French cinema has always been a distinctive and unique presence in the international film world.
The French, who advocate romanticism, like to put the literature, humor and abuse in their bones in the film unabashedly for their own viewing and make others jealous.
Whether it is a romantic comedy, or a life sketch, whether it is a nonsense fantasy, or a serious reality, French films can always give people an inexplicable sense of disorientation.
This sense of disorientation allows you to see the humility of ordinary life, but also to see the ideal romance rooted in reality.
In short, it's very atmospheric.
No wonder authoritative film critics always say that watching more French films is beneficial to improving aesthetic taste.
Recently, Some panicked Wang Laoshi just bumped into a French film "Guardianship Storm" that at first glance looked "very un-French".
The name suggests that there are two possible story directions: doctor-patient stories that take place in intensive care units, or family stories of divorced couples vying for custody of their children.
A glance at the poster can basically confirm that it is the latter.
Directed by French newcomer director Xavier Legrand, this work was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at last year's Venice Film Festival along with "The Shape of Water" and "Three Billboards", and finally won two high gold awards for best director and best debut.
This naturally made Wang Laoshi, who constantly "improved his aesthetic taste", quite interested.
At the beginning of the film, I was reminded of the iranian and French co-production of the same type of masterpiece "A Parting", which is in a small room in the courtroom.
The impartial judge, the lawyer who argues passionately, and the husband and wife at the center of the incident... "Guardianship Storm" unconventionally uses an "anti-classic" opening of such films, simply and clearly putting the core contradictions of the story on the table.
Usually such films will start with family conflicts and then go to court against Bo, such as "The Kramers".
The anti-type, anti-classic opening design has ulterior motives.
In the courtroom, everyone is expressionless, afraid of subtle facial shaking, will reveal their weaknesses, and be caught by the other party and affect the judge's judgment.
Under the seemingly calm and self-assured expression, in fact, there is an "undercurrent", and the two sides expressed an indignant complaint through the mouth of the lawyer:
Wife Milan accuses her husband of domestic violence, husband Antoine accuses her wife of malicious slander... Both wanted custody of their youngest son, Julian.
The tense atmosphere sets the tone of the film, which seems to be a small family conflict, but it is actually a battle to win the child, and the title of the film "Guardianship" is appropriate.
Soon the verdict came out, and the judge ruled that the divorced couple shared custody of the children: Julian lived with his mother, but had to spend weekends with his father.
Although the husband and wife are dissatisfied, they are helpless, especially the wife Milan. From her point of view, she certainly did not want her son to spend even a minute with his abusive father.
At this time, the film's emotions seem to turn to his wife Milan, but the judge's impartial judgment makes people wonder, after all, the audience does not know who is right and who is wrong with the husband and wife, and whose words should be believed.
The director's cleverness in unconventional operations also lies in this:
"Guardianship" does not tell the story of who won the lawsuit and who obtained the custody of the child, but after the established judgment result, from the performance of both husband and wife, it is proved in reverse, which is good or bad, which is thought-provoking.
As a result, there is a lot of uncertainty. The first is how will the story of this divorced family evolve? The second is whether the judge's fair judgment is really fair?
Obviously, the film will give us the answer.
The next plot creates a character as intimidating as "French Anjiahe".
In order to avoid Antoine, Milan took his 11-year-old young son and eldest daughter, who was 18 years old, to find a new house:
Adult daughters and young sons, both hated their father Antoine as much as Mom Milan, was a sign and a hint.
On the weekend, when Antoine went to pick up Julian for the first time, the atmosphere of father and son alone was very wrong.
In the car, Julian has a defiant expression and ignores his father's questioning;
When he arrived at home, Antoine put on a cold expression and ignored his son's request.
Two weeks later, on the weekend, it was Julian's sister's birthday party, so Julian asked for the time of the week to exchange time with his father, but his father Antoine did not turn his head and did not make a sound.
Father and son do not deal with each other, but Antoine's pitiful expression seems to be a little aggrieved, is it a revenge for the son who ignored him before?
What kind of person he really is, it is not easy to say.
But his next move made people start to hate him.
He drove Julian home to a stop halfway point on the grounds that he was an hour late when he picked him up, so he was an hour late when he was sent back.
Judging from his tone and demeanor, it is definitely not the father's reluctance to his son, but the cold war-like and gas-like wasted an hour.
The hour of silence, filled with strong oppression, fear and dissatisfaction and resentment and helplessness, this is actually the cold violence of the family, although it does not move, but it is very uncomfortable.
Even if Antoine took the lead in breaking the silence, he deliberately snatched his son's mobile phone and called to question and provoke his wife.
When it was finally delivered, this seemingly honest man showed his grumpy side for the first time.
The film is short, only about 90 minutes, and for most of the time, Julian is with his father.
We don't need to compare our parents' performances to verify our conjecture at the beginning of the film.
Antoine has been living at his parents' house since his divorce, and the next weekend he took Julian to dinner at his parents' house, only to fall off the table in a rage over a small matter.
Antoine's move also angered his father and he was swept out of the house.
As a result, a french Anjiahe, who is quiet but likes to replace his mouth with force, has a serious violent tendency, jumps on the screen.
Such a man who brings hurt and fear to his family, in exchange for the separation of his wife and daughters, the end of rebellion and separation can only be said to be self-inflicted.
But a middle-aged man mixed into such a situation, how can it not be pitied!
Japanese sociology has a term called "unrelated society".
People who have no connection to society have three important indicators, one is that they have no friends, which is "no social relationship"; the second is that the relationship with their families is estranged or even broken, which is "no blood"; the third is that the relationship with their hometown is isolated and severed, which is called "no geographical relationship".
Putting the indicators of the unpopular society on Antoine is also very consistent.
The film does not show whether Antoine has friends, but his relationship with his wife, children, and parents has completely collapsed, in line with "no blood", and he was swept out by his parents to move to a new district (similar to our province), in line with "no geography".
Such people are basically marginalized by mainstream society, and their greatest pain is loneliness – inability to communicate with people normally, and being driven crazy by loneliness when they are alone.
Loneliness drives him to run to his daughter's birthday party to find his ex-wife and try to get back together, but the irrational madness once again makes him reflexively "communicate" with his wife in the most familiar way:
There are various complex reasons for the emergence of society, and in the case of Antoine, there is still salvation, as long as he is willing to repent.
But violent tendencies were as ingrained in him as genes, making him unable to look back and rendering him powerless to reflect and improve.
The sad thing about tragedy is that it is irreversible and even intensified.
The loss of human nature and the collapse of human relations are often like this, and once some harm is done, rifts will appear, and it will be difficult to turn back.
Violence can only escalate the violence, and finally Antoine carries a rifle into his wife's new home, forcing the mother and son into a desperate situation.
How the ending is, Wang Honesty will not reveal it first, I can only say that it is very painful.
It can be seen that the unrelated society does not exist only in Japan, and "Guardianship" proves that people who are caught in the unrelated society and hurt themselves and others also appear in France.
As far as Wang's honest observation of life is concerned, unrelated society is universally around us.
However, the main theme of the film is not here.
The name of Guardianship is very un-French, and the content is also very un-French.
It has no romance, humor and abuse, no hazy sense of alienation, and even less of the usual mood of French films, but it has greatly increased the style of French realistic films.
To be precise, the film does not have an obvious theme that the director wants to highlight, it just takes the family conflict as the starting point, treats the custody dispute as a small opening, and calmly, bluntly and cruelly tears apart the old scars of society.
Through this scar, we can see a series of social problems such as bad domestic violence, cold domestic violence, and child growth.
If you go back to the beginning of the film, you will reflect on whether the judge's seemingly impartial judgment is truly fair and just, and most importantly, which judgment is the best for the child.
Obviously, the joint custody of both spouses is not a good outcome.
But this is something that cannot be demanded, after all, judges have their own limitations and cannot know all the power.
When the lawyer asked 11-year-old Julian to testify, Milan, like Mr. Kramer in "The Kramers," strongly opposed his son's appearance in order to protect her young son.
Assuming that she did not have a momentary soft heart, from a long-term perspective, let her son testify in court, then her chances of winning would be much greater.
However, the beloved mother did not do this.
Man is a complex animal, and reason often gives way to sensibility.
Therefore, the final judgment result is the product of multiple actions such as human compromise and legal restrictions.
This is more or less the helpless bad thing in the world.