Introduction to the Story of Soul Girl

Introduction to the Story of Soul Girl | Appreciation | Reflection

1992 color film for 90 minutes

China Tianjin Film Studio/changchun film studio co-produced.

Choreographer: (Adapted from Zhou Daxin's novel "Fragrant Oil Square by the Sweet Soul Pond") Photography: Bao's main actors: (decorated with second sister-in-law), Wu (decorated with rings), (decorated with lame uncle) and (decorated with pier).

This film won the Golden Bear Award at 1993 Berlin International Film Festival.

abstract

Contemporary, northern water town.

At dawn, the sweet soul of water waves is shrouded in the dark night sky, which is particularly quiet. Only the yellow light of Xiang soul lake sesame oil workshop proves to the night that it has woken up from a deep sleep.

In the sesame oil mill, hot air is rolling and white smoke is churning. The female boss Xiang Ersao has been working for a long time. While watching her son's chopping block and helper Jinhai stir-fry sesame seeds, she poured the fried sesame seeds into a rotating millstone. Dark brown sesame paste slowly flows into the trough of the chassis along the grinding edge. With the rotation of the stone mill, a new day began.

Under the sun, the fragrant soul lake, lotus flowers in full bloom, reeds swaying. By the lake, jinhai and chopping block, fried sesame seeds, are scrubbing their bodies. Huanhuan and the laughter of several girls in the village came from the distance. Seeing her lover's ring, Jinhai loudly told her to go to Fan Zhuang to watch the Bangzi Opera at night. The chopping block with mental retardation due to epilepsy also responded stupidly, which attracted waves of well-meaning ridicule from girls. At this time, suddenly someone came to report: "A Japanese has come to Xiang Ersao's house."

Xiang Ersao is a smart, provocative and capable woman. The sesame oil she deals in is famous for its good quality and pure taste. The Japanese who came this day was called Xinjin Yoko. She learned about Xiang Ersao through the introduction of Ren Zhongshi, a traffic professional, and specially came to visit Xiang Soul Lake. The appearance of the Japanese caused a sensation in this lakeside village, which also made Xiang Ersao excited. When she had just received Japanese guests and had not calmed down, her daughter arrived with low salary and shouted, "Mom, go and see my brother!" " "

It turned out that after watching the game of marrying a daughter-in-law played by the children by the lake, Silly Duner grabbed the ring and shouted, "Want a daughter-in-law! Want a wife! " While desperately dragging the ring into her arms. Huanhuan struggled in horror. A second sister-in-law came, but he still refused to let go. Second sister-in-law is in a hurry. She clapped her hands and ran away. When the crowd dispersed, Xiang Ersao comforted Huanhuan and asked Yier to take her home.

Looking at the dispersed crowd, the silly son in the distance, Xiang yisow lost in thought. Although my son is a bit silly, he still knows things between men and women. Who can guarantee that his son will not provoke other girls? Immediately, yisow made a decision to marry her son.

One day, the matchmaker Lao Wu led a beautiful girl, Ganoderma lucidum, to see his second sister-in-law. The girl has a glib tongue and has repeatedly claimed that she will take care of the chopping block, but yisow sees that she is not the kind of character who can bear hardships and be wronged. The second sister-in-law gave the order of marching out. Turn around, carry snacks, and come to the poor Huanhuan home on the grounds of compensation. My ears are listening to my mother's nagging, but my eyes are watching the busy tone from time to time.

The truck honked at the door, and Ren Zhongshi, a strong young transport expert, came to send Yisow a bottle of sesame oil again. Yisow and Ren Zhongshi seem to settle accounts carefully in front of others. In the back corner of the oil mill, lovers for more than 20 years embraced each other tightly.

In the evening, the fifth wife came to the second sister-in-law's house and told her that Huanhuan's parents didn't agree to marry Huanhuan, and reminded her that Huanhuan fell in love with Jinhai. Second sister-in-law is very unhappy. The next day, she called Jinhai and asked him to do a job that was both profitable and decent-to be in charge of retail stores in the city. At the same time, he was asked not to find an object in the countryside for two years.

Japanese Yoko Shinji sent a telegram soon, agreeing to invest 400,000 yuan in Ersao's oil mill. Director Wang of the Credit Office and other villagers came to congratulate him. Second sister-in-law took this opportunity to suggest that Director Wang should get the money owed by Jia Huan back as soon as possible, and at the same time affectionately put a bucket of sesame oil into Director Wang's hand.

So the two-pronged approach really worked. A few days later, Laowu Milk reported Huanhuan and decided to get married. The condition is to pay10.5 million yuan in cash. Xiang Ersao said happily, "Fifteen thousand won! But I also have a condition that I must get married next week. "

Red and green floats came from the lake, and the suona of celebration resounded through the sweet soul lake. The marriage on the chopping block is decent and lively. On dozens of tables in Xiang Ersao's yard, firecrackers, cheers and blessings are connected. Huanhuan was all dolled up and there was no smile on her face. She toasted table after table next to the chopping block. Sister Xiang is very happy. My cheeks are flushed with pink.

In the evening, Ersao came to the new house. The chopping block is sleeping, and the ring is gone. Sister-in-law went out to look for it, only to find Huanhuan crying in a low voice by the pond, scrubbing her body scratched by the chopping block. Yisow looked at it with pity and mixed feelings.

Uncle Lame is a lazy and greedy alcoholic who spends all his time in bars. One night, Huanhuan climbed onto the sultry roof, looked at the sleeping chopping block beside her and thought about her own thoughts. Suddenly, the door creaked and Huanhuan saw a black shadow flash into her mother-in-law's room. The ring was silent and puzzled.

Inside, yisow and Ren Zhong really hugged and twisted tightly on the kang. Suddenly, there was a scream from the roof. Yisow ran into the house, only to find that the chopping block was clinging to Huanhuan's neck and foaming at the mouth. He is ill.

Huanhuan was frightened and fled back to her family for a long time. The second sister-in-law went after her personally and forced Huanhuan to go home on the grounds of paying back the money immediately.

Late at night, the lame uncle came back half drunk. As soon as he got on the kang, he pulled Ersao's clothes. Second sister-in-law refused, and second uncle refused. The two men tore at each other. During the beating, the second uncle found that the second sister-in-law had been taking birth control pills behind his back, which ruined his dream of having another son and made him furious. He grabbed yisow's hair and ran to the edge of the kang. Ersao broke free and ran into the kitchen, crying sadly. Huanhuan was taken aback. She came to see her mother-in-law, but she was scolded by her mother-in-law.

Another night, a shadow flashed into the second sister-in-law's room. Sister-in-law cried out her grievances to her lover Ren Zhongshi. Two people are making out, juwan came back early. Ren Zhongshi jumped into the hospital from the back window and hit the ring that pushed the door out. When yisow saw this scene, she gasped.

In fear of losing her reputation, Ersao became "morbid". My second uncle went to the bar as usual, and Ren Zhongshi went to Guangzhou to take good care of her mother-in-law. Life is calm again. Three days later, yisow came to the oil mill with "illness". Everything is the same. No one was cynical, and no one cast a contemptuous look. Director Wang came running excitedly to congratulate Yisow's sesame oil on winning the first prize in the provincial capital appraisal. The bitter smile on yisow's mouth is fleeting.

At sunset, yisow said to the ring hanging clothes on the roof, "I haven't told anyone about this, mom." After half a ring, Huanhuan replied in a low voice, "I know my mother is suffering, too." Yisow was speechless, tears slowly falling.

At night, the sweet soul lake in the moonlight, the waves flowing, the reed beach like a black barrier, cast a shadow on the water. Sister-in-law came to Huan Huan who was taking a bath by the lake. "Huaner, leave the dock. Life is too long. Find a suitable one in the future and your mother will marry you. " Looking at the water around me, tears rolled down, half rang, and I hid my face and cried. "Who will want me again?" ……"

A breeze blew, the pond was sparkling, and the fragrant soul sank into the hometown.

Distinguish and appreciate

Soul Girl is a work that is very close to China's contemporary real life. In the film, the director shows the smoky and poetic natural environment of the northern water towns in the 1990s, and shows us that the people in the water towns involved in the tide of commodity economy are making their stagnant and hard life sweet and prosperous with their diligence and wisdom. However, "Soul Girl" is by no means a paean to the changes in the material life of new rural areas in China and new farmers in China. The creator's focus is to describe the spiritual world of human beings, and to explore the numerous relationships between the times, society, culture and the spiritual world of human beings.

The creator mainly reflects the theme of the film by describing the marriage and fate of two women-Xiang Ersao and Huan Huan.

Xiang Ersao, as the heroine of the film, is a figure who is sympathetic, appreciative and disgusting. We sympathize with her unfortunate love experience. Because of her poor family, she was sold at the age of seven and became a child bride. /kloc-when she was 0/3 years old, she was forced to consummate her marriage and married a lame alcoholic husband. In the family, she is just a money-making machine, a released tool. She is only a little happy when she secretly trysts with the driver Ren Zhongshi. Unfortunately, Ren Zhongshi is an unreliable lover. Can't say that all his feelings are fake. In essence, Xiang Ersao is just a "concubine" in his mind. What we admire is her shrewdness. Such an uneducated rural woman was able to keep up with the tide of economic reform and run a small sesame oil workshop on a remote lake in Xiangdian, which attracted Japanese people to invest here for thousands of miles ... With the development of the plot, our hatred for her also came to life. The victim of a business marriage more than 20 years ago personally created another business marriage in the 1990s. She bought a virtuous daughter-in-law for her mentally retarded son with epilepsy. In the process of creating this marriage tragedy with the help of money, she was scheming and kind, which completely exposed the selfishness and fierceness as a rural female boss.

Another woman in the film, a virtuous daughter-in-law, is an unfortunate and sad figure. She is kind, quiet, diligent and sensible. Her misfortune is that in order to help her parents pay their debts, she became the victim of an ignorant and absurd marriage. Her sorrow is that she never thought of fighting against fate. Her only resistance was to escape to her parents' house. She didn't even realize that she could jump out of the fire pit in this life. Later, influenced by her kindness and generosity, Xiang Ersao offered to dissolve the marriage, but she actually cried: "Who will want me again!" "

The creator put Xiang Ersao and Huan Huan, two vivid characters, in the background of rural life of reform and opening up, which made their characters, psychology and behavior violently rub and collide with the times and society, and really gave us a lot of inspiration, thus greatly deepening the theme of the film.

Like money and life. This is an eternal topic. Since the late 1970s, many China films have reflected the tragedies caused by poverty, especially the love tragedies. This film not only criticizes the ignorant love brought by the economic depression, but also points to the distortion of human nature caused by the fact that the thought still stays in the feudal patriarchal society after the economic prosperity. Money is important, but for people, there are more important things than money. With the help of the fact that Xiang Ersao was alienated by money, the creator evolved from a victim of buying and selling marriage to a maker of buying and selling marriage, giving the world a warning.

Another example is spiritual civilization and material civilization. Material civilization should be the basis of spiritual civilization, but it doesn't mean that if you are rich in material, you will be rich in spirit. There is such a scene in the film: Xiang Ersao holds a big banquet for her silly son to get married, and the whole Xianghu Lake boils. I like to wear red boats, and the sound of suona resounds through the lake. At the wedding reception, firecrackers exploded, cheers and blessings converged. The villagers in Xiangsoudian turned a blind eye to this shocking love tragedy and appreciated it to the extreme. What blocked their sight and made them look so ignorant and numb in the face of this deformed marriage? Here, the film will push the spiritual world of Ersao to a wider audience, and enlighten us that the construction of spiritual civilization must be synchronized with the construction of material civilization. The great progress of society requires people to analyze and change their own defects and drawbacks, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.

Another example is human liberation or modernization. The opening of the whole society does not mean that people's ideological constraints have been eliminated. Xiang Ersao made a tragic marriage in her miserable childhood, and she can't get rid of it today as a female boss. During the day, she is like a strong woman in the rural economic reform. At night, she still has to endure the pain and obey the drunk's orders. Xiang Ersao is not unable to get rid of it, but she never thought she could get rid of it. So is that man Ren Zhongshi. Especially from the last sound of the ring, "Who will want me!" In our lamentation, we realize how the concept of female chastity, which has lasted for thousands of years, has bound ourselves. All this enlightens us that the most fundamental thing for women to truly realize the awakening of sex and love and dominate their own destiny is to break through the cage of old ideas, that is, to liberate people's own thoughts first.

People are never objectively isolated. People who are both realistic and historical. Only by writing the complex relationship between the two in literary and artistic works can the characters be true, meaningful and chewy. The fate of Xiang Ersao and Huan Huan in Soul Girl makes us so excited and can cause a lot of thinking, which is also the reason.

In Soul Girl, Wu, who plays Xiang Ersao and Huanhuan, is quite vivid, natural and simple. Gaowa Siqin is very good at grasping the inner contradiction of Ersao and the confusion of women. She accurately shows the character and psychology of a capable, rude and uneducated strong woman. For example, Xiang Ersao mainly faces three people in the film. One is a lame husband, the other is a lover Ren Zhongshi, and the third is a daughter-in-law. When Gaowa Siqin grasps the relationship between characters, appropriate restrictions are very good. The disgust, helplessness and coping with her husband, attachment, tenderness and resentment to her lover, and reserve, majesty and sympathy to her daughter-in-law are all just right. The external action of the wind, fire and fire, and the inner bitterness are hard to swallow, and they are unified together, which appropriately reflects the situation of the characters. Huanhuan, played by Wu, plays this daughter-in-law who is distorted by poverty and traditional ethics tactfully and delicately by means of "no performance".

The directing style of Soul Girl is very close to Xie Fei's another work, The Rustling Daughter of Hunan. For example, the film "Xiang" is the same as the film "Xiang". The director melts his inner dignity, depression, anxiety and anger into the process of story development. There is no emotional grief, but there is a lasting emotional impact produced by the plot itself. This influence makes us think deeply about the cultural burden accumulated by our nation in the long years. For example, Soul Girl, like The Daughter of Sasha Vujacic in Hunan, focuses on depicting the subtle psychological changes of the characters through rhetorical devices in the film. Pay special attention to the environment's contrast to the characters' emotions and the creation of artistic atmosphere. "Soul Girl" chooses cold and hard tones as the background color of the film. From many cold, dark, deep and elegant pictures, we can chew the inertia of traditional culture and appreciate the shadow that history has cast on modern people.