It is rare for Jie Chen to talk about a work so intensely, or to an influential movie, with offended anger. For example, "appears absurd and crazy, even infuriating." "It is a protest and reaction against the orthodox value system." "It justifies evil and demonizes justice."
As far as I am concerned, I also think that it is a very dangerous behavior to watch such a movie alone when there is no goodwill from the outside world and lack of necessary life experience and right and wrong views. When I just finished reading it, I was terrified. There is a natural thing in my heart, and the thing I was afraid of is awakened by the seduction. The director Kaufman first tells how the pornographic novelist Thad, who has been locked up in a mental hospital, insisted on writing as much as he could, and let the laundry girl, Mei Delin, secretly carry it out for distribution. Let us see how tenacious and smart this crazy desire is. Then there is the fascination and practice of the novel by Meiderline and young people to illustrate how easy this kind of madness can invade and occupy people's hearts. In the end, even the most loyal child of God, Father Abby, could not face his love and desires, and fell into the shaking and confusion of his faith. There was fear and deep despair on his young, handsome, vibrant face. We discovered how fragile and untrue this simple justice is. The animality in human nature will seize every opportunity to break free and swallow even the purest people (in the movie, the beautiful and pure bride who grew up in the monastery by the doctor, when her simple little head touches Thad’s novel After that, he seduced the young architect and eloped together. But due to the doctor's evil, this explosion of desire in human nature was moralized and justified by the director).
In the director's intention, the biggest villain is Napoleon's autocratic government and the doctor who speaks for it. Abby, the former director of the mental hospital, said: I met the devil and he was still alive to tell the story. This intention has emerged. And this devil is undoubtedly a ruthless character. He successfully defeated Thad, the writer who defended his belief (regardless of the morality of this belief for the time being). The simple upright and kind priest Abby made him feel ridiculously tight. But he hated the laundry lady Mei Dai Lin. Jiechen said that she was confused, but I felt that she was very sober. Her sobriety was a kind of soberness outside the system, irrational, market, and animal. Being awake is waking up to what she wants, a strange mixture of persistence and control. She understands the needs and measures of desire, although the indulgence of this kind of things eventually leads her to destruction. When Abby finally told Thad that we checked her body after she died, she was still a virgin. This sobriety was verified, and what was verified was the fascination and love of two men who were inside and outside the moral system. It is precisely because of this soberness that the doctor wants her to die, and the doctor's last act of letting her destroy can be understood as the doctor's own evil, and it can be seen as the fear and hatred of this soberness.
Thad’s weakness is that he has a desire that is too intense (this desire is not only for sex but also for writing, as he said, writing is like breathing.) And this desire is extremely public. The resulting madness, death and disaster. In contrast, the priest's death hole is simplicity, the pure integrity that has been preserved because he has not faced evil and temptation. And Middale is undoubtedly the most sober one in it. After she was whipped by the doctor, the priest said with a heartache: I knew that you were obsessed with erotic novels, so I didn't teach you to read. She replied: "Reading has made me redeem, and I have seen the weirdness of the world. It is difficult for me to be interested in anything. I will bring myself into his story. If it is not like that, I can't be a good girl in reality." She Understand desire and animality, but she has found a proper outlet for this.
Speaking of now, the director’s moral confusion is already obvious. This "chaos" is different from the "evil" Jie Chen said. The director was indeed deeply influenced by THAAD's novels, and was full of affection for THAAD. He believed that THAAD was a fighter who defended the freedom of thought, and was eventually destroyed physically by the tyranny. But the director also believes in justice, kindness and purity. Many of these details can be seen in the movie. For example, he finally arranged for Meiderine to die due to her own evil desires (Meideline was killed by a lunatic influenced by Thad’s novels). Thad was hearing about it. At the time of Meidalene's death, she finally showed a little bit of sorrow and pain arising from human nature. For example, the sympathy for the love of the priest and Midline finally brought them together in their own way. There is also hatred and crazy ridicule towards the doctor, a thorough hypocrite and egoist. But in the end, the doctor, as the ultimate victor and vested interest, imprisoned the priest, just as he imprisoned Thad. This does not indicate the director's fascination with and respect for evil. On the contrary, this is a tragic ending, which makes the evil face more powerful.
This film is indeed not within the orthodox moral values, but it is not appropriate to conclude that the director "justifies evil and demonizes justice." At least with a sense of moral superiority. Orthodox morality cannot be regarded as absolutely correct. It also has its artificial and fragile side. The pure heart protected by this orthodox morality cannot be regarded as true justice and kindness, because those are extremely perishable. Only after experiencing evil and ugliness and thinking that we should still stand on the side of justice and goodness, no matter how much the price is paid, can we call it true justice and goodness. Therefore, the true saint is not a pure little sheep, but often a scarred soul.
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