"Hiroshima Mon Amour", written by Marguerite Duras and directed by Alain Resnais, is an outstanding representative of "Left Bank" films and also occupies an important position in world cinema. , known as "an exploded spiritual atomic bomb" and "a milestone in the transition of Western films from the classical period to the modern period." The reason for this achievement is largely due to its "stream of consciousness" style, which uses time and space to explore people's inner world.
Then what is worth exploring is how creators use cameras to translate the memories, imaginations and subconscious thoughts deep in the soul into a movie, so that we can watch, feel and sigh on the screen. .
First of all, we should start with the script, which is also a major feature of later generations' comments on "Left Bank" films, that is, "literary". Duras, the screenwriter of this film, is a woman with great personality and a controversial writer. Her writing style is strange and changeable, gorgeous and poignant, lingering like an aria for a long time. At that time, she was forty-five years old, divorced, had a dead son, and was expelled from the law firm. The feelings forged by these experiences are naturally integrated into the text and become the background of the content. Specific to "Hiroshima Mon Amour", although it is limited by the genre of "script" and cannot contain a large amount of delicate psychological descriptions like "The Lover" and "The Dam Holding Back the Pacific", through its stage instructions, it is more and more vague. The righteous character dialogues still show the complex, contradictory and subtle psychological states of the characters, especially the heroines.
For example, when talking about her hometown, she said: "Neville is such a place, it is a place that makes me dream the most at night, and it is also a place that makes me... "The place where you think the least during the day." As the old Chinese saying goes, "Think about it during the day and dream about it at night." How can you not think about the place where you dream the most at night? But she said no. Maybe she was trying her best to suppress her feelings, choosing the latter between remembering and forgetting. This short sentence brilliantly explains the heroine's ambivalent attitude towards Neville.
Sentences like this can be found everywhere. Duras used women's sensitive and unique words to complete the transformation from psychological language to literal language. What we need to look at next is how the textual language becomes the language of the film, just like Spike Lee's filming of "Do What You Want" The diary wrote: "It is interesting how this script evolved into a movie about race relations."
The original script was developed in five parts. For the convenience of narrative and understanding, it is here On this basis, I divided this film into the following scenes:
1. Indoor bed, mainly sex and Hiroshima
2. Balcony, dressing table, etc.
3. Outdoors, corridors and streets
4. Mass drama
5. Study room
6. Cafe
7. The hotel where the woman stayed
8. The station - another cafe
9. The woman's room
As the relationship between the two deepened, The heroine's emotions generally go through this process: curiosity and pity for Hiroshima, not caring much about Japanese men - gradually recalling the past, feeling sad and angry, and beginning to fall in love with the male protagonist - so many memories that she can't help but become hysterical. Attached to the hero - Peace of mind, hesitant to be with the hero. Viewed separately, there are two main lines: memories of the past and changes in attitudes toward Hiroshima and the Japanese men in front of them. It was originally relatively clear, but because it was mixed with a lot of non-narrative content, it became a bit obscure. But it's still easy to understand when you put it forward.
The director also used a large number of shots that dissolve in and out here. If I am not wrong in statistics, there should be five. It is worth mentioning that when the camera switches from reality to the past, there is a neat switch and a direct return. to Neville, and when moving from Neville to Hiroshima, except for one shot, the rest used the fade-in and fade-out technique, which showed that the woman seemed to have exhausted all her strength before slowly returning to the world from memory. In the world, there is still a sadness about the past that "continues to be cut into chaos".
The climax of the heroine's reminiscences occurs in scene 6, when she talks about the death of her German lover and begins to cry, the only time in the film. Duras's original text is "She wandered in the past. This time she was alone in her thoughts. He could not grasp her." "She became delirious and no longer looked at him." In this scene, the woman's psychology It is extremely painful and cannot tolerate others. The director used the "distance" technique of a drama stage. The male and female protagonists sat opposite each other, and a beam of overhead light came at an angle. As a result, the man was completely hidden in the darkness, as if the entire cafe was filled with This is the stage where women tell their past events. When she got to the point where she wanted to be with me, she even hid herself in the darkness. (As shown on the right)
Let’s look at how the camera shows the changes in women’s attitudes towards men. In scene 1, the man begged her to stay, but she did not take it seriously and did not agree. Instead, she refused and said she would leave tomorrow. At this time, the woman occupies a dominant position, and the director gave her a shot from above. For the man who is at a disadvantage in the relationship, he shot from above. One seems aloof, and the other is a bit submissive. The contrast between the two is outstanding and it is easy to distinguish.
As their relationship develops, the woman feels more and more lonely and helpless. She begins to fall in love with this Japanese man, and her previous determination to return to France gradually wavers. In scene 5, the woman returned to the hotel, washed her face and walked to the street, squatting in a corner like a homeless child. At this time, the man came. He stood and looked down at her. This shot uses a wide overhead shot. The man looks down at the bruised woman like a god. But his attitude towards her is sincere, and there is no distinction between advantages and disadvantages just now, so it has a slight sense of fate.
Finally, after a long period of thinking, the woman gradually regained her sanity and began to calm down, so the status of the two of them was basically equal at this time. "This time he walked over to face her - — one last time — but at a distance, and from then on she is inviolable,” the script reads. Let's look at the picture again: two people are standing under the same roof. The left and right spaces are very balanced, and the light is sufficient. It can't be seen that they are intentionally leaning to one side. The entire structure is very uniform, except of course the difference caused by height.
These are just a few obvious examples. There are many other charming shots and scenes in the film, so I won’t list them all.
In addition, in the movie "Hiroshima Mon Amour", the beautiful and melodious soundtrack also played a considerable role. Some information briefly mentions that this film is composed of seven theme songs. The author has little knowledge and dare not delve into it. But its flexible and free switching between the soundtrack, pictures, and dialogue, whether it uses music to complement the mood, or uses sound to transition scenes, are all done relatively well. The superb acting skills of the two actors also added a lot to the film.
However, I also think that this film, as Duras said, is "a novel recorded on film", and its literary meaning exceeds the film itself to some extent. , the impact the text gives to the reader is greater than the camera performance. Some reviewers called it "an extremely tiresome, pompous film filled with the most hated literature." Although the language is harsh, it is not unreasonable. Moreover, because "the time switch is too abrupt, the sense of rupture is too strong."
However, despite its flaws, "Hiroshima Mon Amour" still reaches the rarest peak among realist works with its "obvious political stance and strange and novel form, and may also mark a milestone in the history of film." turning point". (Georges Sadoul in "French Cinema")