"Dear parents, I will leave you, not to escape, but to fly." @I'm Chen Mouse
The Baileyards is a niche French film nominated for Best Picture at the 40th César Film Awards. Douban score 8.4 points, although the rating is not particularly high, but as an unpopular film, the audience's evaluation of the film is generally good. This film can be regarded as a light comedy, which contains a lot of funny plots.
The plot of the movie is relatively simple, the Bellier family has a total of four people, the Belliers and their daughter Paula and their son. In addition to Paula, the other three family members are deaf and mute. In daily life, the Belliers need their daughter Paula to assist in translating when communicating with outsiders.
By chance, Paula's music teacher discovered her singing talent and encouraged Paula to go to Paris to participate in a singing competition. If the grades are good, it means that Paula will leave her family and go to Paris to study. In the face of the sudden parting of their daughter, the family is neither comfortable nor willing. Paula herself makes a difficult choice between family and self-pursuit.
What struck me most about this film was that Paula was born into a special family, but that didn't stop her from pursuing her own life. In the face of the boy of her choice, she bravely pursues; in the face of her own dreams, she dares to try; and when the family conflicts with the pursuit of self, she strives to coordinate at a young age. Maybe that's what movies are all about.
In this article, I will start from the contradictions and conflicts in Paula's life, combine the Belliers' laughing attitude towards life and the reasons that prompted Paula to change, and talk about the significance of this film to our lives.
In family life, Paula is an intermediary between her family and outsiders, and she bears greater psychological pressure than other peers. Because of this, Paula's life is full of contradictions and conflicts. There are both external conflicts and internal conflicts, and I will analyze them one by one.
(1) The two generations have very different views on privacy: Paula pays attention to privacy, and her mother's straight-forward personality bothers her
Peeking into children's diaries or letters is something that many Chinese parents have done. Parents believe that since they have raised their children, they have the right to know everything about them. But in the eyes of the child, the parents' behavior violates their own privacy and is a manifestation of disrespect for themselves.
In this respect, there are similarities between Eastern and Western families. The Belliers lived in romantic and relatively open France, but there were still these contradictions between parents and children. Paula is a young girl who is new to her heart and pays attention to privacy, while her mother is straight to the point of ignoring her daughter's feelings.
Gabriel is the boy paula has a crush on, and both are members of the choir. The music teacher arranged for Paula and Gabriel to practice duets and sing "I Will Love You" at the debriefing performance. One day, Gabriel went to Paula's house to practice singing, and it happened that Paula came to menstruate for the first time that day.
Paula is already a high school student and is relatively late in development than girls her age. So in the face of her daughter's first menstrual period, the mother was very excited. He actually took Paula's pants downstairs to show his family, but Gabriel was also there, and Paula felt ashamed!
Parents will always be overjoyed about the physical and psychological development of their children, which is understandable. But as a parent, you should also grasp the boundaries. Not too involved in the child's life, but also should be more concerned about the child's ideas.
(2) Conflict between family and self: When family affairs and personal affairs conflict, it is difficult to balance and coordinate
The choir's music teacher discovered Paula's singing talent and wanted her to go to Paris for the audition. At first, Paula did not believe that she could do it, but with the encouragement of her teacher, she decided to practice her songs well and participate in the auditions, so she would go to the teacher's house every night to practice songs.
But the sensible Paula also knows that she is the medium for her family to communicate with outsiders. Once you leave, your family's life will add a lot of inconvenience. So although she had already decided to participate in the selection, she was afraid to tell her family.
During this time, Dad decided to run for mayor, and a reporter came to the house to conduct interviews. However, the time of the interview coincided with the time when Paula practiced the song. In order to get to the teacher's house as soon as possible, Paula hastily did something while translating. When she arrived at the teacher's house, she was already long overdue. Frustrated by Paula's failure to keep the contract, the teacher shuts Paula out the door.
Paula could only return with sorrow. But back home, he was accused by his family. It turned out that her parents thought paula was going on a date with Gabriel every night. When her family needed her, she ran to date someone, and her parents thought she didn't care about her family and was very selfish.
In fact, for a high school student, when family affairs and personal affairs conflict, it is difficult to learn to balance. Paula tried to balance the relationship between the two, but the parents did not inform Paula in advance to catch Paula off guard; and the parents' incomprehension made Paula feel extremely wronged.
(3) Paula's own inner struggles and entanglements: she wants to pursue her musical dreams, but she can't let go of her family
Perhaps affected by the environment in which she grew up, Paula never thought that her singing voice would be so beautiful, nor did she ever think that she would one day be away from her family. Similarly, her parents never thought of it.
Parents have become accustomed to their daughters being around to help with business, care for cows, and help dad run for the race. When they get used to this approach, they think it's Paula's responsibility to do it. When Paula confessed her dream to them, her mother's emotions were out of control, and she said she regretted not teaching Paula the value of the family, and even said that she never thought she would be able to give birth to a child who could sing.
There is no doubt that Paula loves to sing. Her singing voice can move people, and singing brings her closer to the person she likes, allowing her to regain her self-confidence. But she also worries that her parents' life will become more difficult when she suddenly leaves. No one can help run the farm, no one can help run the cheese shop...
Paula has tried to strike a balance between the two. She asked her friends to learn sign language and helped her parents with their business. However, my mother rejected this friend very much. Paula's compromise plan went bankrupt, so she decided to stay with her parents and not compete.
In fact, the parents did not support Paula's dream at the beginning, not worried that the family would become a mess after Paula left, what they really worried about was that Paula could not take care of herself when she was alone. They were afraid that Paula would be wronged and frustrated in Paris. When faced with future planning, we are always more inclined to the unknown and challenges, while parents prefer stability.
The Baileyer family of four, parents and brother are born deaf and mute, only Paula can hear and speak. The family combination was special: the father, though rude and savage, was a careful and considerate man; the mother loved to dress up but always screamed, and had blind trust in her husband; a sensible but not intelligent younger brother; and a sound and extraordinarily talented sister.
The Baileyers are a film set against the backdrop of a deaf-mute family that explores personal growth. In films with similar disability themes, directors often highlight the hardships and hardships encountered by the protagonists, and the tone is heavy. And the tone of the film "The Baileyettes" is always positive and happy.
The Baileyard family did not have their own hearing impairment and complained about themselves, self-abandonment, and others still met the challenges of life with a positive attitude towards life.
Hearing impairment did not affect the life of this family, they owned their own farm, every day to herd cattle, milk, make cheese, run a shop, happy and fulfilling, independent and independent of others. After Dad decided to run for mayor, the family supported his decision. They sign up together, make leaflets, pull voters, and so on. Dad's decision was a whim, but he was convinced he could do it; the two children, though unsure of dad's success, spared no effort to help dad run.
Perhaps, this is the attitude of life that everyone should have. At a certain moment, when emotionally touched, we may make decisions that seem strange to outsiders. Once we've decided, we should be confident we can do it. Even if you don't succeed in the end, you have to do your best.
Paula's pursuit of music has not been smooth, she did not love to sing from the beginning, and regarded singing as her ideal in life. On the way to Get to the music and chase her dreams step by step, there were three touches that changed her life.
(1) The first touch of change: When she meets a boy she likes, Paula does not hesitate to join the choir
Love comes and goes as fast as the romantic French. When Paula saw gabriel sign up for the choir, she followed suit. But it soon became clear that Gabriel had a girlfriend, and she suffered from "I look at him, he loves her."
However, this ordeal soon passed. Gabriel's love affair with the girlfriend did not last long, and coupled with the music teacher's arrangement of Paula and Gabriel's chorus, Paula had the opportunity to get the moon first near the water tower. The chorus's song is "I Will Love You", and in order to make the two sing with deep affection, the teacher let them put their arms around each other's shoulders. This gave Paula a chance to get closer to Gabriel.
However, Paula's first love (or crush) can be described as a twist and turn, seeing that love is about to come to fruition, and later staged a bunch of misunderstandings.
But in any case, it was Paula's ignorant love that made her start to contact music. In my opinion, the emotional line between Paula and Gabriel is actually a dark line in the movie, and without this love, Paula may not have found her musical dream so quickly.
(2) The Second Touch of Change: The music teacher discovers Paula's singing talent and encourages her to stick to her musical dreams
In China, there is a sub-period and Bo Ya's ancient beauty talk. In romantic France, Paula also met her confidant, the music teacher.
The music teacher's actor, Eric Emosnino, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by Caesar for this role. In fact, many movies have a similar likable character: a teacher who understands the student, is good at discovering the student's talent and encouraging him to pursue his dreams. For example, Mr. Tang, who supported Mick in "Hearing Heaven", and the ballet teacher who helped Billy train for free in "Jump out of My World".
The music teacher in this film is a Bole who discovers musical genius. He noticed Paula's voice for the first time, simply because she spoke a sentence, and in later auditions, Paula did have an amazing voice. Paula's musical path is inseparable from the discovery, encouragement and cultivation of teachers.
At the end of the film, Paula chose Michel sadu's "Fly Away" when she participated in the audition, and the judges laughed and laughed, thinking that the song was too difficult. Coupled with the fact that the piano accompaniment did not have the score of the song, the judges asked Paula to sing a cappella. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the music teacher also came to the scene to accompany Paula. Her singing voice, combined with the atmosphere created by sign language, impressed the judges.
(3) The third touch of change: the support of family members is the strongest backing on the road to chasing dreams
When the family knew that Paula was leaving the family and going to Paris for the audition, their emotions were a little out of control. Mom finished drinking and said something very excessive to Paula:
"When you were born, when I learned you had hearing, I cried a lot, and I might not be able to give birth to a child with hearing. It's not your dad comforting me, he said don't worry, at most it's dementia, I'll still be deaf to raise, thinking about it, she just can't hear what she shouldn't hear. And you can still sing now! ”
Hearing these words, Paula once gave up her musical dreams. One sunny morning, Paula released cows from the cowshed, her young face looking particularly dull in the contrast of the sun, and when she saw her mother in the blink of an eye, she pretended to laugh, which made me feel particularly sad.
Fortunately, the father finally respects the child's ideas and believes that the child can take care of himself in a distant place. The night before the audition, he suddenly woke Paula up. The family drove to Paris to help Paula fulfill her dreams.
(1) The song that Bellier participated in the audition perfectly fit the situation he was in at the time, and it was directly poignant
In this film, the music is always throughout. The film begins with light music, with the choir being the key to moving the plot forward, and ending with the final song, "FlyIng High", presenting the theme while ending the film.
Paula sang in front of her family 3 times, the first time being a debriefing performance organized by a music teacher. When Paula and Gabriel sang on stage, the audience was moved to tears or intoxicated. Although Paula's parents don't hear them and they seem out of place with the people around them, it doesn't stop them from learning about their daughter from the reactions of others, who are proud of them.
The second time was when Dad asked Paula to sing to him. Dad touched Paula's throat with his hand, feeling the trembling of the vocal cords. A little shiver shook Dad hard!
The third time was when Paula was in Paris for the audition, and her family sat in the audience and listened. The lyrics in "Fly Away" go like this:
"Dear parents, I'm leaving, I love you very much, but I'm still leaving.
Tonight you will have no children, and I am not running away, but flying.
Please understand that I am going to fly, no smoke, no wine, just flying, flying....."
Parents couldn't hear it, so Paula passed on the meaning to them in sign language while singing. The lyrics are Paula's true feelings in her heart, she uses sign language to say her heart, and the parents finally understand their daughter's thoughts, at which time the family is truly heart-to-heart.
(2) When there is a conflict between family and self-pursuit, communication is an effective way to resolve the conflict
"Family, youth, growth, dreams" is a compulsory course in everyone's growth process. In the process of growing up, conflicts with family members are difficult to avoid. When we were young, our ideas were not understood by adults; when we grew up, we also wanted our children to develop according to our presuppositions. In life, there are contradictions and conflicts are not terrible, the key is to learn to solve these problems through effective methods.
The family didn't understand what Paula did every day, so they misunderstood her as a selfish child; the family didn't understand Paula's love of music, so they selfishly let her stay with them at one point; the family was worried that Paula would not be able to live alone, so they hoped that she would stay by her side forever.
Paula, on the other hand, seems to understand her family and makes sacrifices to give up her dreams for her family. But in fact, she did not understand the true thoughts of her parents. She has also felt that her parents are close and bored like other adolescent children. But when she really wanted to leave the house, she realized how much the family needed her.
Paula's reconciliation with her family is based on effective communication. Whether to stay at home and continue to be a good daughter, or to let go and pursue your dreams, this choice is important but cruel. She once asked her mother, "Should I sell cheese for the rest of my life?" In the end, the parents figured it out, everyone has their own path to go, and the daughter's life should not be tied to the parents. Perhaps letting go and letting the daughter choose and grow up on her own is the truest and greatest love that parents give their children.
"The Belliers" is a film that explores growing up in the background of a hearing-impaired family, and although it seems a bit old-fashioned in terms of theme and narrative, this film touches the audience with warm funny stories and touching music.
In the face of life's blows and pressures, the Belliers did not become depressed or pretend to be strong. The film has been presenting the audience with a peaceful and warm perspective on the ubiquitous optimism of the family. More importantly, when our family conflicts with our self-pursuit, this film provides us with reference and reference.