I have read some comments and many people talk about "salvation" because there is no research on religion and the exact meaning of "salvation" is not clear, but I always feel that the word is not used appropriately, and the word salvation is used a bit too much. Yes, I can’t think of that word when I watch a movie. Maybe it's because I don't understand it deeply enough. In my feeling, the characters in this film have not reached that point. At best, they have managed to "face themselves", and there is no salvation.
The topic of the film is sex and various lies around sex. Whether consciously or unconsciously, everyone in the story lied on this issue. The whole story was born out of a lie many years ago.
John’s lie is the most common, simplest and most easily exposed. He cheated on his sister-in-law, used work pressure to perfuse his suspicious wife, and explained his divorce by his wife’s incomprehension of his work. This idiot even thought about it. Make a better excuse. Cynthia has been rebellious since she was a child, and put herself in the position of a "bad woman", and she was very calm-"I didn't swear to be loyal to her before God." It seems that she got together with John because of her bohemian behavior. But in fact, it was the knot that she and An Cong had never solved. Ann uses lies to deceive others, to cover up the facts she doesn't want to face. Graham's lie was impotence. Using this lie, he easily gained the trust of many women and made them open to him in front of the video recorder.
Can the video tape be regarded as a true portrayal of those women's lives? I don't think so. Graham chose this way to communicate with women because he thought that only through sex can he understand women, and that true sex is an obstacle to his collusion with women, so he draws a "sexual impotence" between himself and women. A bridge was built across this gap with a video recorder. He thought that he could read women and know what they were thinking about and how they viewed sex and men. But it was clear that Graham's efforts were not successful. His video tapes failed to solve his problems, or even allowed him to really face his own problems. Graham has finally returned to the original point after nine years of detours. Maybe he thinks that revisiting the old place can help him.
Graham's weird way of communication is impossible to succeed. Did the woman in front of the video recorder treat him with all sincerity? Are they telling the truth in front of the video recorder or in front of men, or is it entertainment with a performance nature? Anyone will consciously or unconsciously perform in front of others in front of the camera. Knowing that Graham is impotent, they feel safe and relaxed, but how much maternal love and desire for performance have arisen as a result? I doubt how true their confession is. Even if it is 100% true as Graham hopes, in addition to providing Graham with masturbation material, how can the woman on the video tape who sits on the plane quietly masturbating between two men and can not change her face can make Graham more Understand the psychology of women? I am afraid he can only see how strong women can hide themselves, right? From the point of view of the videotape, it can be seen that Graham's position is always lower than the women he photographed, and he has always looked up at these women. From this, we can imagine how much psychological shadow and pressure caused by breaking up with Elizabeth 9 years ago. For 9 years, he has not been able to look at women from a normal angle, but with a kind of fear. It is impossible for him to see a real woman from such a perspective and such a distance. As Ann said, "Everyone who walks in becomes part of your problem, and everyone who has been in contact with you" has become Graham's. For the "problem", Ann was sentenced to death for the communication method he considered "safe".
Sex is important, even the foundation, in the relationship between men and women, but is sex the only way to communicate between men and women? Graham believes that only the person who has sex with a woman truly understands a woman can he help a woman. It is based on this concept or fantasy that he thought of using video tapes to realize his wish that he could not achieve in real life-to understand women. He has been obsessed with this concept for 9 years. If it hadn't been for An to break in and break this stereotype, forcing him to face the camera and face women directly, he might still be obsessed. The relationship between the characters in the film also denies Graham's notion. John is a simple-minded arrogant. He never knows his wife or sister-in-law who is cheating, and obviously he can't help them. Graham didn't even dare to have sex with a woman because of his frustration. He couldn't understand women personally based on his theory, but he was equally arrogant that the psychologist was useless. I think it’s the psychiatrist Graham dismissed that can be called understanding women in the film. He just sat there silently, inducing Ann to approach the truth step by step without showing a trace—the problem with Ann was not that she was there. How conservative is her sexual concept, but she is unwilling to face the fact that she is drifting away from John, and she is unwilling to admit that her choice of quitting her job and becoming a housewife may be wrong, John may betray her, and her marriage may be Failure. It is possible that Ann is right, she said people take sex too much. Although it was Ann's ridicule of his own dilemma in the marriage, it can be said to be a slap in the face. Graham’s crux is also here, because sex is too important, so when he breaks up with Elizabeth, he can see that all he thinks of are only sexual reasons, thinking that he used sex to express love to his beloved The person was scared away, which led to the wrong conclusion, and thus chose the wrong way of communication. Because of this series of mistakes, he walked in the maze for 9 years without finding an exit. Another thing is that Graham's video tape didn't let him know about women, but it helped the women on the video tape more or less. Of course, it might not be all of them. At least it provides a good opportunity for Cynthia and Ann to face themselves and face the real life. Isn't this an irony to Graham's own theory?
The power of lies is extremely powerful. It maintains the seemingly happy married life of Ann and John, distorting Graham's heart. Lies are so fragile, a lie can subvert people's lives. John's confession shattered Graham's attempt to rebuild the foundation of his life-there may have been hundreds of reasons for breaking up with Elizabeth but it had nothing to do with sex. Fragile lies can influence people's lives for so long because people only believe in what they want to believe. Ann is willing to believe that her husband is loyal to a happy marriage, Cynthia is willing to believe that she is unruly, John is willing to believe that she is charming, and Graham is willing to believe that sex is the only way of communication between men and women. Everyone is using lies to deceive themselves to paralyze themselves until the truth is so close. The truth has destroyed the false life, reconstruction is necessary, I hope that the future life will not be reconstructed on top of new lies.
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