Secret Visitors: Deconstruction and Reflection on Family

Note: This article has spoilers.

The novel version of Secret Visitor, written by Shu Qiao and directed by Chen Zhengdao, was published before its official release. This novel is called Sweet Home. At that time, some people were worried that the Secret Visitor was so tightly covered when it was released, and the novel was published first. Isn't this a play? In fact, although the film and the novel are generally consistent, the narrative perspective has shifted. The novel takes Wang Chutong (the role played by Zifeng Zhang in the film) as the main point of view, and she is the most trapped one; In the movie, we take Wang Chutong's father, Mr. Wang (the role played in the movie) as the point of view. To understand this film, the key is to decipher the logic of Wang's father.

"Secret Visitor" poster

If you have seen The Soul, you will find that Mr. Wang (as) is very similar to the wealthy businessman in The Soul, and neither of them likes the opposite sex. In these two films, Zhang Baijia also happened to play the wife. When Mr. Wang was studying in new york earlier, he had a like-minded male friend Roy, who originally planned to open a photography studio together. Later, Mr. Wang came back under family pressure and faced the task of getting married and having children. Roy doesn't know what to do because he can't understand. Mr. Wang and Roy's friend Xiao Xue (Zhang Baijia) know their relationship and agree to marry Mr. Wang on the premise that she will live with Mr. Wang and her illegitimate daughter Chu Tong (Zifeng Zhang).

Mr. Wang ()

Xiaoxue still has expectations for Mr. Wang, as she said at the wedding, "I know that the camera (Roy) is the first in your heart, and I just want to be the second." But when she found out that the sperm of Wang Chuqi, the child born by artificial insemination with Mr. Wang, actually came from Roy, she collapsed. She is not even a second name in this family. Xiaoxue will leave this home forever. Whether it is a photo with only feet hanging in the living room or air-dried meat hanging in the storage room, it seems that it is light snow hanging.

Due to force majeure, this film about Mr. Wang's previous history is quite obscure, which requires the patience of the audience to integrate all the details. Xiaoxue's departure did not bring real pain to Mr. Wang. To some extent, Xiaoxue is just a "tool" to help Mr. Wang continue Roy's blood. Mr. Wang devoted all his love to Wang Chuqi, and Wang Chutong was left out in the cold.

In an accidental school bus accident, only the school bus driver Yu (ornaments) and students (Rong Zishan) survived, and other children were killed, including Wang Chuqi and Lulu (ornaments), the illegitimate daughter of the chaebol. The parents of these children are either rich or expensive. They use money and relationships to convict the trapped firewood, while the remaining trapped firewood who is still in a coma is acquitted.

Yu (Duan Long)

The car accident changed the fate of several families. Having lost Lulu's mother (Xu Weining) and the alimony from the chaebol, she needs to find a new meal ticket. Chen Xiaoqi, who was born in an ordinary family, has a new family because of his leg disability in a car accident. I hope Mr. Wang Can will adopt Chen Xiaoqi. A perfect home in the eyes of the outside world is thus formed: Lulu's mother lives as Mrs. Wang; Chen Xiaoqi lived to be Wang Chuqi. ...

Mrs. Wang (Xu Weining)

Although the reorganization of this family is accidental, it is inevitable-everyone has selfishness and wants, including Mr. Wang. When the law ruled that Chai Qiao was innocent, he wanted to lock him up with "lynching". However, his plan is more thorough. He created the illusion of a perfect family, tampered with Yu's memory and made Yu live a sinner. Although he gave Chai Chai freedom, he made Chai Chai afraid of the outside world ... He told his family that when he surrendered to Chai Chai's conscience (only to find that the court had already acquitted him), the purpose of revenge was achieved and his family could be dissolved.

Mr. Wang is destined to be trapped in a sleepy firewood. What he didn't expect was to be trapped in front of the sleepy firewood. When this family was still in business, it seemed that Wang Chuqi was really alive, just like a precious camera hidden in his private study, and it was also the embodiment of Roy. Therefore, he defended this family with paranoia and arbitrariness.

Mr. Wang trapped everyone

He was trapped in firewood for three years, and also trapped Mrs. Wang and Wang Chutong for three years. Mrs. Wang is repeating the fate of Xiaoxue. She can't stand living in a fake family without love. Wang Chutong expects her to get her father's love after the family reorganization, but Mr. Wang is still indifferent to her ... "As long as I live, no one wants to leave this home." Mr. Wang became the embodiment of patriarchy, although he was the victim of patriarchy.

As a prisoner, Yu is the most suitable person for this family. The orphan's growing experience, maltreatment by rich children, and precarious life made him extremely eager for his family. Mr. Wang's imprisonment gave him stability, peace and even dignity (he talked with Wang Chutong about painting and had dinner with Wang's family). "Wang Chuqi" is also unwilling to wake up from this illusion. Once the object of school bullying, now he is rich, and no one bullies him.

Chen Xiaoqi/Wang Chuqi (played by Rong Zishan)

Here, we find the inversion of the identity of prisoners and prisoners, as well as the transfer of criminals and victims. Mr. Wang is a hateful person, but he is also somewhat pitiful-he is a prisoner of love; He was originally the victim of the school bus accident, but when he sacrificed the will of Mrs. Wang and Wang Chutong to maintain family stability, he became the perpetrator.

In an interview with the newspaper, Chen Zhengdao defined The Secret Visitor as a "new flexible suspense movie", unlike his previous Masters of Hypnosis and Memory, which "designed formulas, weaved structures, created suspense and pursued inversion". "Secret Visitor" is to "face up to your inner fears", and the film is not so brain-burning, but I hope the audience can "go in". So "Secret Visitor" wrote a lot about the creation of atmosphere. The film has first-class audio-visual language, cool luxury decoration, spiral stairs, cold tableware, big gray photos, and various sound effects that hit people's hearts ... The cold and gloomy atmosphere it creates can also sweep the audience.

The dull tone of the film.

But "The Secret Visitor" is destined to get mixed reviews. Although the film also has many details and ups and downs of suspense, not all of them fall on the construction of suspense logic and character logic. For example, Mr. Wang's "Prisoner of the Wood" reminds me of the 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film "Mysterious Eyes". Love can make people prisoners. However, few viewers will recognize Mr. Wang. He has a touching love for Roy and Wang Chuqi, but his control and plunder of women also exposes his selfishness and coldness. In this way, the thinking appeal of his Love and Prisoner is greatly reduced.

The Secret Visitor will let the audience see the shadows of many movies, such as The Thief's Home, Parasites and Soul Hunt. Although the focus of the expression is different, it is all around the East Asian family, and the ultimate goal of the film is "home". Mr. Wang's reorganized home is sometimes a safe haven and sometimes a cage; We are controlled by the family, but when we become the head of the family and have power, we have to control the family; We sometimes feel depressed because of our family members and become Stockholm patients. ...

The open ending of Secret Visitor can be interpreted as warmth and healing: like a thief family, although the family is dissolved, they have deep emotional ties and are willing to live together as family members; We can also interpret it in a dark way: the patriarchal clan system deeply binds everyone, all the staff in Stockholm, and Wang Chutong, the only one who dares to break free, is put in prison. No matter which interpretation the audience likes, there is no doubt that Secret Visitor constitutes a deconstruction and reflection on the East Asian family.

Proofreading: Zhang