Author | Flower seeds
The film Tropical Rain, directed by Singaporean director Chen Zheyi, won several awards in 2019, with actress Yang Yanyan winning the 56th Taiwan Film Golden Horse Awards for Best Actress.
At the Pingyao International Film Festival, "Tropical Rain" won the Best Film Award, the Fan Choice Honorary Award, and the actress Yang Yanyan won the Best Actress Award.
The name of this movie and the promotional poster are easy to think of as a small and fresh movie, but in fact, "Tropical Rain" is a film that reflects the social plight of women, the film is mature and delicate, calm and restrained, and the plot is thought-provoking.
"Tropical Rain" is Chen Zheyi's self-written and self-directed, script creation, he spent three years, he is particularly good at shooting scenes about women's themes, he has delicate emotions and extraordinary insight.
In 2013, Chen Zheyi beat won the Best Feature Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best New Director and other awards at the Golden Horse Awards with the film "Parents Are Not Home", which competed on the same stage, and won the Golden Camera Award at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival. He was 29 years old!
After 6 years, Chen Zheyi came up with a work full of sincerity, and when "Tropical Rain" was released at the Pingyao International Film Festival, the audience was full, the steps were full, and no one left the stage early.
This film does not have a fierce plot conflict, the film is natural, just like our daily life, the environment is in the tropical rainy season, with a delicate way to show the heroine's midlife crisis and forbidden love, through these appearances, we can also feel the male society full of malice towards women. This leads us to think about the meaning of women's self, what is it, how to change the status quo of this society, and how to help more women get out of social difficulties.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" >01 Suffocating midlife crisis</h1>
In the "Tropical Rain" film, the heroine Ah Ling is a Chinese teacher who teaches in Singapore, nearly forty years old, married to her husband for eight years without children, the family has a paralyzed father-in-law who needs her care, her career is not valued, Singapore does not value Chinese, and the students are also perfunctory to her Chinese teacher.
In the rainy season, Ah Ling commutes to and from work every day, two o'clock and one line, without any time to socialize.
On the way to work, the rain outside the car window is falling, the raindrops are crackling on the window glass, the car Ah Ling is skillfully giving herself an ovulation injection, a large "scar" on the abdomen tells us that she has been played like this countless times, looking at such a needle down, across the screen can feel deep pain, in the rearview mirror, Ah Ling frowned in pain.
When they arrived at school, the students were helpless when they procrastinated and arbitrary, and they did not pay any attention to her Chinese teacher, changed their homework to a headache, and the homework submitted by the students was full of typos and red modification marks on the paper.
Coming home from work, washing vegetables and cooking, feeding the paralyzed father-in-law to eat, waiting for the busy husband to come home for dinner, waiting for a message that does not come home to eat.
Bathe and dress the paralyzed father-in-law, settle the father-in-law to sleep, busy with everything, wait for the husband to come home, in the days of ovulation, she hopes that her husband will come back earlier, but wait for the left and right, waiting for the return is the alcoholic husband, the husband said "I am tired" and put her ovulation injection efforts into vain.
Ah Ling went to the hospital alone for artificial insemination, and the doctor said that although the hospital had her husband's frozen sperm, the fresh sperm would be better. Ah Ling called her husband, who still could not be present on the grounds of busyness, and on the operating table, a tear slipped from the corner of Ah Ling's eye.
To have a child has become a matter for Ah Ling alone, she silently endures everything, every time she looks at the ovulation situation and does the pussy B ultrasound, her every pain frown is full of countless heartaches.
After the artificial insemination, her husband took her home, and after her husband's request to lie by her side with her for a while was coldly rejected by her husband, her weak body and pale and depressed face curled up on the bed were deeply imprinted in my mind, hurting her and sympathizing with her. Her marriage was terminally ill, and in a marriage that existed in name only, she did not receive a shred of love, respect, and care.
In our real life, many couples are like this, and the once loving couples have long become brothers who sleep next door, and some are not even brothers.
And the fertility problem is a knife in her neck, to participate in the full moon wine of her husband's sister's child, she cares about wanting to hold her sister's child, but because of the child's crying and the posture of holding the child, she was criticized, saying that she had not given birth, of course, she would not hug.
In fact, the problem of childbirth is a knife in the neck of all women, do not want to give birth, say that you have no sense of responsibility; can not be born, will be sneered at from all sides; born, you have to take care of the family business, a little bad, there will be some people who say that you are not a good mother, you have to live as a superwoman, both beautiful as a flower, take care of the child meticulously, but also have to earn money to develop a career to the child a good example.
When people reach middle age, all kinds of crises ensue, family, career, sometimes it will really reach the point of suffocation...
At her father-in-law's funeral, Ah Ling watched her husband bring the little three and children raised outside to attend the funeral, and she entered the room without paying attention to her wife.
At that moment, it seemed to suddenly understand why Before the death of the father-in-law, Ah Ling's husband still hid and did not disclose the little three, and as soon as the father-in-law died, the little three were made public, presumably because I wanted Ah Ling to take care of the paralyzed father-in-law all the time, hoping that the red flag at home would not fall, the bunting flag fluttered outside, the father-in-law had died, and Ah Ling's husband did not need the "red flag" of the family.
The cold suffocation of the family and the tepidness of the career make Ah Ling's life like a pool of stagnant water, no vitality, no vitality, but her student Wei Lun once brought her a little warmth, making her and the students have a trace of ambiguous feelings.
However, after Ah Ling passively had a relationship with the students, everything changed, psychological shame, mental repression, the students ignored the entanglement, the dismissal after the school found the clue, ah Ling's career and marriage were over.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="181" >02 Unspeakable forbidden love</h1>
Another major attraction in the "Tropical Rain" film is the teacher-student love between the heroine Ah Ling and the student Wei Lun, for this point, the director's handling method is more delicate, and the production of emotions is between the details.
Ah Ling once went to the hospital to check her body, and met Wei Lun, a student who was injured due to martial arts training, because it was pouring rain outside, and the kind Ah Ling drove Wei Lun home.
In the car, the teacher Ah Ling asked Wei Lun's parents if they knew that he was injured, and Wei Lun said that his parents were very busy doing business in China, which showed that Wei Lun lacked the company of his parents, so that he could understand why Wei Lun would later fall in love with the mature and virtuous teacher Ah Ling.
Because several of the students' Chinese grades were so poor, Ah Ling decided to give the students a make-up lesson every Wednesday afternoon, including Wei Lun.
Once when Ah Ling was giving students make up lessons, the younger brother came to find Ah Ling, the younger brother was selling durians, so he gave a few durians to Ah Ling, and when Ah Ling returned to the classroom with the durian, the other students all slipped away, leaving only Wei Lun.
When Wei Lun was doing his homework, he looked at durian from time to time, and Ah Ling found it and asked him if he was hungry. Then the camera turns, the two people eat durian together, and Ah Ling points out the homework error to Wei Lun while eating the durian.
The reason why Wei Lun wants to learn Chinese well is because his father hopes that he will go to China to do business in the future, and if he does not learn well Chinese will be scolded by his father.
Once to make up lessons for Wei Lun, Ah Ling's family had something to rush home, because Wei Lun's homework was not completed, and he could only take Wei Lun home.
Ah Ling cooked and went, Wei Lun did homework, the word "help" could not be written, Ah Ling's father-in-law lightly drew it on his arm, Wei Lun wrote it out at once, and the father-in-law happily raised his fingers to him, and shouted in his mouth to express his appreciation.
Ah Ling made a meal, and three people who were not related by blood sat together to eat, and the picture was warm like a family. It was also that time that Wei Lun secretly took several photos of Ah Ling washing vegetables and cooking, and was later discovered by his classmates and went to the principal.
Once it was raining heavily, Ah Ling sent Wei Lun home after making up lessons, in the car, Ah Ling received a call from the hospital, saying that the last artificial insemination was not successful, Ah Ling could not help crying, Wei Lun looked at the teacher's sad look, wanted to comfort but could not open her mouth, Ah Ling parked the car on the side of the road, whimpering and crying in the sound of rain ticking the window.
Wei Lun was about to participate in a martial arts competition, and he posted a note on Ah Ling's desk inviting Ah Ling to come. Ah Ling originally did not plan to go, but when she went home to see her father-in-law watching the martial arts movies he had always liked, Ah Ling planned to take her father-in-law with her to see Wei Lun's game.
At first, when Wei Lun looked around and did not see Ah Ling, his face was lost, and when the host called out his name and it was his turn to play, Ah Ling and her father-in-law appeared in the audience. Wei Lun won the championship, and Ah Ling and her father-in-law applauded him happily.
When Ah Ling knew that Wei Lun's parents had not come, she said that she would celebrate Wei Lun with her father-in-law. In front of her brother's durian stall, Ah Ling took her father-in-law and Wei Lun to eat durian happily, and Ah Ling fed her father-in-law while eating, wiping the durian around her father-in-law's mouth.
When Ah Ling got up to answer the phone, Wei Lun was full of smiles like Ah Ling to feed durian to her father-in-law, help her father-in-law wipe his mouth, and Ah Ling, who answered the phone, looked at this picture of love from a distance, the corners of her mouth rose, smiling and relieved.
After celebrating for Wei Lun, on the way home, Ah Ling drove the car, when the destination arrived, Ah Ling turned around to look, in the back seat of the car, Wei Lun and her father-in-law snuggled up and fell asleep together, and Ah Ling's face appeared again with a happy and warm smile.
Later, when changing her homework once, Ah Ling looked at Wei Lun's composition about the mutual respect between teachers and students, and couldn't help but smile, laughing and laughing, and the red pen was stained with a large red mark on Wei Lun's homework book.
At this time, Ah Ling's feelings for Wei Lun, I think it is not love, can only be said that Wei Lun brought a trace of warmth to her cold life, and she was more of an elderly care for Wei Lun.
Then a heavy rain sent Wei Lun home, Wei Lun fell asleep in the car and had a nosebleed, out of concern for the students, Ah Ling sent Wei Lun to his home and iced his nose for Wei Lun, but at the moment when Ah Ling bent down to check whether Wei Lun's nose sitting on the bed was still bleeding, Wei Lun couldn't help but kiss Ah Ling.
At first, Ah Ling refused, loudly reprimanded and slapped Wei Lun, but Wei Lun, who was naked with strong muscles on his upper body, rushed over and hugged Ah Ling, pressed her on the bed, and the passionate kiss struck, Ah Ling half pushed and half, and the indescribable thing happened.
The little boy is a little boy, after having a relationship with Ah Ling, walking on the road, standing in the elevator, sitting on the bus, the heart wants to hold Ah Ling's hand, ten fingers interlocked, this is the youth's vision of love.
But these are all troubles for Ah Ling, Ah Ling knows that it was a mistake at the beginning, when Wei Lun did not hesitate to wait for Ah Ling to leave work in the seat of Ah Ling's office, when he was seen by other teachers, when Wei Lun was at school regardless of holding Ah Ling's hand, the warmth he once gave had now become trouble.
Later, when Wei Lun looked at the photos of Ah Ling secretly taken in the mobile phone, he was snatched by two other classmates, because wei Lun and the two classmates who grabbed the mobile phone got into a fight and made trouble with the principal, and the principal persuaded Ah Ling to find a reason to resign because of personal promotion problems.
Ah Ling is leaving, Wei Lun said that this is his first breakup, he wants a hug before the breakup, on the side of the road in the heavy rain, Wei Lun and Ah Ling hugged each other, Wei Lun said that his heart hurts, Ah Ling said: "It is like this, you will get used to it in the future!" ”
Such a sentence also shows the pain in Ah Ling's heart, life is to make people feel pain, Ah Ling has long been accustomed to the pain that life gives her.
Their teacher-student forbidden love, unspeakable, no result!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="183" >03 Patriarchal society is full of malice toward women</h1>
In addition to the midlife crisis and forbidden love, I also saw the male society full of malice towards women.
Ah Ling's main dilemma is that he and her husband have been married for eight years without children, but she has never given up, a needle of egg induction needle for herself, frequently go to the hospital to check the maturity of eggs. But her husband had long since given up on her and was looking for another woman outside to have children. Really respond to that sentence, the wife can be changed at will, as long as the child is his, the child's mother can be someone else.
Is that Ah Ling unable to have children? Nor is it, after the relationship with Wei Lun, Ah Ling is pregnant, which proves that Ah Ling's body is also no problem, it may just be that her and her husband's body is "inappropriate".
However, in reality, once the husband and wife cannot conceive, the first thing is generally to find trouble with the woman, thinking that the woman will not give birth.
In a patriarchal family, if it is a daughter who has been born, the first to blame is the woman, who will blame the woman for not being able to give birth to a boy, and give the woman all kinds of strange medicines. As everyone knows, from a biological point of view, the decision to give birth to boys and girls is on men.
In "Tropical Rain", there are three men closely related to Ah Ling, her father-in-law, husband and Wei Lun.
For the three of them, all need Ah Ling to take care of. The father-in-law is paralyzed and needs to be taken care of by Ah Ling; the husband is busy at work, the family and the paralyzed father need to be cared for by Ah Ling; Wei Lun needs teacher guidance to study, and he needs Ah Ling to send him home.
Ah Ling for their needs, according to the order, the father-in-law to take care of meticulously, in the eyes of her husband, she is like a nanny to get back.
For Wei Lun, she is also dedicated, when she is somewhat forced to have a relationship with Wei Lun, from her expression and actions, she is actually not willing, she is uncomfortable, she is embarrassed, and even some embarrassment, but Wei Lun did not take care of her feelings, because of the sexual impulse of adolescence, sperm on the brain, and the attachment to Ah Ling's maternal brilliance, he "forced" Ah Ling like that.
Later pestering Ah Ling and her to make trouble, when Ah Ling was driving, she opened the car door and wanted to jump down, the harmful Ah Ling crashed into a taxi, when Ah Ling got out of the car and solved the collision problem with the taxi driver, when Ah Ling was scolded by the taxi driver, Wei Lun sadly held the bag and said lightly, "I went to take the bus" and left, leaving Ah Ling to clean up the mess.
The owners of the other cars on the side got out of the car and looked at Ah Ling, and with a disdainful face, they said, "It turned out to be a female driver!" This "female driver" is also a kind of discrimination against the female group!
Ah Ling's younger brother would often ask Ah Ling for money and not pay it back, and the principal of Ah Ling's school let Ah Ling automatically resign for his promotion.
These men represent the "bullying" of women by various types of men in a patriarchal society!
In the film, there are two male bodies fully naked in the camera, one is Ah Ling's father-in-law, when he is taking a bath, and a diarrhea Ah Ling gave him a diaper, the lower body is visible; there is a student Wei Lun, when Wei Lun and Ah Ling have a relationship, the picture is a panoramic shooting, Wei Lun's entire body is completely naked, in addition to the ankles are also hanging pants that have not been withdrawn.
When I saw these pictures, I wondered why the director had to shoot in this way, why didn't it go so far as in a normal TV series, so that the audience knew what they were doing?
Why do you want to show people so naked? Later, I thought that maybe the director wanted to express the powerlessness of women in the face of male power, and had to passively accept the helplessness.
In front of the paralyzed father-in-law, the daughter-in-law who is not related by blood is required to bathe and wipe her ass for diapers for her naked father-in-law.
In the presence of the adolescent sexually impulsive Wei Lun, facing his nakedness, she can only satisfy his desires.
I can't help but think of a movie clip I once saw:
A middle-aged and elderly woman cooks for a group of male workers far from home in a poor country, and once she washes clothes by the water, a young man who can be her son asks her for pleasure, and she slaps him first and says, "I can be your mother at my age!" ”
But the man said that he had been away from home for a long time, that kind of thing had not been done for a long time, it was so uncomfortable, the man begged her to pity herself, and the woman could not bear it and agreed.
This paragraph is particularly distracting to watch! She pitied him, but who was going to pity her? She is also a person, and not a cathartic machine.
Are women so unauthentic about sex? Looking back at the past, the japanese invaders have sought comfort women in a big way, which is also a great insult to women's rights.
Women should also have their own independent personality and dignity, selective freedom and rights, rather than male power to vent their desires or reproductive tools.
The director of "Tropical Rain" has always been more interested in women's themes, and he said this in an interview:
I think in the Chinese society, boys like to be the head of the family, but when marriage or family encounter problems, the first to hide is often boys, and it is always women who really have the strength to go forward or face problems.
Perhaps out of protection and appreciation for women, Ah Ling in the film has always been dignified, conservative, and calm, even if there is a bed scene with Wei Lun, Ah Ling's clothes are still on the body, but the buttons of the top are unbuttoned, revealing the bra. Unlike some films, in order to win the attention of men, women are always exposed too much, and what should not be exposed is also exposed.
The only way to improve women's social plight is to bring women into leadership. The reality is that the world is still in the hands of men. This means that when it comes to making truly impactful decisions about the world, women's voices are not treated equally.
Only when more women enter leadership and express their needs and concerns with a strong voice will the situation of all women in the world improve.
Member of Nanjing Writers Association, Contracted Photographer of Visual China, Member of Nanjing Jiangning District Writers Association, Senior Still Life Photographer of Figureworm
The articles were published in Urumqi Evening News, Changzhou Evening News, Beihai Literature, Labor Times, Bozhou Evening News, Beibei Daily, Yulin, Jiangning News, Tianxiamei Newspaper and C-bit magazines.
Guess you like:
The surrogacy movie "Mother Tongue": A surrogacy has become a tragedy for three people
"My Sister": "Marry someone without marrying a mother and a man, marrying a wife without marrying a brother and a demon"
"Hello, Li Huanying": Only children with mothers have roots
"Sunshine Sister Tao": The happiest thing in life is to have youth and always have friends