The scandal of Woody Allen's alleged sexual assault has caused a lot of waves on the Internet.
To this day, this is still a case that has only been convicted by the public.
Even though Allen has defended himself sincerely many times, public opinion and the spotlight are naturally the party who may be victimized.
His voice gradually sank to the bottom of the spiral.
The scandal undoubtedly dealt a blow to Allen's career.
Especially in 2018, when the "#MeToo" movement was hot, sexual assault cases returned to the public eye again.
It directly affected the publicity of the subsequent new film "A Rainy Day in New York".
The actors who participated in the film donated to pay the seat, and the distribution company Amazon terminated the contract...
In an instant, the North American market abandoned Allen.
But the 85-year-old man still maintains an unquenchable creative enthusiasm.
He traveled to Europe and made a new film again.
Let's talk about it today.
Rifkin's Film Festival
Rifkin's Festival
The story takes place at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
One of the most prestigious international A-film festivals in Europe.
Feng Xiaogang once won the "Golden Shell Award" (2016, the 64th) of the film festival's highest award, "I Am Not Pan Jinlian".
Interestingly, although the film was filmed at a film festival, it was premiered worldwide at the film festival as the opening film.
But the story has nothing to do with the film festival itself.
Without mercy, he teased the strong copper stench of various film festivals today.
The male protagonist of the film, Mott (Wallace Shawn), a writer in his twilight years, was a college film professor.
Unable to write masterpieces comparable to Dostoevsky's, he doubted the meaning of life.
He decides to put down his pen and paper and catch a plane to the Côte d'Azur with his wife, Sue (Gina Gerschen).
Not to get a glimpse of today's new films.
Instead, he suspected his wife of cheating.
"I went with her
Just because I doubted
She was the bullshit director in charge of pry for her
There are unclear feelings."
Sue, two rounds younger than Mot, is graceful in appearance and intelligent in mind.
The old man and young wife are still a beauty.
No wonder he was suspicious.
The bullshit director in Mott's mouth is the hit film rising star Philippe (Played by Louis Garrell).
Handsome, handsome and charming, he has been called by film critics as the most innovative filmmaker since the French New Wave.
Looking at it horizontally and vertically, Sue and Philip are like a pair of beautiful people.
Instead of an old man who runs the train with his mouth full of mouths, but will not even change the spare tire of the car, Mott.
thereupon......
In this ten-day film festival, a large-scale show that brings together various film stars and media, or a fan spirit climax of six films per day.
command. command. No. exist. at.
Woody Allen first shows you a marriage that begins with spiritual worship and loses to the desires of the lower body.
And, in the romantic autumn day, there is no end to the love affair.
A long, long time ago, Sue was impressed by Mott's writing and thought.
Good men have always been her dish.
But after meeting Philip, she realizes she's bet on the wrong person.
Not because Philippe was talented.
His new work "Apocalypse Dream" is a big hit at the film festival.
The commercial production, wrapped in the cloak of an art film, was hailed as a masterpiece by film critics.
It is even recommended as a must-see work of the United Nations.
And the next subject:
"My next film will focus on the turbulent Middle East
Hopefully, a way to reconcile Arab countries and Israel will be found."
In the eyes of Mott, a fan of European art cinema, it is a second-rate work of pretense.
But Sue had been dazed.
She has no intention of taking care of her fellow Mott and spends time with Philip.
Even, often creating the opportunity for three people to go along, without hesitation, in front of Mott, played ambiguous.
Mott realized that the marriage was not secure.
At the moment of heart cramping, Thomas, the couple's mutual friend, appeared.
Eh, what a coincidence.
Thomas introduced Mott to a local doctor and suggested that he should check it out immediately.
Who knows, this is a young and beautiful female doctor.
And that's not all, she thinks the movie the same way Mott does.
In the eyes of his ex-girlfriend, Mott is like a walking neurotic complex.
In the eyes of the female doctor Joe (Elena Anaya), she is intelligent and interesting.
Boy.
First love struck like an electric flint.
Heart cramps heal without medicine.
"What a charming woman, it makes me full of energy throughout the day."
But Mot has finally reached his twilight years.
Unlike Sue, he is young, brave, and has the vitality to keep trying.
Hearing that Joe had two unhappy marriages, he felt powerless.
Even if his marriage to Sue survives in name only, it is still an important pillar of his soul.
After marriage, Mott never cheated.
But on the other side, Sue and Philip had already pierced the ambiguous membrane.
Blatant physical contact, but also planned to go to sea to enjoy.
- Oh my God, you are so powerful that you can spy on my most private fantasies
- I'm a film director and I understand people's hearts. I can also see when women want to be ambiguous
Director, you are so dedicated.
Throughout the film, the stage is the affair between Mott and Sue.
That's it?
Of course not only.
As mentioned earlier, the marriage crisis of old men in literature and art is the surface that Woody Allen shows to the audience.
What is the deeper expression behind it?
Savor a corner of Mott.
Twilight, creators, Jews, grumbling, fans of European art films, yearning for spiritually co-production of love.
Apparently, the embodiment of Woody Allen himself.
After the sexual assault scandal, Allen had no intention of responding through the film.
But he speaks to himself through the lens, expressing nostalgia for the golden age of cinema that has passed.
And, the creative dilemma he couldn't get out of.
This has to mention the film's tribute to nine Classics of European Art Films.
The film takes the form of a spoof reinterpretation, allowing these classics to appear in the moment when Mott tries to escape the absurd reality and seeks understanding in the image.
These images sometimes reflect Mott's desire for true love.
Like what.
Arriving at the first night of the festival, Mott guessed what had happened to Sue and Phillip.
After falling asleep, he sneaks into the world of Orson Wells's Citizen Kane in a dream, recreating the classic passage of "RoseBud".
As everyone knows.
"Rose bud" is Kane's last words, and the meaning it represents has different opinions from different people.
However, we can also understand that it is man's desire for the fleeting good things in life.
Through the allusion of "rose bud", this image reveals Mott's nostalgia for marriage.
We also feel the emptiness of Mott's heart for the first time in the film.
These images sometimes reflect Mott's nostalgia for a bygone era.
Mott knew that his taste was out of place.
The second-rate works represented by Philippe are becoming the trend of film festivals.
And the golden age he remembered was forgotten by people.
In his fantasy dinner, everyone raises a glass to pay homage to Philip.
Respect for the film festival, respect for all the films that make the film worthy of the name of art.
A film by Phillip, an artistic work, and hopefully a commercial masterpiece.
This is perhaps the most critical shot in the entire film.
In Luis Buñuel's The Angel of Annihilation, wealthy dinner guests are openly happy and happy, but secretly show greed and desire.
They moved their legs, but they could not get out of the door of the banquet hall.
Buñuel used this to satirize the bourgeoisie imprisoned in a dead end.
In Mott's version, he and his guests can't walk out of the banquet hall either.
But what they are trapped is the box office and data of the film market.
These images sometimes reflect Mott's interrogation of life.
It can also be understood as Woody Allen's cross-examination of life.
In the final video, Mott and the black-clad Grim Reaper in The Seventh Seal play a game of chess with Ingmar Bergman.
The intention is not chess, but the meaning of life.
Mott describes the process of his writing as like Sisyphus in Greek mythology pushing a boulder up a mountain.
He expected to reach the top of the mountain, but the truth was that the stones rolled down again and again.
What he wrote was one mediocre work after another.
Mott asked the Grim Reaper in Black:
I finally pushed the boulder to the top of the mountain, and then, what exactly can I get?
Should I give up writing books and go back and teach movies?
The picture shows the Seventh Seal. The spoof of this paragraph is an Easter egg, leaving a surprise for everyone
Finally, as if borrowing Mott's words, Woody Allen expressed his helplessness and confession:
Maybe I'm just a little too stubborn.
The failure of marriage, the non-speculation with the trend, the frustration of creation.
All kinds of ups and downs, like a hard labor of life.
"Rivkin's Film Festival" takes the marriage crisis of old men in literature and art as a backdrop.
Secretly, it is actually Woody Allen's small retrospective of more than fifty years of directing career.
He has produced several good films and has basically maintained a steady output of one new film per year.
Not to mention that you may have forgotten.
Since 1969's "Fool in Prison", Allen has brought 54 works to the audience.
△ Classic shot of "Fool in Prison"
Most directors like this have stopped creating or gone west.
But in his autobiography", Allen confessed that the biggest regret of his life was:
It cost so much money from others that I have not yet made a great work.
Like Mott, who thinks he can't write a masterpiece, Allen's summary of his life is the same:
It is impossible to match the predecessors of directors he paid tribute to in the film.
Moreover, he was embarrassed to break through the pain again.
Allen, 85, is still looking for meaning in life.
Woody Allen (right) on the set
See this.
You don't have to be discouraged because of the heavy theme.
The film does have a large number of film history classics, but it still inherits the director's consistent style.
The characters talk about everything endlessly, full of humor and witty wits.
Let's take the ultimate answer to the meaning of life.
Remember Mott's question to the Black Reaper?
Death didn't have the heart to listen to mortals complain, he still had a million dying households to visit.
Woody Allen also had no intention of preaching or serving as an elder to warn young people.
He sent tips for facing a bleak life:
Eat more fruits and vegetables, quit saturated fat, and be sure to exercise.
Don't eat processed foods, and don't forget to do a colonoscopy.
Live well first.
You'll have more time.
Enrich a meaningless, but not empty life.
Edit: Egg Girl