By Jiang Nan
Jean-Pierre Genet is a film writer with a strong personal style. He combines the experience of life and the details of the movie to form a "Genet-style" visual style. His works are not only in line with the traditional characteristics of French cinema, but also full of fairy tale atmosphere and strange fantasies, as well as romantic love and realistic poetry, which makes him an incomparable ghost director.
"Angel Love Beauty" is a movie that I have watched several times, each time with different thoughts.
After all, compared to the Hollywood movie's big scene, big investment background and the beginning of the creation of a big conflict, immediately let the audience deep in the plot can not be extricated, the French movie is more delicate and natural, simple and connotative .
And Angels Love Beauty, with its unique romantic French flavor, fairy tale atmosphere and strange fantasy, gives people a small fresh feeling, when we sink our hearts to taste, can not help but let a person's eyes light up.
A classic movie is not just a sell-out, but it's a unique charm that doesn't fade with the passage of time.
The film uses fairy tale-like quirky colors, a humorous and simple narrative, and a relaxed and fast-paced pace to lead us into a brightly colored painting to explore the angelic path of the Parisian girl Amelie. But after three swipes, what struck me most was a Mr. Glass and a painting that was repeatedly mentioned as not having been copied.
I will tell you a story from the perspective of Mr. Glass:
01
My name is Jomond Dufayel, a paranoid, arrogant old man they call me Mr. Glass, and I've been living a life of deep seclusion for decades.
Because of a congenital disease that makes my bones brittle, all my furniture is upholstered, and I don't like shaking hands.
My favorite thing to do every day is to explore the windows with the help of my camera and binoculars, apart from my paintings. Unfortunately, the building is full of lonely people who are just like me, so life is boring and uninteresting.
I can't get out of the outside world, I can only swim in the world of art.
My favorite painting is Renoir's Lunch on a Boat, which I have copied every year for twenty years, but every time I feel that it is not perfect, especially for the girl holding the glass in her hand.
I never imagined that the arrival of a little angel would help me.
Her name is Emily Poulain, a quirky girl. Has a pair of big eyes, as clear as a child. I've been watching her for days, she's been looking for someone called Bertoldo, and I've watched her go out every day with great excitement, only to come back with a disappointed look on her face, with no luck in her searching adventures.
I couldn't stand it anymore, it didn't matter if she was looking for someone or not, or if it was her sweetheart, it didn't matter to me, the main thing was that she couldn't find someone because she mispronounced the word, and that was intolerable for me who was so focused on the details that I had to help her find this person.
On this day, as she passed the stairs with a lost look on her face, I offered to open the door and tell her the correct pronunciation, and she thanked me with a surprised look on her face. I then invited her in for a glass of mulled cinnamon red wine, and she was surprised when she said, "I've never seen you in the four years I've lived here," and I said, "Well, that's true, I'm not the one everyone wants to see."
Then she stared at the unfinished copy of Lunch on a Boat and said she liked it.
I walked right over and proudly showed her my treasure, a neatly stacked painting. I rambled to her that I had made a painting every year for twenty years, and that the thing I found most difficult about painting was the eye control, as if the person in the painting would deliberately change their expression as soon as I turned away.
She praised my painting with a serious look on her face, and looking at her clear gaze, I decided to continue discussing it with her, in the hope of adding some inspiration.
She surveyed my room attentively, staring at my camera projected on the TV, and I hastened to explain that it was to tell the time, so that my clock would never have to wind up.
I couldn't resist sharing with her, "The figure I still can't get right is the girl holding the glass of water, who is in the center but looks like an outsider."
She said, "Maybe, she's just different. "
When I heard that, I immediately stood up, and I looked at the glass she had picked up with a surprised face and asked her, "Different in what way?"
She said, "I don't know."
I looked into her eyes and suddenly thought she looked like the girl with the glass in the painting, and I said speculatively, "She rarely played with other children in her early years, maybe never!"
At this point she was suddenly transfixed with her glass.
I didn't dare to ask if I had hit the nail on the head, but I immediately gave her the address "27 Rue du Mouffetard, Dominique Berthoudo" and invited her to come back again.
Through the camera I saw that she seemed to be doing a good deed, a very kind girl, I thought!
02
The second time, she came back soon after, and it was obvious to me that she seemed to have changed. And brought a large album of fragments, and she pointed out an image of a man with the fragments put together and said, "This man actually appeared 12 times, that's strange, was he afraid of being forgotten before he used a snapshot machine to fax an image from the afterlife?"
What a childish idea, I said, "If the dead are afraid of being forgotten? Then these people in the paintings are doing something even better, being dead for thousands and thousands of years and never worrying about being forgotten."
Suddenly she said, "The girl with the glass, maybe it's because "she" is thinking about someone."
I couldn't help but ask, "Is it the person in the painting?"
She replied, "No, it's about a boy she met somewhere else, and she has a hunch that they're a bit alike. "
I asked, "In other words, she'd rather imagine a relationship with someone who doesn't exist than someone who exists in the present? "
She replied, " Maybe it's the opposite, she is fully committed to helping others with the small shortcomings in their lives."
When I heard her answer, I couldn't help but get a little angry and ask, "What about her? Who will solve the small defects in her life?"
She said teasingly with a twinkle in her big eyes, " It's better to care for others wholeheartedly than to feel sorry for yourself."
That day, Lucien at the grocery store brought me a gift from a stranger while he was restocking my groceries. I opened it to find a tape showing the Tour de France, a clown doing cartwheels, and a lady playing a guitar. I had mixed feelings about the images.
I realized that it was from Emily, who had seen me alone and wanted me to learn about the outside world through the tape.
Soon, a second gift arrived unannounced. I was so excited to open it, and found a newborn baby learning to swim, a one-legged handicapped person dancing tap dance, these images made my eyes full of tears. I realized that she was telling me that people are born strong, and that even if they are physically disabled, they can still have fun, get involved in the outside world, and do the things they love, and that she was always encouraging me.
03
I was determined to do something for her.
When she came to see me again, I said to her, "I was too hard on the glass girl the other day, did she and the earlier boy ever see each other again?"
She turned away, a little discouraged, and said, "No. Honestly, they have different interests."
Looking at her, I couldn't help but cheer her on, "Opportunity, like the Tour de France, is like waiting for half a day, and then all of a sudden it's gone, so you have to wait for the right moment, and then you have to fly over the obstacles without hesitation."
That day she once again came to discuss the painting with me, and I used it to ask her what was on her mind, but she said, "She's thought about it, but she's still pondering over the ploy," and I couldn't help but say, "She likes to think about strategy the most, and the fact that she's a bit of a wimp is why I had trouble catching her eye."
In the end, I decided to help her, and I found a good way to do it, as I finally saw the boy knocking on her door. It was time, and as I watched the boy go downstairs, I immediately called her and delivered my gift. I was always relieved when I finally watched the shadow of them embracing each other on the window.
End of story.
Back on topic, so what exactly is the special meaning of this painting?
It's not hard to see: the director repeatedly lends Mr. Glass a hand to push the glass girl from Renoir's Lunch on a Boat in front of the viewer's eyes, connecting her to Emily's inner world, which is not only a metaphorical montage, but also a dark line that drives the plot forward.
Metaphorical montage:
is in accordance with the development of the plot and the needs of the plot, the use of scene shots to directly illustrate the film theme and the composition of the character's ideological activities. If different content of the scape shots or similar composition of the picture , to support or guide the characters or themes that will appear, so as to play a description of the characters emotions and show the artistic effect of the film's theme of thought.
It shows the complexity of the inner world of an angel with a tragic childhood who has not lost his integrity when he meets love. The movie adopts the double line parallel montage technique to string each character together, enriching the character image and making the movie more complete.
Dark Line:
Emily's downstairs "weak" Mr. Glass has spent his life painting, this old man discusses the expression of the girl with the glass cups with Emily, in fact, talking about Emily's childhood. This return to the theme of the discussion is a sublimation of the character of Emily, a light but profound meaning.
The girl in Mr. Glass's painting is Emily, but he has never been able to show the girl's expression, perhaps this is also a metaphor for Emily's character, for others to be able to pay, but not bold enough for their own happiness, well in the end, Mr. Glass's recordings give her the courage to find true love, and Mr. Glass himself has completed the work.
Emily in the movie is actually replacing us in reality, exploring the unknown, experiencing loneliness, helping others, and chasing after our own happiness, which is what each of us subconsciously wants to do outside of the movie.
And the movie is actually a celebration of awakening the goodness of humanity and delivering the love in our hearts
1, from entertaining herself on a blank sheet of paper to helping others, Emily's self-redemption stems from the bright light in her life -- the goodness of nature that makes it possible to deliver it.
Growing up in solitude, facing a neurotic mom, a cold and distant dad, and a strange and tense family atmosphere, Emily had to entertain herself.
A trip to the treasure trove of childhood memories for an old man makes Emily re-examine the meaning of life. From then on, she is a hero, solving the small flaws in the lives of others , and when she experiences the excitement and sense of accomplishment that comes from helping others, she no longer wants to be the little girl cowering in the corner.
A person always meets someone in life, or does something and suddenly wakes up, let the heart full.
The film opens with a voice-over that introduces each of the characters, the landlady in grief, the disillusioned painter, the old man with the glass, the one-armed delivery boy, and the coworkers in the restaurant, and it's as if we're seeing a single lonely soul.
Each character has their own unique pastime, closed to themselves, immersed in their own world of boredom, and Amelie's big eyes at this point suddenly look at us across the screen, as if to tell us: the angels are coming.
Next, Emily does a good thing every time, the movie will be a cheerful tune to bring us a joy, this time we see Emily with her kindness slowly break people's hearts of the wall, everyone has changed.
Emily's awakening is the result of her nature, pure and good.
From the awakening to the completion of self-redemption, long and arduous, she became herself.
Emily's kindness, like the sunshine of a Parisian afternoon, brings warmth to Mr. Glass, the grocery store boy, the depressed father, and the grieving landlady, and she rekindles the hope of life for everyone with her positive, optimistic, and enthusiastic heart.
2, Emily is the embodiment of the angel, but the angel also has its own troubles, the nature of the cowardice and lack of courage in the glass of the old man's inspiration to reap the benefits of self-reliance, so that we understand that the good people in a certain node will certainly get the gift from destiny
Love is not a one-sided payment, but lies in the mutual giving.
The movie portrayed Emily is not a perfect fairy, she will have troubles, she will be weak, there will be a lack of courage, she will be timid, she will be afraid, she will be curled up on the couch and cry silently, she even said, " I'm a little weasel that no one loves."
The love stumbles, and can't help but get closer, and even arrange a game-like scene to drum up the courage to face, but by mistake, the passing truck interrupted, and a feverish heart instantly sour into a lost piece.
Seeing this image, is it like the first time each of us felt what love is? Just as Emily will be afraid, will hesitate, will be timid .......
Luckily, there is a kind Mr. Glass, an old man who lives alone and is haunted by a disease, who gives support to Emily as a friend. If Emily's help is a process of passing on love, then Mr. Glass's return is a surprise, and it's a process of sublimating love.
Mr. Glass' kindness makes his return the best gift to Emily.
Emily eventually succeeds in holding hands with her beloved, and the movie shows us the beauty of love.
The element of love not only fulfills the expectations of the audience, but also makes the movie more complete.
You see, it's amazing how people can change each other. You change him, he changes her, she changes him, and a butterfly fluttering its wings thousands of kilometers away can create a hurricane.
Finally, Mr. Glass does not always paint a picture, the landlady to find the warmth of love, depressed dad out of the nostalgia out of the trip, love and beauty and the sweetheart embraced and slept.
This is the best interpretation of the "kind people can be treated gently by the whole world".
3, realistic thinking: in this lonely era wave, we need to be like Emily as an angel, for the lost people, sowing the seeds of warmth and hope - love and goodness, in order to be in the loneliness and sorrow in the blossoming of bright and beautiful flowers
The film reflects a modern urbanization process, the city people *** the same disease - loneliness and closed.
Not only in France at the time, but even today, a society where the buzzword is loneliness, isolation, where relationships have been walled off. Relationships were so cold that even people close to each other couldn't get into each other's hearts, and the line in the movie, "Everyone has a fetish," was a popular pastime at the time to cope with loneliness.
How to deal with loneliness, the director is actually borrowing Emily's hand in the lost crowd, sowing the seeds of warmth and hope, from loneliness and sadness in the blooming of bright flowers, this is not to chew on loneliness again and again, but the theme of the perfect fit with the emotion.
And the real world we think again, not only to break the isolation, but also to wake up every lonely soul, to revisit the beauty of kindness.
The isolation between people is caused by the people themselves, if one day, they can be brave enough to bravely break the isolation, for the lonely souls to build a bridge of communication, then the world is as beautiful as the joyful accordion sound in the movie.
Angel Amélie is a classic film that shows director Jean-Pierre Genet's unique ability to fulfill the aesthetic needs of the film without losing its authenticity, whether it's in the narrative, the emotional grasp, or the music and colors. What it brings us is not only the warmth of the moment, but also how many years later, when we revisit it, it will still be no less important in awakening the goodness of humanity and conveying the love of the heart.