What is a novel life film?

1, flowers

The film focuses on the personalities of three women in many details and hints at their respective destinies. When the three kinds of flowers first appeared, their personalities and lives were consistent. The design of this lens took a lot of effort.

The first is the dazzling yellow bouquet in the 1950s, as if she finally chose her own way of life, completely embarked on the road of women's rights, and gave up the family's Laura-fresh and tough personality.

Then, at 200 1, Clarissa bought a rose interwoven with crimson and light pink. Just like Clarissa herself, she is both passionate spiritual heterosexuality and ambiguous physical homosexuality. His life, like red and pink, is a mixture of unrestrained girlhood and compromise in cohabitation. This kind of two-color blood-stained rose, like Claudia's irreconcilable spirit and flesh, is the result of contemporary artificial cultivation and a deformity created by chaotic modern society.

Finally, the purple flowers in Virginia. Noble and elegant aristocratic temperament, at the same time, Yin Qi and introversion are the portrayal of the entanglement and confusion of the inner world of classical female writers.

2. jewelry

Another ingenious detail is that Laura's neighbor Katie appeared in 195 1. Her earrings and necklace are a set of silver cherry blossoms.

After World War II, the United States occupied Japan and became interested in Japanese culture. It introduces Japanese food, Japanese bathhouses and Japanese clothes in many aspects. American sociologists such as Benedict (the author of Chrysanthemum and Knife) began to study Japanese society in this period-therefore, Katie's cherry blossom ornaments truly reproduced the characteristics of that era.

Second, the plot

1, love

A series of long shots interwoven with three generations ended in Virginia. She came downstairs and told her husband a big lie. When the other party forced her to eat, Virginia asked to go upstairs to write on the grounds of sudden inspiration. Although her head tilted slightly and her mouth curled slightly, her eyes were completely different from those of her servant and sister. Although her husband and wife are troubled by her mental illness, they are still very happy. From Virginia's childish snickering when she was helpless to her husband, it is not difficult to see their love.

At the end of 1923, Leonard and Virginia sat opposite each other by the fireplace. When Leonard asked, "Am I stupid?" Virginia's attitude towards him is obviously different from others. She replied seriously: "Death is to highlight the value of living, so compare." My sister thinks she is crazy, and so do the servants. However, it is a great happiness that she can sit quietly opposite her husband, because he understands and loves her-even if she quarrels loudly at the station because of where to go, she is still happy in front of her husband-which coincides with Lao Laura's evaluation of Claudia's "You are a lucky woman".

2. Family

Near the end, Laura secretly sobbed and perfunctory her husband. At this moment, she clearly looked at herself in the mirror-herself in her heart-and decided the important choice in life. Moore's performance in this play is superb and unparalleled.

Laura, who entered the dormitory after removing makeup, was obviously old in the dim light. Then the next scene, she appeared in her later years. What puzzled Claudia was that since the old woman knew that abandoning her family and children was the worst thing for a mother, she could not regret what she had done. Perhaps, Claudia, who lives in the gap between spiritual world and physical desire, will never understand. On the contrary, her daughter gave Laura a warm hug. Laura is an amazing woman who lives for herself.

3. Same sex complex

The wonderful passage is in the play of housewife Laura and neighbor Katie in 195 1. Laura's words are amazing. For sensitive Katie who is infertile due to illness, it is almost impossible to open the pot. So Katie quickly changed the subject and talked about novels. Laura just concluded that "a seemingly happy woman is actually not happy", which is definitely uncomfortable for Katie, who is praised as a social butterfly by Laura.

So Laura was so sad when she heard that she was hospitalized because of infertility that she even gave her kiss-at this moment, she suddenly discovered her potential homosexual tendency-which made Katie even more sad. Laura's input made Katie realize her homosexuality and ran away with a "how kind of you". Laura, on the other hand, is full of ignorance and evil fire, all of which are scattered on poor little richard. As an ordinary housewife, she is different from radical Virginia after all. Virginia can accept and even practice her own ideas, and the exposure of same-sex complex is really a great stimulus for Laura, which eventually changes her family and life.

Tea time, Virginia's meditation was once again misunderstood by her sister as insanity, and the so-called "double life theory" sarcasm sounded extremely mean to her. Although Virginia is really emotional, she yearns for a normal life, otherwise she would not be upset because she was not invited to the dinner party. It's just that when she was lost in thinking, she didn't want to be disturbed and longed for silence, but she never understood. Faced with the naive question of my little niece, Virginia's too serious answer "I wonder if I should kill the heroine" simply made my sister's hair stand on end. So, although she tried to stay, she was at a loss. As a result, her sister was completely scared away by a disgusting kiss-impulsive breathing and hoarse vibrato showed her gay complex incisively and vividly, and the performances of the two actors were excellent. When my sister hurried away, the clock struck four-that's when they should arrive, which reminded people of the sentence: "After death, I will go back to where I was before." ...

4. Fate

Before going for a walk in Virginia, her husband's complaints annoyed her, but soon the heroine of the novel touched all her energy. "She's dying! "Virginia mused, and the student road team passing neatly behind her suggested the passage of time, even the rhythmic flowers and plants when the breeze came. Pedestrians walked down the stairs in front of her, all from the fork on her right hand side, while she sat alone on the bench corresponding to the fork on her left hand side. A low pillar in the middle seems destined to make her different.

Just like Leonard chasing Virginia, he didn't know why he chose the direction of the station instead of the other side, although he hesitated for a moment-everything was fate. The next scene undoubtedly points out the central idea:

"I have no obligation to feed others!" "I have the right to choose where to live!" "This is human nature!" "I die in this hellhole every day!" "The heart is like falling into an endless dark quagmire!" ..... In the face of the outbreak of Virginia, Leonard's incomparable love and tolerance for her is touching. When the train for London pulled into the station, she finally compromised-her personality was not tolerated by society and relatives, but she could only bloom for her beloved husband, and love could not bear all the pain, so she converged again and suppressed herself again.

At the end of the scene, Virginia said, "You can't steal peace from running away from life!" " "The impact on the floor is loud. This is not only talking about herself, but also summing up Laura's new life after giving up suicide. It's more like telling Claudia that she was disturbed by the appearance of her opponent Louis. Finally, Claudia gradually calmed down and turned over. Time has passed, and it is futile to forget.

The story flows to the conversation between mother and daughter Claudia. "When you wake up one morning, you find yourself at the starting point of happiness, and there are infinite possibilities in the future, but you are wrong-that moment is happiness." After her competitors left, Claudia bravely admitted that she had lost Richard-after all, they were once very happy.

Richard's suicide is the highest resistance to a life full of illness and lifelessness. The reason why you drag out an ignoble existence is only because Claudia can be satisfied in the process of taking care of him. For Richard, the mentality of living for others is just to escape from life, so-"escaping from life can't steal peace!" " At the window, he remembered his mother Laura, who screamed at the top of her lungs when she was a child and could leave without looking back. Brown, she is so determined to choose her own life. Richard jumped down with a sigh of relief.

Third, photography.

1, mirror/glass

There are many mirrors and glass windows in the lens of this film. At first, I only understood them as photography skills, thinking that they were to create a sense of hierarchy. This understanding is obviously superficial. Because in the process of watching this movie for the fifth time, I suddenly had an idea that every mirror and window actually represents the inner world of the characters in the play.

The first is the crossing of three women getting up in the morning. When Virginia left the room, her back was reflected in the face mirror and the side mirror, which actually suggested that Virginia was trapped in the life of the novel character Mrs. Dolowe-as her sister later said, "one person leads two people's lives"-and she and her description of Mrs. Dolowe, two women and two tangled hearts.

According to this idea, the use of many mirrors and windows can be understood in this way. For example, 195 1, Laura attempted suicide in the hotel. At first, I only noticed that the scene of her sitting alone in front of the hotel bed was not taken horizontally, but hung in the corner of the room like a monitor, making Laura's relatively spacious room look small. But another result of this is that the mirror behind her can't reflect her figure-there is no her in the mirror. Can it be understood as: this echoes that she can't grasp her heart and is in a state of self-loss?

Another example: Claudia carefully selected flowers to visit Richard in "True Love". Richard's window was covered with curtains, just like his heart was covered with disease, and the window reflected his thoughts again. But Richard still tried to catch the sunshine, in his words, "write down everything that happened in an instant." As he spoke, a faint, lazy ray of sunshine poured down on his face, forming a narrow band of light. As Richard walked around, he swept his face several times-finally, he left him when he said "but I can't after all" in despair-and the shadow of illness could not make him live in the way he wanted. So he suddenly became irritable, and the mention of death and refusal to attend dinner made Claudia very angry-when Richard recited a sentence from the novel Mrs. Dolowe, "Mrs. Dolowe always likes to party to cover up her loneliness," it was poking Claudia's heart.

Of course, we can't generalize all mirrors and windows, otherwise it will be far-fetched.

2. Elevator

When Claudia visited Richard, there were two ways to take pictures. One is overlooking the elevator from the top floor, and the other is looking up at the dark roof from the inside of the elevator. The feeling of traveling through the tunnel brought by the vertical lens is consistent with the theme of time flow in this film. Looking up at the dark roof from the elevator, the higher it rises, the darker it tends to be, which indicates that the future of the characters is dim, desperate and unpredictable.

That's how I understand top-down photography: they come from dark and unexplained life-which is in line with Virginia's reply to her niece at the bird funeral: "I don't remember what it was like before we came."

3. A sense of mobility

Many scenes in this film focus on creating a sense of fluidity, just like time, and also like a swift river when Virginia committed suicide. Whether it's the elevator going up and down vertically, the 200 1 new york subway leaving in a hurry, 1923 the crowd moving behind Virginia while meditating, 195 1 the endless traffic on the Los Angeles Expressway, and the entanglement between the hasty and compact strings and the flustered piano all highlight the meanness and ruthlessness of the lost time.

Even if the story enters an important narrative paragraph, the movement of the picture is relatively calm. The cigarette in Virginia's hand and the steam from the train are still reminding: Even if you don't pay attention, you think everything is still, and time is still passing.

Fourth, performance.

1, Nicole? Kidman

Virginia's trembling right hand when writing and her hunchback and limping when walking are shocking. Nicole's performance was very touching. Apart from body language, another big shock is that her voice is hoarse and almost changed-it is hard to imagine that the Moulin Rouge singer Sai Ding would become so low and embarrassed. I think she deserves an Oscar. In fact, the 75th Oscar can really compete with her. I think only Julianne is from a distant heaven? Moore. As for the fake nose that the media has been biting, it is just a prop.

In particular, the scene of the bird's funeral is quiet, depressing and natural, which is more exciting than the bold and sharp hysteria in the station. It is a kind of confusion and loss, and the stagnant eyes are full of longing for death.

2. Merrill? Streep

Merrill? Streep seems to be working too hard. I think she always does. The habit of stage play, of course, is not to belittle her. This may be a feature. She and ed? Harris and Julian? Moore's two duets were obviously desperate, and Harris's emotional words and Moore's calm and plain statements captured people's hearts more than her. She sighed strongly, such as: "Oh, flowers, what a beautiful day-!" Moreover, the deliberately distorted face when expressing pain makes people feel uncomfortable.

There is a scene where she is preparing dinner at home, and her opponent Louis (Jeff? Dennis plays the role of a tourist. Streep exaggeratedly leaned against the kitchen counter and made an exaggerated performance, which suddenly made me want to laugh at her irrelevant madness and worthless passion. Does she have a stomachache? I think this is the biggest failure of this movie!

On the contrary, Jeff? Dennis has a good grasp of the role of gay men, and his evasive language is surprisingly successful. The opponent Claudia's attitude is clear-don't go (please Richard)! But don't come (I hate you)! So in order to ease the atmosphere, Louis talked about his experience of leaving Richard. He finally said, "I recently fell in love with a student." I think this student should be a male student.

3. Julian? spy

In all fairness, the best is Moore. She and Nicole are equal in performance, but Nicole plays a female writer with mental disorder and has great potential. Moore, on the other hand, the plot of her line is purely "making trouble out of nothing." And it is even more difficult for her to make a housewife who is "making trouble out of nothing" as exquisite and eye-catching as an extraordinary female writer.

The overall feeling is: Nicole? Kidman = Julian? Moore: Merrill Lynch? Streep, especially in the opposite play between Moore and Streep, Moore's indifferent sadness is natural and obviously overshadows each other.

I feel that Streep's hero is dying, Moore is a late bloomer, and Nicole is sharp-edged.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) music score

1, Introduction

Steven who was originally invited to write Shakespeare's love story and won an Oscar? Volbek starred in the soundtrack of this film. In 2000, with director Steven? Morality cooperated with his film debut "Billy? Elliot. However, after Volbek wrote it down and actually recorded it, morality was not satisfied. So the company invited Michael, the composer of 1993 Piano Class? Neiman, the result is still not recognized by picky moral interests.

Usually the so-called "music editor" is responsible for the music production of Hollywood movies. Before composing music, the person first negotiates with the film director to concretize the director's score impression, especially to grasp the score length of which scene, and then make a "ramp track" by using the established score of other films or classical music. Then, the actual composer writes the music of the movie according to this "under the guise of score"-this is the most common process.

Coincidentally, it turns out that "Borrowing Music" is Philip? Glass's works. Because Glass's soundtrack has always been known for its obscure retro style, he was not invited by the production layer. However, after two changes of ownership, finally, Philip? Glass was hired to be in charge.

The composition of the film, the repressed string ensemble and the piano did not run through it, nor did they go it alone for three years. Glass skillfully weaves it with the soundtrack, which is elegant and plays an interlude role, cleverly embellishing the sudden changes of different times, and everything that was originally dull has become a relief under the modification of music.

1, opening

The beginning of the movie is like a MV:

First, the water ran away, shaking as if in a hurry. Then Virginia tied up her coat with her hands covered with spots and veins standing out, and quickly walked out of the door to the river. At the beginning of the music, Virginia picked up a stone and stuffed it into her pocket, calmly and eagerly walked to the middle of the water, repeating a suicide note in her mind-it was like reading Virginia's score poem-in a weak and quiet atmosphere, the strings gradually became gloomy, the cello cried charmingly, Virginia sank completely, and even the last bondage-shoes were ruthlessly taken away by the water, just like Virginia was weak.

The stream of consciousness described in the music here is parallel, overlapping and consistent with the water flow. The repetition of the same sound pattern in strings seems to imply Virginia's desire for liberation; The notes marching at a constant speed are indifferent, which constitutes an uneasy urge to her slow death, without mercy, as if time passed forever.

This passage of The Poet's Acts does not follow the vulgar lyric mode at the beginning, nor does it adopt the unusual narrative mode with pictures as annotations, but adopts an ambiguous intermediate form, which looks more ordinary but full of confusion, just like the despair of Virginia in the film.

The violin flows without hesitation, and then the repressed cello emerges in a long-awaited way, leading the whole string department, cold and gloomy, like Virginia's state of mind, relieved and safe. The cello dominates the rhythm of the strings and gradually falls and sinks-on the screen, Virginia slowly falls into the river. The cello is getting weaker and weaker, the flow of the whole music tends to be flat, and the sound almost disappears-on the screen, under the mud, Virginia's obedient body flows, and a ring shines on the ring finger of her right hand.

2. Morning songs

The second paragraph "Morning Paragraph" fully matches the superb narrative technique of this film. The whole song tries to tell three women through the tentative independent jumping of the piano, but the piano can never jump out of the palm of the unhurried strings. Every time the strings are played a few times, the usually repeated strings become grand piano. Like a casual time, three women are intertwined.

3, interlude

Laura was very tired when she got up. Her birthday husband not only bought flowers, but also prepared breakfast for his youngest son Richard. The third paragraph "What She Had to Do" was played hastily, and the tone was very low. Laura was embarrassed to send her husband out, but she turned to her son and said bluntly, "Eat quickly!" " It's not harsh and you're welcome, as if the undercurrent in her heart broke out instantly and the music gradually accelerated, so the camera left the quiet Los Angeles at 195 1 and came to new york at 200 1 with a hectic pace of life. The urgent score ended with Claudia's footsteps, and she walked quickly across the block while talking on the phone-once again embodying the mystery of this background-free and intermittent score technique.

The fourth paragraph "For your own benefit" quietly flowed out when Richard poked Claudia's heart, until she looked back again and finally persuaded Richard to attend the dinner party, and the music was further accelerated-new york's fast-paced life was exactly the same as Virginia's chaotic inner world-the camera spread from the elevator to Claudia in the dark corridor and returned to Virginia where she was writing, but at this time, Nelly, a burly maid, rudely disturbed her. Maybe what the other person eats for lunch and dinner is really important, but Virginia doesn't understand these unimportant things. Why does she always disturb her thoughts? I did something to send it to London. But "how nice it is to go to London!" Feeling, but it is her heartfelt begging.

Step 4 leave it blank

Compared with the above paragraphs, the blank space in many places is equally amazing.

For example, during Laura's friend Katie's visit, there was no music for seven minutes, which was obviously not very friendly to the movie audience-a simple conversation was very unfriendly. But what about Philip? Mr. glass seems to ignore this set and stubbornly implement the musical concept of stage play.

Obviously, this meanness has brought great success. First of all, the exquisite overall performance of many important plots and luxurious cast has been highlighted as never before, which proves once again that "acting" and "drama" are the soul of movies-compared with the inexplicable splendor of many movie soundtracks, "The Hours" is a sincere textbook.

Secondly, it is precisely because of Glass's attitude of "cherishing music like gold" that the soundtrack of this film is extremely shocking. In the crisscross and incredible plot, occasionally there will be some simple and easy-to-understand bits and pieces of weak music. The strong taste of British movies and pure classical music are perfectly matched in the tight spiral of strings and pianos that lead the plot.

5, the ending

At the end of the film, the music "stream of consciousness" is parallel, overlapping and consistent with the water flow again. This kind of flow is not like running water, but difficult and ups and downs-just like Virginia's bumpy life, such as the bumpy road under her feet, such as her heart that can only be liberated after death, such as the swift river in front of her eyes.

Virginia's deep hoarse voice was accompanied by the undercurrent of music, and she was depressed about her suicide note:

"Leonard, dear, I'm sure no one will be as happy as we are ... you gave me everything! Face life, face up to everything that exists, love them, and then you can abandon it. In this way, your life and mine have gone through a long time. Forever ... our love ... forever ... just like this time ... "

With Virginia's serene body, the sound passes through the rushing river and the rushing time.

Transfer from: DVD movie