Editor's note: This is my first time writing a movie review, or to be more precise, just an afterthought. I just want to take this viewing, and the subsequent writing, as an opportunity to reflect on love and marriage. For the first time, I watched a film in a row and watched it in great detail, documenting every detail. This process is very tormenting, and often I can't stand it. However, a good movie is like a good book, and every time you read it, it is different. When I watched it for the second time, one of my pleasant surprises was that I gradually understood why the director made such arrangements and what kind of message the actors were conveying. Sometimes, some previously insensitive details suddenly become meaningful, which brings great satisfaction to myself and finds the joy of looking at the film from the director's perspective. Last but not least, the original soundtrack of the movie is very classic and worthy of nostalgia.
Love eventually leads to marriage, which is seen as a beautiful picture. But then what? What is the state of love in marriage? In my opinion, Lost in Translation is a reflection on the relationship between love and marriage.
The original title of "Lost in Translation" was lost in translation, and an important element was lost after translation: the language barrier. The love story in the movie is laid out through the language barrier. The two Americans came to Tokyo for different reasons and basically didn't speak Japanese; especially for the male protagonist, it was really hard to live in Japan after being lost in a strange language for a few days. But I have to admit that the power of love is really great and can overcome many troubles in life. From the very beginning, both of them wanted to leave this unfamiliar country as soon as possible, and at the end they were both nostalgic. There was a huge turning point in the movie, and the turning point was because of love.
But the love portrayed in this film is not free. The male and female protagonists are all married people. To be precise, they are the "victims" of marriage. The age difference between the two is very large, representing different stages of marriage. One has only been married for two years, while the other has experienced twenty-five years. The screenwriter skillfully created feelings between the two, making the whole story complete and full. In the "besieged city" of marriage, the two of them lived unhappily, and even suffered so much that they could not sleep every night. This commonality also made them meet by chance in a foreign land.
They love their partner deeply, but they are not happy with the ordinary life. The male protagonist Bob's wife doesn't seem to need him anymore since she has a child. Painfully Bob can't find a place in the marriage. The heroine Charlotte's husband is a workaholic who says "love her", but he is stingy with the time he spends with his wife in life. Choosing to escape seems to be doomed by reality.
Both of them cherish their relationship, but the helpless other half always doesn't give him the response he deserves. Bob, who was in a midlife crisis, wanted to chat with his wife for a while after getting drunk, but he was ruthlessly rejected by his wife. He wanted to say I love you at the end, but he heard the voice of hanging up on the other end of the phone. The most frustrating thing is that the wife's reason is so reasonable: she needs to take care of the children, and has no time to consider how her husband feels. Bob said in the movie: "The appearance of the child has completely changed your life, and the original life will never come back." He misses the days when he used to joke with his wife, but since he had a child, his other half You no longer "need" yourself. You must know that "being needed" is as important to a man as "security" is to a woman. There is nothing wrong with the relationship between the two, but only the marriage has faded the love. When he went to Japan, he wanted to get a peace of mind, but the painful experience for several days made him regret the decision to come to Tokyo. Only drinking and smoking cigars in the bar seemed to make him feel better. It was also in this place that he met his true love, Charlotte.
Similarly, Charlotte is confused about marriage. After two years of marriage, she has begun to wonder why she is getting married. She and her husband still seem to love each other, but the relationship has entered a deep crisis. After watching the movie, I admire Charlotte's tolerance. In the case of her husband neglecting her, she still showed her best side to him, even if the only thing her husband gave her was her snoring when she was insomnia. The husband complained that she smoked, but never asked why. When she went to sing KTV with Bob later, she sang her heart. All she wanted was "making notice". She tried to resolve her inner restlessness by going to temples, arranging flowers, reading self-help books... During a solo trip to Mount Fuji, she saw a traditional Japanese wedding, a long stone road, and newlyweds holding hands Walk forward slowly. Charlotte watched the ceremony quietly, wondering what she was thinking at the time, whether she was thinking of her past or the future of the couple.
Trapped in their marriage, the two plan an "escape" together in Japan. In the bar, Bob jokes that he's planning a "jailbreak" together, to escape the bar, the city, the country, and asks Charlotte if she wants to join. At the time, it seemed that it was just a joke, but it conveyed the real desire in his heart. The later story is really "escape" together like this.
In the short days they spent with each other, the two were very happy, drinking together, clubbing together, sitting in front of the TV together, and talking on the bed together. The relationship between the two was very pure, and there was no male or female love. Even after being drunk, Bob still carried Charlotte to the bed and left quietly with ninja desire. They just accompany each other, but this is enough to give them a long-lost love experience. When parting, looking at Bob's aggrieved eyes, all the audience must be extremely distressed, but the director ended with a classic kiss, providing a window for the audience to release the strong emotions in their hearts. The two promised each other that the short "escape" is not over yet, and the future is still full of excitement and hope.
Seeing the two smiling happily in the last scene, the audience should be satisfied with the ending, but I really couldn't let it go for a long time. The film tends to express this side of love, but intentionally ignores it, or waits for the audience to extend the other side, which is the reality of marriage. In the movie, the two met in the loss of language and finally found peace and belonging; but in the loss of their respective marriages, they could not find the right direction. At the end of the movie, when Bob got into the car, it seemed that all the sorrow he had held in his heart was dissipated by the wind. The car left, the music played, and the camera pointed to the blue sky... But the sweeter the love between the two, the better the future of the two. The more it implies the helplessness and inability to save the marriage.
For unmarried people, the feeling of watching this movie is really difficult to express. The movie celebrates love, but at the same time exposes the cruelty of marriage. Even if the two of them can finally achieve a positive result and enter a new marriage, is it a new cycle? When all romance and expectations are replaced by reality, what is left is an unsurpassed and uncontrollable sense of uncertainty.
What is the meaning of love? In marriage, how does love exist? Or, will love be eaten away by time? In Bob's final whisper to Charlotte, the director contained an open-ended answer. What the final outcome will be, it is left to the audience to extend themselves.
Borrowing Mr. Qian Zhongshu's famous words, after watching this movie, I have a more intuitive understanding of the sentence "Marriage is the grave of love". How to find your own position in a lost marriage city like "people inside want to come out, people outside want to go in"? Is escape after getting lost a doomed fact?
In my opinion, not so. Lost is doomed, but escape is not necessarily. In the movie, Bob has a classic saying: "After 25 years of marriage, after 8 years of sleeping, there are only 16 years left. For love, 'I' is only a 'minor'. Occasionally in marriage There are ups and downs, but to some extent I can handle them." Learning to face up to the storms in a relationship and the ability to handle ups and downs is something everyone must experience. The happiest love is not all smooth sailing. Therefore, the ultimate question still falls on individual values and choices. Bob's wife's choice to no longer need him, and Charlotte's husband's reluctance to pay more attention, is a personal choice, not the absolute only option.
Perhaps the meaning of watching this movie is to reflect on the harm that marriage may bring to love, and to give yourself a shot of prevention. In any case, don't "disarm and surrender" after entering the marriage siege, just use marriage to completely cover love, and go with the flow in the reality of marriage. In Fromm's words "Love is an attitude, an ability, not a state". Love is a stunning but fragile flower. If you take care of it carelessly, it will inevitably be crushed by reality. To challenge the "seven-year itch", perhaps the first step is not to let the reality of marriage completely engulf us, we can only achieve it with the help of the original power of love.
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