"Wendini" is a very quiet and beautiful movie. The framing and soundtrack all reflect the style of the film, which is sad and quiet. Fascinating is the country's deep and disillusioned myths and history.
This is an old European tale of Wentini, a water elf who carries a curse that drags a loved one into the water if he is betrayed. Since the thirteenth century, there have been many versions, from word of mouth, to painting, to novel, to film, and changes in medium and author also change the story itself.
In this edition, the classical myth is placed in the modern baroque metropolis of Berlin, which is quite magical and blurred.
In a sense, Wendine is the myth itself. Pedroide must have tried his best to combine Wentini and the city organically, but the fact is that the two are mutually exclusive, Wentini is not suitable for the city, so the film simply makes the two empty, just like fire. Water and water are two different substances.
We see that Wendini is out of tune with the city. Except for the two people who love each other, she has not got in touch with anyone in the outside world, and she is isolated at work. Despite the beauty of Berlin’s scenery, the imagery places the set out of focus, with an intangible nobility, as if the city’s history has been left behind, the city has disappeared.
I was delighted to see the most flirtatious footage in recent years. It happened during the encounter between Wendini and the diver's boyfriend. The fish tank was broken and the water spewed out. Although the diver pushed Wendini away, two tiny pieces of glass pierced her abdomen.
The diver's actor is called Rogowski, with a very unique voice, deep and not hoarse.
"Does it hurt?"
This is what she said to Wendini, the camera was on the abdomen, and the white shirt was used as a drawing board, and the fragments were set against the bloodstains.
He took out the pieces bit by bit, his hands like surgical tweezers, the water running on the ground and his sparkling eyes, a kind of affection after sex.
Although the process is beautiful, the low-contrast tones and melancholy soundtrack have long revealed that this is a sad and bleak love story. The soundtrack is like a ghost, hauntingly attached to the love between the two of them. The ending is doomed to be sad. Wentini returned the token and returned to the sea, and the lovers did not get married.
In any case, the composition always puts the characters in the center. The stories that Wentini tells are never the city, but the people themselves. Everything about the city is boring, including the urban history that occupies most of the dialogue and is dispensable. Telling, no amount of words can express the essence of the city is people and stories. On the issue of text and image, some people suggested that Wentini's image power is given by the text, and the film needs to understand the text before viewing is a deduction item. This is nonsense. Text and beyond text, what "Wendini" does is to tell the story with images, instead of those cliché prefaces and deliberately placed explanations, on the contrary, the power of images forces the audience to understand the story is the success of this film place.
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