marlowe, a married woman with childbearing details. Before childbirth, he endured physical inconveniences and took care of the family. After giving birth to the third child, he couldn't sleep peacefully day and night. At the same time, his son suffered from anxiety since childhood and faced the situation of being dropped out of school. The film does not have intense interpersonal conflicts. All the dramatic conflicts stem from the pressing life. Various details of caring for newborns are constantly being stacked and superimposed. Props such as bottle diapers and breast pumps are flooded with screens. The close-up of Marlowe's nipple bitten by a baby is even more shocking. Although a brisk soundtrack is added, the melody is still constantly crying by the baby. Suppressed. The film succeeded in creating a common dilemma-how can women who are not rich enough and have no husbands to help support their families while maintaining their integrity?
So logically, the night nanny Tali debuted, the story entered the second stage, and the plot began to change. Tully's image is almost completely different from the stereotyped babysitter. She is young and fashionable, has no history of marriage and childbirth, and is energetic like a perpetual motion machine. She is not ashamed or afraid to talk about the grand issue of "saving the world". Although this part of the plot is still filled with a lot of life details, the director's shots have become more delicate and tender, and the realism theme gradually tilts towards romanticism. With the help and influence of Tully, Marlowe's nerves gradually relaxed. She became positive and optimistic, regained makeup and fitness, established a more benign relationship with her husband, and resumed her sex life with her husband.
Although Jason Reitman has always been good at capturing and restoring the details of life, he does not pursue extreme documentary image style. Even if the subject is the ordinary life of ordinary people, he still pays attention to the smoothness of scheduling and the beauty of photography. A number of images that are not obscure are set up as a metaphor for the life of a group of women represented by Marlowe, and paved the way for the subsequent plot. Such as the process of a mermaid becoming a human being, it is a metaphor for the transformation of the identity of a woman from a girl to a mother; the setting of a nanny only appearing at night symbolizes Marlowe's hidden inner needs that only quietly release when alone; as for the beginning and middle of the film And the brushes that appeared at the end are also contrasted with Marlowe's psychological dependence on Tully.
The ending of the story is also the climax of the story. Marlowe and Tully went to Brooklyn to drink on a whim, and when they returned home they had a car accident due to drunk driving. Marlowe was in a coma and was hospitalized. So far, the truth has been revealed. It turns out that there has never been a night nanny. Tully is just another self that Marlowe split from when she was severely depressed. It is the young time she missed even after having three children. The self. At a moment of emotional breakdown, Marlowe relied on this imagination to rescue himself from the trough.
The setting of "Tali" is no longer confined to the suspense thriller genre. In fact, looking back at the conversations between Tully and Marlowe that night, it is not difficult to find a clue that Tully is Marlowe's avatar has already been buried. They are so fit, so alike, and they talk about their longings and confusion without coddling, which is clearly one after another self-confession. However, Marlowe's plot arrangement after bidding farewell to the doppelganger made Tali's discussion of social issues only at a relatively superficial level. Marlowe got rid of his psychological dependence on Tully, and accepted the identity of his mother safely, and completed his personality integration; the husband who was always absent, because of the car accident, began to take the initiative to participate in the housework; the sensitive and introverted young son , And also tried to bravely express his demands, and gave up the "remedy" of brushing the body with a brush. All mistakes have been corrected, all scars have been healed, all roads have begun to lead to a beautiful distance, just like the same ending in a fairy tale-"from then on they have lived a happy life." And similar ending treatments also appear in "Juneo" and "Youth". In this way, the pattern of the film has been compressed from discussing the common female dilemma to showing the personal growth process. The husband's repentance came too easily, and the olive branch of fate came too easily, which inevitably made Maro's arduous self-help process less weight.
There is nothing wrong with a happy ending, it is heart-warming, but at best it is only a placebo, not a booster. Marlowe is lucky, Tali's appearance illuminates her life. But looking at the reality beyond the big screen and watching the vast number of low-level women, they will sadly find that no light automatically falls on them. They can only gouge the dark walls to steal light and step out on the rugged and dangerous peaks. In the mess and struggle, gradually forgetting the wise and unique self when he was young. For them, the story of "Tali" is just an adult's fairy tale, a hazy dream in a tired life. As written in "Second Sex": "A woman, this relative person, can only live as a member of a husband and wife. She is often lonely than a man... If she does not have a family, she is nothing. And a family is one. This is a devastating burden, and all of its weight rests on her shoulders."
"Tali" is gentle, there is no hysterical shouts, and no righteous criticism. For the inconscientious husband, both the movie and Marlowe chose to forgive. It is neither feminist nor machismo. As a commercial genre, it carefully maintains a gentle stance. It burst the colorful bubbles related to marriage and childbirth in the first half of the film, and created a bigger and better bubble in the second half of the film.
In general, "Tali" is a movie with obvious shortcomings and advantages. It focuses its attention on postpartum depression. The male director's identity makes the film's perspective more valuable; however, the type of light comedy restricts the film's deeper expression. Perhaps "Tali" will become a stepping stone, so that more creators will pay attention to similar themes, and the physical and mental health of pregnant women will be included in wider social discussions.
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