I hate the drama of movies. Many people watch movies to see what they can't see in daily life. They like martial arts, war, gunfights, gangsters, thrillers, funny, and even sci-fi and ghost movies. Even if they watch realistic movies, they also want to see scenes that jump out of their daily lives, such as the seaside of the hero and heroine entering and leaving the Aegean Sea, the mansion in the mid-levels of Hong Kong, the skyscrapers in New York, the adventure of love, and the legend of making a fortune. They think that what a good movie describes should be different from their own daily life. What they have not seen in their daily life and dare not do is exactly what the hero and heroine in the movie should do.
In short, only those movies that satisfy their daydreams are good movies.
I think movies should restore people's everydayness. This routine is manifested in the limitations of life itself on people. For example, we can easily fantasize about meeting on the street, but in reality, how many of us have accosted our neighbors on the bus, let alone on the street. In real life, it is far more difficult than imagined to break through the distance of strangers. A non-dramatic film is to respect the limitations of ordinary people's life, and acutely show people's embarrassment, shyness, embarrassment, hesitation, self-comfort and self-justification in life. Only such films can restore the dignity of human nature. In such films, the audience can understand the real life of others and realize that they are a member of the human family.
Before Sunrise is about encounters between men and women on their journeys. The subject matter itself is legendary, but still handled with a sense of reality. Modern love myths regard love as a magical event independent of life, but in fact love occurs between two people in reality, and it will inevitably involve the entire personality, social identity, social experience, values, and worldview of men and women. The genius of "Before Sunrise" is to describe this trial process in a natural and tortuous manner. A night roaming in Vienna, they exchanged their views on the world, their attitudes to life, their families, their views on relationships, marriage, family, their feelings about each other, it was a break and start at any moment comprehensive exploration. In this temptation we see humanity.
Interestingly, the hero Jesse is a pessimist who pursues love but does not believe in love. He had just ended a relationship, he doubted his ability to love, he felt that love was just an illusion, and he doubted the durability of love. The heroine also ended a relationship half a year ago, but the heroine is more emotional and stable, and has some warmth towards life. In each other's temptation, they revealed their most secret doubts and secret souls. This is no longer pure love between men and women, but understanding and sharing between people.
Below is an analysis of the entire play.
1.
Encounter on the train Jesse and Selina met on the train. It is very interesting that the reason for their encounter was a quarrel between a middle-aged couple. It seems to herald the unfortunate end of love: boredom, complaints and disputes.
To avoid the middle-aged couple who were arguing loudly, Selena moved to a seat near Jesse. Jesse kept looking up at the heroine from the book, trying to strike up a conversation but couldn't find the chance. They only met when the arguing couple walked up to them. Taking this opportunity, Jesse struck up a conversation. The heroine obviously doesn't hate Jesse's approach, but when the two ask each other about the book each other is reading, the cold scene appears. Fortunately, the middle-aged couple came back arguing again. At this time, Jesse boldly proposed to go to the restaurant, creating an opportunity for the two to be alone.
Jesse is shy, shy and sensitive, while Selina is gentle, sentimental and humorous. Jesse is always looking for words, afraid of being in the cold, and looks clumsy, while Selina can always elicit a lot of witty and humorous answers, leading the topic in depth. With a kind response, Jesse began to reveal his thoughts on life, showing Jesse's unique feelings about life. And such topics often resonate with Selina.
Regarding the purpose of the trip, Jesse avoided it as much as possible. Under Selina's constant questioning, he still did not reveal the purpose of this trip. Instead, the conversation turned to the joys of traveling by train. Regarding the 24-hour television broadcast of a person's life in a day, Jesse clearly believes that everyday life is not poetic, and revealing that it is not poetic is really poetic, which is quite similar to the new wave film proposition. And Selina said that three minutes of sex made him fall asleep well, and she seemed to agree that there was no poetry in daily life, but she obviously cared more about the poetic part of life.
Through Jesse's assessment of the "non-oriented service" of a French restaurant waiter, Selina brings up the issue of parental control over their children. Jesse talks about seeing his dead grandmother in a rainbow formed by a water pipe when he was a child, but his parents thought he was crazy and wanted to tell him about death. Selena talks about her fear of death, about her irrationality in not being able to fly. Their conversation was casual and in-depth, expressing very personal feelings.
Jesse convinces Selena to get off the bus with him for a while is classic. Jesse said he had a piece of advice he knew was stupid, but if he didn't say it, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. The reason he gave was tactful and playful, saying that when she got married and lived a very ordinary life, she might think about other opportunities in her life, other men, like him, who seemed to have missed something. At this time, she sits in the time tunnel, and when she comes back to this time, she will find that she has not missed anything. If she gets off the bus with him, she will know that he is actually a boring person, so that she will live in the future. You won't feel like you've lost anything. This will be of great benefit to her later in life.
This passage expresses Jesse's negative pessimism about love. In his view, love is just an illusion, and there will always be a day when it will be shattered. Therefore, only unfulfilled love will appear beautiful. And to live down-to-earth, we must abandon the fantasy of love. At the same time, this sentence also shows that Jesse is not confident in himself. He is not trying to show Selina how good he is, but to let her feel how boring he is. This passage also explicitly treats their encounter as a blip in her life, and he himself will not appear in her subsequent life story.
The reason for Jesse's invitation is so anti-romantic, and Selina actually accepts such an invitation.
2. Entering into Personal Intercourse
The following paragraph begins to enter into substantive contact between men and women. Since the two sides are not sure about each other's standards, it is still a process of temptation, but compared with the train, the temptation at this time has more privacy related to sex.
When they came to the bridge and were about to start a journey, they were all a little unnatural. They meet two amateur actors on the bridge and ask them for directions. They strangely ask Jesse what they are coming to Vienna for, Jesse is a little speechless, Celine tactfully says they are coming for their honeymoon, so Jesse says she's pregnant, so they have to get married. They laughed at him as a bad liar, gave them tickets to their amateur gigs, and talked about their plays.
This episode seems to be idle, but it's very entertaining.
In the back seat of the bus, Jesse proposed to make a game, a game of question and answer, which was the beginning of a formal trial. Probably must rely on some external forms, people can quickly touch on some sensitive topics, otherwise their relationship will not be able to break through the level of ordinary friends. Jesse started by asking about her first sexual experience. She recounted her brief relationship with a swimmer at summer camp. When she asked him if he had ever been in love, he said that love is a complicated issue and that he doesn't understand love. Jesse later turned the conversation to Soul Reincarnation. He said that if the soul is reincarnated and immortal, how can the population of the world increase?
Jesse's answers were simple and dodgy, while Selina's was lively and honest. Jesse shuns love, just sex, while Selena cares more about love. But in fact, Jesse cares more about sharing the feelings of life, and an interlocutor who can share the thoughts and experiences of life is not guided by sex, but love.
At the record store, Celine asks Jesse if she's ever heard a singer. So they listened to a very beautiful love folk song together. This one is a classic. Celine looked at Jesse with a bit of infatuation, but when Jesse looked back, she turned away. And when she turned back again, Jesse hurriedly looked away. Neither of them wants to let the other know that they are staring at each other. They both want to observe each other, but do not want the other to find out, so they avoid looking at each other.
Love and death have an intrinsic connection. Death is forever, and love longs for eternity. The scene in the cemetery is also not very meaningful.
On the Ferris wheel, Jesse wanted to kiss Celine, but was embarrassed, he approached Celine and said some nonsense, but just couldn't say the words of love. It was Celine who was smart, encouraging Jesse with words, eyes, smiles, and even clear words. Compared to Selina, Jesse is indeed like a timid little boy, if it weren't for Selina's encouragement, maybe he would never dare to kiss her.
When two strangers kiss, maybe it's sex. But there are many twists and turns.
3. Further strolling and chatting The
two of them were walking on the street. Jesse said that his parents had a bad relationship for a long time and eventually divorced. He was the product of contraceptive failure. Jesse doesn't think it's good for parents to not divorce for the sake of their children. When he knew that his parents did not want to give birth to him, he felt that he was a mistake. Celine asks Jesse if she knows of couples who have a good relationship, and Jesse says there are, but they're lying to each other. Celine talked about her grandmother, who she always thought had a simple love life, but her grandmother told her that she thought of a man she loved all her life. Jesse said that if her grandmother did marry the man she loved, she would also be disappointed, and now has one more thought. Jesse continues to express his negative views on love, while Selena is probably trying to express the complexity of people when she talks about her grandmother.
In the outdoor cafe, an old fortune teller took Selina's hand and showed her a picture. She said that Selena was a traveler, a life explorer and an adventurer, and she was becoming a woman, while Jesse was studying. . Selina marvels at the fortune teller's mystery, while Jesse says she's paying for something nice.
in the church. Celine said that although she is not religious, she thinks that the church is amazing, so many people who have suffered for thousands of years have come here to find comfort. Celine said she sometimes felt like she was her grandmother's rebirth. Jesse said he felt like a 13-year-old boy who didn't know how to act like an adult. Jesse talks about a religious group where men and women look at each other in church for an hour and say nothing, then get married. Apparently they all have some sort of reverence for some mystical experience.
They continued to chat on the banks of the Danube at night. Selina asks Jesse what he would have done if she hadn't gotten off the train, and he says he might cry in the airport cafe because he regrets not being with her. Jesse clearly expressed his love for her. Jesse asks Celine if she's in Paris if she hadn't gotten out of the car. She said not necessarily, she might have gotten off with another man at the next stop. Selina's words were saying that Jesse wasn't unique, that things like this were common to her. So Jesse is a little bit hurt. Selina is sensitive to Jesse's sadness, and immediately comforts him, admitting that she was having a good time.
Celine asks Jesse what would be the most unbearable thing for him if they had been together. This is the first time Selena has hypothesized about the possibility of their long-term relationship. Jesse refused to answer, saying all girls were a trap when they asked this, citing the example of his ex-girlfriend. When Jesse rhetorically asked her what was the most unbearable thing about him? Celine said no, if it had to be said, it was his behavior in front of the old fortune-teller, he was like a crying boy, because his attention was not fully focused on him. Perhaps Selina was referring to the egocentrism in Jesse.
At this time, a riverside poet asked them to choose a word, and then wrote them a poem, which showed their condition like an old fortune-teller. Jesse said he probably didn't write it on the spot, but just added the word milkshake. Jesse seemed inclined to destroy any good imagination, but Selena seemed more willing to believe it.
At the bar, the two played pinball machines. So they talked about the most sensitive issue, their current relationship status. Jesse asks Celine if a boyfriend is waiting for her in Paris. Celine told him her relationship ended six months ago, and she said the boyfriend was not cute, but she was very disappointed when it ended. She had sought the help of a psychiatrist, and she wrote a novel about killing her boyfriend. As a result, the psychiatrist thought she would really do it, so she called the police. All this shows that Selina is a woman with heavy feelings. When Celine asked Jesse, Jesse was a little evasive. At Celine's insistence, he told her how she went to see her girlfriend in Budapest and was abandoned.
Taking to the streets again, they chatted about the attitudes of men and women towards sex. Celine said that feminism was invented by men and made women open to sleeping with him. Jesse finds a biological basis for a man's passion. He said that a woman is on an island with ninety-nine men and has only one child, whereas, on the contrary, if a man is on an island with ninety-nine women, she has ninety-nine children. Celine said that if there were ninety-nine women, one man might be eaten alive. And ninety-nine men may kill each other for women.
Then they saw a very wild, raw, sexy dance on the street. Selina said it was the dance of birth. Women will dance with mothers. Jesse asked where the man was. Celine said that men are lucky, spiders eat males after fertilization, and women keep men alive. Jesse says women don't care about ruining men, women make trouble and put men in danger.
Jesse said being a good father and husband sometimes felt like killing his life. He's afraid of loyalty, or he doesn't have the capacity to love. Celine said the most important thing in life is to understand and share with others.
Fourth, short-term sex, or long-term love?
It's very interesting to call each other's friends in the coffee shop. This design is very ingenious.
Celine imitates calling her girlfriend, whom she had agreed to eat with, and asks Jesse to answer the phone. Since this conversation is a simulation of her speech to her girlfriend, she can tell what she thinks about Jesse in private, and Jesse can also ask some of his most wanted questions and reply to hers. She said she couldn't eat together because she got out of the car with a man, Jessie pretended to be her friend and said, you're crazy, ask her why. She said she couldn't help it, he was so cute. That's exactly what Jesse wanted to hear. She said he grabbed my heart. Said he was too cute again and described his appearance. He stared at me, he kissed me like an adult, and I liked him more and more, she said. She said that she told her that she wanted to kill her ex-boyfriend, and he must be afraid of her. Jesse also imitated her girlfriend and told her: he is not afraid of her, he has gone crazy for her. And said they would meet again.
Jesse calls a friend. He talked about the man who had broken up in Madrid and then met on the last night in Europe and said she was too smart and at first glance she didn't like him. He said that the other party was beautiful and that he had no confidence. She reassured him in the tone of his friend that she didn't judge him, and that we men don't understand women.
When they came out of the cafe, the two chatted on the balcony. The background was the resplendent old buildings, all of which seemed to be in a fairy tale world. Selina said that as soon as the sun came out, everything went back to its original shape. People who are in happiness begin to feel sad about the shortness of happiness and the possibility of continuing happiness.
When they came to the cruise ship, the dance hall of the cruise ship had already ended, and it was also a lonely moment. Jesse wanted a philosophical explanation for the sadness. He said that things are precious because they are limited. Jesse accepts this limitation, and Selina wants to continue the relationship, but she is reluctant to take the initiative, and wants to be expressed by Jesse. Selina said that after tomorrow we may never see each other again. Jesse said, do you think we'll see each other forever? Selina said she didn't know, and asked him what he thought. Jesse said he didn't know either. When Jesse felt Selina's sadness, she said that she could come to see her again, and Selina said that they were still rational adults, saying that she didn't want to turn the relationship into a burden. Why should relationships be eternal when Jesse goes along with her words. Celine said it was stupid, and her face was not very happy by this time. Finally Jesse proposes, as the last night, that they have sex. Celine agreed, but she wasn't happy.
For the night, Jesse went to the tavern to borrow wine, and then came to the grass.
As the two lay on the grass, Selena told Jess what the moment meant to her and how she cherished this beautiful relationship. But she really doesn't like the fact that both parties stay in touch out of obligation. Jesse seemed to lack self-confidence, and imagined that when they were together, she would find out how dull and boring he was and hate him. Jesse said that a lot of people are asking for disgust, and he felt like he was no longer who he was when he was around her, no longer had that self-loathing feeling.
It was Selina who took the initiative and Jesse had the courage to kiss her. Celine says she doesn't want to have sex because they don't see each other anymore, she's now jealous of who he sleeps with, and Jesse probably goes around bragging about having sex with French girls. In order to show that Jesse values the mind more than the body, it doesn't matter if he says it or not. Jesse said that if he had to choose between never seeing each other and getting married, he would choose marriage.
Selina tells Jesse again that she wants to sleep with him the moment she agrees to get off the train. But now that she has said so much, she doesn't know. She asked why we made it all so complicated, and Jesse said he didn't know.
Because love always has a commitment to the future, and love is bound to lead to a commitment to the future. At the beginning of love, even repulsive.
After a night, the sky finally dawned, the fairy tale world of last night disappeared, and the morning street scene was pale and desolate. They began to say goodbye, talking about what they were doing when they got home. They dance and kiss to the accompaniment of the clavichord, imprinting each other's image in their minds.
Under the sculpture in the square, Selina fell asleep on Jesse's leg, and Jesse read a poem by Auden, lamenting the passage of time. At this time Celine told Jesse that when she could totally foresee a person's behavior, instead of getting bored, she would love him more.
They made it to the train platform, and the time to say goodbye finally came, but they hadn't talked about how to keep in touch. Selina was reluctant to offer it up because she didn't want Jesse to find it a tough obligation. And Jesse didn't dare to ask, because he was afraid he would look ridiculous. But at the last moment when the whistle sounded, Jesse finally couldn't hold back, and with Selina's encouragement, proposed to meet again in half a year.
The train left with Selina, and the audience was as disappointed as Jesse. Without Selina, everything seemed so lifeless. A few empty shots at the end bring infinite melancholy.
Maybe such a delicate and complicated love movie is not suitable for today's Chinese. We have not yet reached that level of spirituality, and we are quite satisfied with whole grains.
The performances of the actors and actresses were excellent, and it is said that the entire film took only nine days, and the actors and actresses added many of their own lines. They really need deep acting skills to be able to perform that delicate and subtle feeling.
2010.5.25
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