Xu Jinglei's 2005 film "Letter from a Strange Woman" included slogans such as "A Man's Night, a Woman's Life".
People who have not seen the original book and the movie may think that the central idea of it is the lie spread by many people - women can't forget the "first time".
Otherwise, you will think that the man in this work, who has been remembered for a lifetime in one night, must be super capable (just kidding).
However, if you really watch "Letter from a Strange Woman", whether it is Zweig's original work or Xu Jinglei's film, you will know that the cause of this story is not "one night".
The main line of the story is simple to say:
When the heroine was 13 years old, she met a 25-year-old writer's neighbor and immediately moved her heart for him. She often observed the writer's every move, but there was not much intersection between them.
Later, the heroine went to live in another place with her mother, and she could no longer easily see the writer's face, but she was still intoxicated with longing. A few years later, she returned to her hometown and had to stand in the alley of her crush every night, rain or shine.
Finally, one day, the male protagonist noticed the existence of the female protagonist, but he did not recognize that it was a former little neighbor.
After a few days, he had unspeakable behavior with her, not because he loved her too, but because it was a common way he used to spend time with hundreds of women.
After X's behavior, the heroine became pregnant. But she didn't say anything and quietly walked away, because she understood that writers enjoy the joy of love and don't want to be bound by responsibility.
In the following N years, the heroine struggled to raise her children, and did not hesitate to rely on "selling" her body to make money.
One day, she and the male protagonist met again. Forgetful, he still didn't know who she was, but he was still attracted to her, and then they had indescribable behavior.
At dawn the next day, the male protagonist paid several bills to the female protagonist, causing her to almost fall to the ground.
Even if she felt humiliated, the heroine still insisted on not saying anything, until her son died, and wrote a super long love letter to the male protagonist. And this love letter was sent only after her death.
Therefore, to be precise, this story is not the story of a man's one night = a woman's life, but a story of "mistaken life" at the first touch.
This story sparked a discussion.
People who like it will be impressed by the inaction and single-mindedness of the "strange woman", and the great praise of Zweig understands the woman's heart too well.
People who don't like it regard Xu Jinglei's movie as a horror film, thinking that there are many plots that are extremely frightening and will mislead the public.
Even, some people are crazy about love because of this "strange woman", and they think of Yang Lijuan, who is a fanatical love bean Andy Lau again and again, so that yang Lijuan, who pushed her father to commit suicide.
For example, the writer Absalom commented that Zweig did not write a true love story at all, but dealt with madness as romance, masochism into dedication, and distortion into purity.
Receiving such bad reviews, "Letter from a Strange Woman" is not an isolated case.
When "To Youth" was on fire a few years ago, some people because of the lines in it: "Shi Jie is a woman worthy of your love, she can fight for love to the death, the piece of armor is not left, we should be ashamed, we all love ourselves, better than love love." Now I know that loving a person should be like loving the motherland, mountains, rivers... Love her so much, she's a garden that you overlook," angry enough to get a negative score.
What kind of person is Shi Jie in this work? She is also a very fanatical lover, the kind of "if you don't love me, I will kill myself".
Fanatical love, causing such and such criticism, is normal.
But if our requirements for literary and artistic works tend to be positive energy, and male and female protagonists must be moral models and rational models, then many masterpieces will become taboo.
Anna Karenina will be criticized for its plot involving a married woman falling in love with a "playboy" and then abandoning her husband.
"Madame Chatterley's Lover" will be strongly criticized because both protagonists are derailed, and there is no shortage of more explicit love depictions.
"Love in the Time of Cholera" will be attacked even more, looking at it according to the standard of high morality, it tells the story of a man who "fools" with 623 women after courtship.
I don't want to look at all works of literature and art with a strong sense of morality. I believe in a passage: the focus of excellent works is often not on morality, but on human nature, human nature is subtle and complex, and it is not as simple as morality.
Therefore, I was touched when I watched "Letter from a Strange Woman".
I like a lot of the sentences, like, "I have only things in my heart that concern you." I bought a book you wrote, and if I see your name in the newspaper one day, it will be a holiday for me to celebrate. ”
"I still have tears when I think about it, but my tears have dried up, and I can feel that everything there [in the man's room] contains my passion, and they all have traces of my childhood lovesickness."
"At this gate, I have waited for you no less than a thousand times; on the stairs, I always overheard your footsteps upstairs; at the peephole, I saw you for the first time, and I was so excited that my soul was out of my mind... Now, all wishes have come true, and I have come together with you..."
Why are you impressed by these sentences? Only because they can poke at the emotions of the human heart.
That is, when you read these descriptions, you may also involuntarily think of all kinds of stupid things you have done for love, and can't help but sigh: Isn't this paragraph written about me? Then, maybe there will be tears.
I remember hearing people say before that "Letter from a Strange Woman" wrote down the feelings of a crush. Now that I think about it, I think it was really well evaluated.
As for whether it will "mislead the public" as some readers fear, I am skeptical.
Even I agree with Absalom that distorted things can certainly exist in literature and art, but it depends on how it is presented, not to depict death as "spring blossoming", not to write the craziest things without forgetting to play the violin a few times .
But I don't contradict this work.
After all, although Zweig and Xu Jinglei's posture is not as cold-eyed as Zhang Ailing's, it is not like Qiong Yao who will stand up and praise the protagonist (such as in the movie "Marigold", Qiong Yao borrowed Lin Qingxia's mouth and praised a girl who "can't live" without a male second, saying "If he changes his heart, it must be because I am not good enough": "It is really an angel").
Zweig uses a great deal of language to describe the pain and despair of the "strange woman", for example: "I have to be careful to hide my despair, so that my mother will not find any clues in my crying eyes." “
"You haven't written to me. Even before I died, I didn't get a note from you, I dedicated my life to you, but you didn't write me a letter. ”
"In this second, he (the servant of the lord) knows more about me than you have in your lifetime. Except for you, everyone was kind to me and spoiled me, but you forgot me completely, and you never remembered me. ”
That is to say, Zweig is not telling a "strange" crush with petty bourgeois feelings, and he has not forgotten to show the bloody wounds of the heroine.
Therefore, he is not very "ruined" by the three views, right?
Writing here, I suddenly remembered that the other day I sent an article with the theme of comparing "Blue Life and Death Love" and "Lavender", and quoted some words from the surging news at the end, to the effect that what is love has become unimportant, and what is important has become that love should conform to positive energy and three views, so love has been simplified in film and television dramas, losing other flavors other than sweetness.
Later, I saw that the highest praise in a certain comment area was a criticism of this sentence, which read: Love without three views, love that is constantly magnified, is a perfect reason for those who are irresponsible, and it is also called for love...
Ah, a little wronged. In fact, I am not expressing that when we are in love, we can turn off our minds, forget the bottom line, do not talk about the three views, do not care about self-abuse, and do not care whether others will be hurt.
What I want to express is that, ideally, our love is naturally sweet, intense, and at the same time rational, and no one suffers;
However, in reality, love exists as a relatively fierce emotion, which may make the relationship between people complex and sticky. This side should also be seen by the audience.
The reason why we love to entangle the "three views" in the film and television drama books is probably because the love and fear in our hearts have been doing harm - behind the fierce crusade, we subconsciously fear that the people around us are no longer bound by the "three views".
But a sweet love story that is too single in form may not provide much inspiration for our intimate relationship.
They always "cleverly" avoid exploring the real motivations behind mutual attraction and divergence, nor do they teach us to study and understand the subject of "love" in depth.
Therefore, when we watch "A Letter from a Strange Woman", we may wish to explore what the cause of a lifetime of infatuation is, and how can the heroine choose a better path?
Author: Xiao Dayu
(Creation is not easy, if you agree with my content, welcome to click to follow @ big worm big rain kan entertainment)
More highlights:
"Blue Life and Death Love" and "Lavender" have all been ridiculed, but why is the former more forgiven?
Every girl who is anxious about her appearance should learn Wu Qianlian's calmness
Speaking of Qiong Yao's "ruining the three views", we have to mention this one, "Marigold" starring Lin Qingxia
What the? A sentence by Eun Hee in "Blue Life and Death Love" exposes her hypocrisy?