Ruben's compromise with his deafness is the movement of the whole movie. While listening to the side, I learned that Ruben and his mother had grown up in various parts of the United States, and were dependent on Lou, who was also a single parent. The two had spent the gloomy time of their lives together. When everything was moving towards the bright future, Ruben's sudden loss of hearing stopped everything that was originally going forward. The two were forced to make a parting decision-Ruben was admitted to the nursing home for the deaf, Lou returned to France to find his father. Ruben, who is isolated from the outside world, gradually learns to adapt to the life of "unsound people", while Lou gradually started in the life of "sound people". When the role of the deaf teacher Diane appeared, and the interaction between Ruben and Diane, I thought the story would end with the success of the two. In fact, this is not the case. The director/screenwriter used all the movie time to describe how the "unsound" Ruben compromised with him, and how to remove it by himself after putting on the hearing aid after spending money on the operation.
In the early part of the film, Ruben and Lou said that if she died, he would mix her ashes into the tattoo ink, and then use the ink to carve a clown on his back. At the end of the film, Ruben has a clown on his naked back and leaves Lou's home in France. I guess Ruben knew that this was a farewell to Lou before coming to France. This separation is a kind of withdrawal from addiction. The deaf veteran of the Vietnam War explained to Ruben that he insisted on selling the RV in exchange for the operation fee, like an addiction. When the story is folded and compared, it seems to describe that when we get used to a state or stay in a safe area for too long, it is difficult for us to part with this state of addiction.
In the film, the number of times the director/screenwriter used Ruben's language abruptly reflects Ruben's status in the nursing home. Later, Ruben seldom used words and got along well with his friends.
The veteran could not accept Ruben to stay in the nursing home after the operation, precisely because Ruben could not fully accept his "unsoundness", and other deaf people in the nursing home thought he was "sound", and his "unsoundness" would make the nursing home Unbalanced, so he refused his request. Ruben realized that when he was trying his best to return to a "sound" society, his "sound" society was no longer there. The director used a beautiful and warm birthday party to awaken Ruben's inner cognition of a "sound society". The birthday party was full of guests and friends, accompanied by music and wine, and the communicative exchanges between the guests were not lively; the deaf party danced and slapped the table, which was a harmonious scene of sincere laughter. Comparing these two scenes, what is the difference between the "gathering of the able-bodied" and the "gathering of the unsound"?
When the bell rang on the streets of Paris, Ruben took off his hearing aid in a cheerful morning scene.
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