Today to share with you a niche masterpiece, but also this year's Beijing International Film Festival "Voice of Women" section of the word of mouth masterpiece -
Helena: Life on canvas / Helene 2020
It is a Finnish biographical film directed by Anti-Jogkin and starring Laura Brin.
The film's creators are mostly unfamiliar to domestic audiences, but it was nominated for the Golden Jubilee Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival at the end of July.
It is indeed a rare feminist masterpiece.
Helena, or Helene Schjerfbeck to be precise, is a national treasure of Finland.
Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946)
In 2012, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of her birth, one of her self-portraits was even engraved on a two-euro coin in Finland.
At the age of three, Helena, who was disabled by an accidental leg, showed great artistic talent from an early age:
At the age of 11, he was recommended to study at the Finnish Art Association;
At the age of 17, he participated in the annual exhibition of the art association for the first time;
At the age of 18, she created the historical painting "Wounded Soldier in the Snow", which was subsequently collected by the Finnish Art Association and funded her to study in Paris;
At the age of 27 he received a silver medal at the Paris World's Fair;
……
It was a time of great spirits, but she quit her job as a teacher at the Art Association in her creative years and chose to live in seclusion.
In short, this is a little-known but charismatic painter.
"Helena: Life on canvas" seems to be quiet and beautiful, but in fact, the undercurrent is surging and full of a female resistance force.
As soon as the movie opens, it is the scene where Helena is interviewed.
In the depth of field shot, Helena occupies a large part of the picture.
Behind her is a vague male figure, as well as a self-portrait of Helena, and the male reporter has only a "voice that cannot find the body".
The male reporter's question was full of habitual prejudice against women: "Why do you use war and poverty as your themes?" These are not subjects suitable for female painters. ”
It is worth mentioning that Helena showed great interest in the Bible and historical themes at the beginning of her painting career, and these two themes were absolutely dominated by male painters at that time, and the creation of history paintings was rarely involved in female painters.
In response to the reporter's question, Helena gave the answer: "I don't like to be labeled as a female painter, I am a painter."
A painter is a painter, what is a female painter; the driver is the driver, is it interesting to emphasize that it is a female driver?
A strong-looking, neutrally dressed, well-known female painter, a depth-of-field shot with Helena as the main body, and a powerful answer, these constitute the opening scene of "Helena: Life on canvas" and set the feminist tone for the entire film.
Noteworthy, and easily overlooked, is that a monologue by Helena after the interview is actually the essence of the film: "When the painters create, they never think about how to interpret their works, and they are inspired by the combined effect of inner emotions and external environment." 」
This sentence is also the concept that runs through the director's directing of this film.
He did not limit himself to showing Helena's paintings, analyzing those brush strokes and styles, but instead shaped the characters through Helena's emotional development and surroundings.
Unlike some feminist avant-garde films, the ideas of Helena: Life on canvas are so restrained and calm that many viewers watch it boringly and cannot understand its deep meaning.
In fact, in those seemingly ordinary shots and dialogues, there is a majestic feminine power.
The most obvious advantage of this film, and which most viewers can see, is that its cinematography is excellent and the graphics are very beautiful.
This style is close to Helena's creative style, with an Impressionist touch of landscape painting.
This composition, this photography, the hand of the screenshot simply can't stop.
However, as a feminist masterpiece, the best thing about "Helena: Life on canvas" is that its perspective is the heroine from the inside out, and Helena has always been in a dominant position in the film.
Here are some examples.
The male protagonist, Enal, is an admirer of Helena, and before going to see Helena, he specially groomed and dressed up.
Unlike our usual concept of "women pleasing themselves", here are men paying attention to their own image in order to make a good impression on women.
It is not that "women are pleasing to themselves" is not good, but many previous films often use objectification of female bodies in order to attract audiences, and this film only puts men and women in an equal position.
While painting Einal, Einar walked over to look at the painting, which first showed his nude and then aimed at Helena behind him.
Helena stood there, breathing heavily, several times trying to get close to Enal's back, trying to lean up, but she held back.
Later, when Helena recalls the scene, the camera passes over her, staring at the body of Einar by the sea with her gaze, staring for a long time.
The waves lapping at the shore, lust breeding and spreading.
After watching countless film clips where men can't hold on to women, we see women's desire for male bodies in Helena: A Life on canvas.
This desire is not low-level or shameful, it is natural, it is nature, and it is a form of rebellion.
It is telling the patriarchal society that women also have desires. The difference is that women who know how to exercise restraint do not indulge this desire without the consent of the other person.
In a letter to Wester in the second half of the film, Helena writes: "My love is material love, it is not the highest love, it will fade, loneliness envelops me, surrounds me." 」
There is a strange phenomenon that men either like to think of women as sluts or feel that women of high status and achievement have no lust, as if they are Guanyin Bodhisattvas.
Einar did not understand Helena's hints and did not receive her affection, because he worshipped Helena as a successful woman, a genius.
He never imagined that Helena would also have desires. It wasn't until the end that Helena understood that Einar would be wrong.
Helena's original family was not harmonious.
As a successful painter, Helena's paintings are a source of family wealth, in the words of Helena's brother, "thanks to the money in your family".
It's just that the mother has always preferred sons to daughters, always favored her son, and has always been bad for her. The family has money, and when she eats, she prevents Helena from taking meat first.
Most of the time, Helena would protest her mother's behavior, but she couldn't help herself when she encountered certain things.
For example, if her brother wants to sell her paintings to make money, her mother will secretly sell them to her brother.
However, when the younger brother wanted to take the commission for the exhibition as the heir of the family, he was severely refused by Helena.
In fact, in the process of dealing with men, the film has always allowed Helena to dominate, and she exports opinions, ideas, and money.
It can be said that Helena: The Life of a Canvas allows us to see a real flesh-and-blood Helena Chabaik, a talented artist who is also a mortal.
Throughout her life, Helena has been a major iconographer.
Interestingly, Helena's figures rarely look straight ahead, mostly looking down in thought, looking into the distance, or sitting on their sides.
It was as if the painter himself was refusing to be gazed at by the gaze of others.
It's like Helena in the film telling her models again and again not to stare at her: "Don't stare at me!"
"If you stare at me, I can't paint."
This can actually be seen as a kind of rebellion.
As a woman who is often gazed upon, Helena refuses to live under the gaze of others. Therefore, she chose to quit the art circle in her prime.
However, Helena often stared at herself.
Again and again, she gazed and examined herself in the mirror, outlining herself on the drawing paper.
It can be said that her portrait is another kind of "self-portrait", showing her own psychological world.
Just as she is so good at reflection.
A love that ends without illness and ends sloppily;
A mutually supportive friendship;
A broken and contradictory family.
It's a unique and flexible painter, a woman with moods and sorrows, and through her paintings, through this film, we seem to be able to touch this genius.
The style of Helena: A Life on canvas is not prominent, the story is not attractive, and even the protagonist is not famous for munch who painted "Scream" at the same time.
But with timeless graphics, well-crafted cinematography, and a solid script, the film portrays a powerful woman in calm.
This kind of beauty is not the beauty that can make people look amazing at a glance, but the beauty that lasts longer and more when you taste it, like a cup of tea.
If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss it.
This article was first published in the Adventure Movie: Cinematik
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