"Ruan Lingyu" What's going on~~! ! The more complete the introduction and relevant information, the better ~ Thank you!

The film "Yuan Ling Yu" is a masterpiece released by Hong Kong director Kwan Kam-peng in 1992. Because of its unique perspective, familiar use of layered structures, and touching on profound issues, the film aroused divergent opinions as soon as it was released.

The so-called layered structure has been used to confuse people and achieve unique effects in many classic films, such as Saura's "Carmen" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and so on. The layered structure, also known as a play within a play, interweaves two versions (or even more, such as "Ruan Lingyu", "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land", etc.) of the story being told and the person who is telling it. People continue to watch the movie while watching the movie. The ground is interrupted, alienated, and often reflection and objective understanding arise out of this interruption. This is a painstaking effort by the creator to use confusing means to avoid confusing right and wrong.

"Ruan Lingyu" can be divided into two parts as a whole: one is Ruan Lingyu's life, and the other is the actor (Maggie Cheung) who played Ruan Lingyu on the set. We call it the documentary of Guan Jinpeng's film crew. Performance. In the former layer, three small sections can be separated - Ruan Lingyu's life, Ruan Lingyu filming on the film crew (both of which are Ruan Lingyu played by Maggie Cheung) and Ruan Lingyu's movie clips (this is Ruan Lingyu herself).

The reason for describing such a complex narrative structure is not because of any preference for complexity, but because under the surface of complexity, one can read that the actors and the people playing the roles have the same identification in different eras. .

In "Ruan Lingyu", the thematic narrative structure should focus on the life of Ruan Lingyu played by Maggie Cheung, from her emotional entanglements with three men (Zhang Damin, Tang Jishan and Cai Chusheng), to her cooperation with directors (including Cai Chusheng) ), as well as Ah Ruan's performance on the set, together form the old images of a generation of famous actresses in their last two years on earth. We can complete a re-editing in our minds: if there were not the interweaving of Ruan Lingyu's old film and Guan Jinpeng's film crew, then this would be a moving and pathos tear-jerking blockbuster. The flow is naturally smooth, but it also seems mediocre. Kwan Kam-peng has always been famous for depicting the delicate inner thoughts of women, with Maggie Cheung starring as Ah Ruan, and Carina Lau starring as Li Lili... They are in the bustling Hong Kong entertainment industry, and they are experiencing emotional changes and the "difficulty" of returning to 1997. All kinds of things can be used as metaphors, why not?

Cai Chusheng (played by Tony Leung Ka Fai) filming a scene of "New Women".

Ruan Lingyu plays a dying "new woman" in the film. The stipulated situation is that the "new woman" passes away after shouting the lines "I want to live! I want to live". At this time The video ends.

Cai Chusheng said "it's over" at this time, and all the crew members of Cai Chusheng's film crew left one after another. Only Ah Ruan lay on the bed and did not move. She slowly covered her face with the sheet, curled up on the bed and cried. Everyone was silent at that time, Director Cai approached the hospital bed and leaned over.

We saw this scene. When Cai Chusheng leaned down and was speechless, we then saw: the camera pulled out, first the camera of Cai Chusheng's crew appeared, and then pulled out, the camera of Guan Jinpeng's crew appeared, Guan Jinpeng shouted: Jiahui, you forgot to lift the sheets and look at Maggie (Maggie Cheung's English name)!

At this point in the film, the actor and the role played by the actor are already in harmony with each other. Is it the "new woman" who is crying on that sick bed for a long time? Is it Ah Ruan? Or Meiji? !

I was watching the scenery on the bridge, and the people watching the scenery looked at me in the windows. (What did Bian Zhilin say?)

I had a good time with the overlord on the stage, and shed my own tears in other people's dramas. (Leslie Cheung in "Farewell My Concubine")

When a woman plays Zhong Kui, she fights the ghosts in her own life! (Xu Shouli in "The Love of Humans and Ghosts")

Haha.

There is a tidbit that may explain Mei Ji's empathy at that moment. Just before filming "Ruan Lingyu", an old love letter she wrote to director Er Dongsheng was made public, and she was hurt by rumors. . At that time and that scene, the mood was the same as that of Ruan Lingyu in 1935!

What kind of woman Ruan Lingyu is is not of concern to Guan Jinpeng. He would not define this woman as our film history does, saying that she is a "new woman" who was harmed by the evil old society. He just wants to observe and present some humanistic joys and sorrows of the past from the perspective of modern people.

There is a wonderful stroke in the film as evidence:

At the Ah Ruan mourning hall, director Wu Yonggang said to the camera solemnly: She asked me if she was a good person, and I said you are a good person. , even I think you are a too good person.

When Wu Yonggang said these words, it was undoubtedly the version of Ruan Lingyu's life. However, in the same shot, Wu was narrating in the foreground, but the "dead" "Ruan Lingyu" appeared in the background. Sitting up, Maggie Cheung began to touch up her makeup, and Kwan Jin Peng's film crew entered the narration. At this moment, Maggie Cheung separated from Ruan Lingyu, and Wu Yonggang continued to tell in front of Guan Jinpeng. The authenticity of the narration was greatly compromised, and the audience became alarmed at the repeatedly interrupted narration (many takes were filmed and edited). The director had other intentions, and the interruption emphasized this point.

Immediately afterwards, in the black and white picture, Guan Jinpeng was unwilling to be left alone. He said to the camera: I don’t know if Wu Yonggang said these words at the time. We added them ourselves.

When I go to see a movie, most of the time I am deceived by the story. Many people are used to that. Life is already hard enough. Why do we have to think when we are facing the screen? ! Therefore, there are more films that do not need to be coated, because they have to meet the audience's requirements that are not excessive. However, the good thing is that in addition to entertainment and political use, movies also have the function of independent thinking by movie writers. Through their non-kitsch and uncompromising, like all profound art, they can be spread.

Guan Jinpeng adopted this method of establishment (telling) and destruction (interruption) to maximize the tension of fractured tenderness. He told us that history depends on our memory (Old films by Ruan Lingyu and written records about his life) and imagination (the coherent development of Ruan Lingyu’s life and interviews with black and white pictures of the creators). The significance of historical existence does not lie in its authenticity, but in its impact on reality. What a reference! Who will investigate whether Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai were not lovers in historical facts. They were nearly a hundred years apart in age, and there was almost no possibility of them meeting. And don’t people in this world still shed bitter tears in the tragic love songs that are passed down from mouth to mouth?

In real history, Ruan Lingyu and Cai Chusheng seem to have no emotional entanglement. This is why Guan Jinpeng used Cai Chusheng's name to describe the mentality of Hong Kong people before the 1997 handover, which angered Cai Chusheng's descendants in the mainland.

In "Ruan Lingyu", three men broke into her life.

Tang Jishan's change of heart, Zhang Damin's rogue entanglement and Cai Chusheng's escape were the direct causes of Ruan Lingyu's angrily death. People say that rumors kill people, and the so-called "people's words are terrible." Human words are certainly terrifying, but what scares Ruan Lingyu the most is not human words, but the complete despair of men! The man made her famous (Zhang Damin), the man gave him a life of fine clothing and fine food (Tang Jishan), the man returned her love (Cai Chusheng); but in the same way, the man can destroy her (Zhang), abandon her (Tang), and see her Don't save me (Cai)!

The choice of Cai Chusheng to refer to the straw in Ruan Lingyu’s life crisis is intriguing.

As for the treatment of Cai Chusheng's role, the film does not portray Cai Ye as a lover who once relied on Ah Ruan like Tang Jishan and Zhang Damin did. There is a lot of tacit communication and tacit understanding of sympathy between them. .

There are many directors who have worked with Ruan Lingyu, including Sun Yu, Fei Mu, Wu Yonggang...but only Cai Chusheng. Guan Jinpeng spared no effort to describe his first acquaintance with Ruan Lingyu (being late for the photo), After dating, Ruan Lingyu's invitation to elope failed, and later Cai Chusheng fainted in the mourning hall. If we search carefully, we will find that Ruan Cai's love is actually a plot line with a beginning and an end despite constant interruptions!

That is homecoming, that is the warm embrace of love, that is far away from the world, and the infinite longing for the future.

However, returning home is just a person’s secret yearning. The person who yearns for it and the yearning itself still have a long way to go, or even, there is no accessible road!

Cai Chusheng dashed Ruan Lingyu’s last glimmer of hope.

While filming "New Women", Cai Ruan had a conversation.

Cai squatted on the ground and said: People are sometimes very weak. Two-thirds of the people in China are squatting. It’s not that they like it, it’s just that they can’t help it. Squatting to be insulted, squatting to wait for the savior.

Ruan Lingyu said: Still squatting to rest:)

Cai Chusheng looked at Ah Ruan: Don’t be so high on yourself, squat down and let me see.

So A Ruan squatted down.

He is such a director Cai who is not aloof and always squats to see the world. He shoots progressive films in the 1930s and is deeply trusted by Ah Ruan. At that sad party, Ruan Lingyu kissed him the most deeply. . However, when Ruan Lingyu was in trouble and asked him for help, he had no help. I believe everyone will not forget this paragraph:

Ruan Lingyu walked into the restaurant and Cai Chusheng had been waiting at the table for a long time. Ah Ruan hesitated to ask for help, but Cai Chusheng ignored him. Ah Ruan subconsciously picked up the ashes of Cai Dan's cigarette that fell on the table and put it into his mouth...

That almost self-abuse behavior made the famous actress desperate.

The picture processing is even more original: Cai and Ruan never appear in the same frame at the same time. At the beginning, Ah Ruan appears on the left side of the screen, his eagerness revealed in a suppressed manner, but at this moment, Director Cai is not in the painting at all. His understatement and evasive voice-over is chilling, and the entire background is a white wall. A ray of sunlight came in from outside the door and reflected his figure on the wall. It was an absentee, a deserter. (The person Ruan Lingyu trusted was just a shadow in the afternoon sun.) Cai Chusheng entered the painting at the end of the paragraph in order to refuse to elope with Ruan Lingyu to Hong Kong. At this time, Ah Ruan had quietly exited the frame, got up and left, leaving only The red director sits alone.

In Ruan Lingyu’s mourning hall, Cai Chusheng was the only director who did not speak. He felt lost behind the crowd and finally fell down. This progressive person who squatted down to look at the world regressed in the face of love.

Why is such a label placed on Cai Chusheng’s head?

As we all know, Cai Chusheng was a famous left-wing director in China in the 1930s. He can reflect the shadow of a generation of people's film workers. It is really unfair to treat him as an irresponsible and somewhat cowardly character. The external expression of director Guan Jinpeng's worried mentality.

"Ruan Lingyu" was filmed in 1992, and five years later, Hong Kong was about to return to China. Facing the return of Hong Kong, which has been under British colonial rule for a hundred years, not many people are happy, but many are worried. During that period, how to face 97 became an extremely sensitive and focus of attention for the Hong Kong film and television media. Some commentators referred to Tsui Hark's "The Invincible" series of films based on this, saying that Hong Kong people actually have a self-reference of "The Invincible" style that is neither male nor female. The long-term mental castration of the colony makes it difficult for them to have a full sense of belonging when they return.

Can the seniors in the film industry, who represent progress, give a warm embrace to actors who have a uncertain future?