I guess Hou Hsiao-hsien likes black, white and gray. Every character in the film, including Susannah, Song Fang, and Simon, seems to create an atmosphere that contrasts with vermilion. With some low-key, accompanied by the slow piano sound, it depicts the unknown psychological process of Susannah, a woman who is busy all day, divorced from her husband, and has a "friend" who owes her rent, and the puppet show is Her spirit relies on.
Vermilion is not only the color of red balloons, but secretly hidden in several shots of the director, requiring some cleverness to notice, such as the graffiti on the wall, the umbrella on the street where Simon came home , and above it is a red balloon, and sometimes the real balloon collides with it, as if finding the same kind, such as Susannah's dress, which has a black and white neckline with some buttons.
Even if it was a fixed table, when two porters entered the house, suddenly there was a vermilion lamp on the table, a bag on the hanger next to it, and occasionally pedestrians with curtains would carry a backpack. Their coats or backpacks are all carefully laid out in this bright color.
In the film, Binoche is a blond woman who dubs the puppet show with an exaggerated tone at the beginning, a black bra with a large coat, a mid-skirt underneath, but canvas shoes. Such an outfit is indeed quite unexpected, and the three-piece suit she wore when she later met with the lawyer, dragged a brown leather jacket to reveal a red belted top, and then took off a leopard-print sleeveless underwear. Thinking of reading a report about her last week, I used a rational adjective, and suddenly her skinny face, smiling eyes, closed mouth, and her pioneering paintings, modern Dancing posture, this woman seems to be intellectually rational except for her elegance.
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