"The First Incense", really not fragrant
Text | Qingyan
Edit | Wang Zhuojiao
Perhaps it is precisely because of Xu Anhua's ambiguous nature of neither elevating nor condemning, that people mistakenly think that she is very suitable for adapting Zhang Ailing, because Zhang Ailing's text world also has an ambiguous state of unclear praise and criticism.
But it has been proven time and time again that this is wrong.
Because Zhang Ailing's ambiguity is only an appearance, she is cold and fierce in her bones.
But Xu Anhua's ambiguity is very sincere, wrapped in her understanding and compassion.
That is to say, Zhang Ailing is not compassionate, she is more fierce, colder, more determined, more cruel, while Xu Anhua is a loyal elder, she almost instinctively tolerates and understands the complexity of the world - these are two completely incompatible worldviews, but because they present an ambiguous state at the same time, people mistakenly think that Xu Anhua is very suitable for adapting Zhang Ailing.
Not to mention director Ang Lee, director Guan Jinpeng , who is particularly thankful on the end credits of "The First Burning Incense" (he has been an assistant director of Xu Anhua for many years), is more suitable for adapting Zhang Ailing than Xu Anhua.
As a director, Guan Jinpeng has a sharp and poisonous vision.
He could realize that the love of the idiot man and the woman was mixed with exquisite intrigue.
He acknowledges the ambiguous state of this emotion, but dares to separate the two things. For example, "Red Roses and White Roses", adapted from Zhang Ailing's original work in 1994, subtly reproduced what Zhang Ailing said about the gorgeous robe and the lice under the robe.
The Sea Oath Mountain Alliance is just a disguise, and the true face is nothing more than calculation.
In "The First Burning Incense", Zhang Ailing wants to talk about how an old and fading woman with undiminished desire uses young and beautiful girls to hook up with other men - these girls, first blind and blind, and later Ge Weilong.
In this story about the "familyization of the Qinglou", Zhang Ailing does not have compassion for anyone, she even enjoys everyone's self-indulgence and depravity, and in this process of self-indulgence, the exquisite and delicate means and tricks - especially the role of aunt Liang Tai.
But Xu Anhua seems to be unable to suppress her compassion: she arranged two reminiscence scenes for Yu Feihong, one is to send Mr. Liang out of the funeral road, her high heels are broken, she resolutely and resolutely left the funeral procession barefoot, and the other is the kneeling gift to everyone when she first married the Liang family to pour tea and water.
The result of this is to highlight her aunt's bleak past and to find an excuse for her depravity.
But the question it fails to solve is: Why is she so?
If it is said that the constant maneuvering between the dignitaries and nobles is to grab the cost of living, then what is the explanation for seducing poor and sour students like Lu Zhaolin, and even giving him a wallet to raise and provide him with a study in Canada?
Zhang Ailing is a person who does not make excuses for the role.
Xu Anhua is a person who will make excuses for the role.
This kind of contrary to values is destined to be adapted to "The First Burning Incense", and there is no way to capture the essence of Zhang Ailing at the narrative level.
What's more, Xu Anhua made various compromises from the beginning, such as the tone of the lines in Shanghainese and Cantonese, or complete Mandarin, such as the actor's clothing, props and makeup, especially the selection of the actor.
Ma Sichun's performance style between drunk and sleepless state completely makes people unable to see the shrewdness and calculation of this character, in addition to making people feel that Ge Weilong is indeed begging for himself, he really can't have more emotions for this role.
Peng Yuyan's greasy performance of frankly admitting that he is a scum also violates Zhang Ailing's expression - in Zhang Ailing's pen, scum always appears in the face of a person, just like bad people always dress themselves up as good people, they can admit their desires, but they will not be honest about their hypocrisy.
Let's talk about Yu Feihong again.
Among the friends who have watched "The First Incense" around them, many people think that Yu Feihong is really good. And in the process of watching, I also indulged in her seduction and could not extricate myself.
But when you walk out of the movie theater and think about Zhang Ailing's original work, you will find that this thing is not right.
The role of the aunt is, to put it bluntly, an old bustard who is old and fading but has no diminished desire, in the original words of Zhang Ailing, "the beauty is old, but the eyes are not old."
That is to say, she can show off her flowers, but in terms of body and appearance, it is difficult for her to stir the desire in men's hearts.
However, Yu Feihong's personal appearance and temperament have made the flower branch display the most detailed trick of this role, and the maturity and sexiness emanating from the inside out have become the background color that she can seduce even if she stands still. In contrast, Ma Sichun's purity seems to be unattractive.
After all, in the face of sexiness, pure or cute, it is not worth mentioning at all.
But this is contrary to Zhang Ailing's setting. In Zhang Ailing's setting, Ge Weilong, who has a young flesh, is just a pawn used by her aunt to attract bees and butterflies, but in the factual vision of the movie, it is clear that her aunt is more sensual than her niece.
This is not to say that Yu Feihong and her performance are not good.
Rather, she was not suitable for the role that should have been old and fading.
This inadequacy also applies to Xu Anhua.
As a director, she has her own good subject matter and content, and also has an indelible contribution to the film, which cannot be denied.
But adapting Zhang Ailing, she really does not fit.
Counting the stage play "The Book of Golden Locks", "The First Burning Incense" is already The fourth time that Xu Anhua has adapted Zhang Ailing's work.
Her two previous films have been "Love in the City" starring Zhou Runfa and Miao Qianren in 1984, and "Half Life" starring Li Ming, Mei Yanfang and Wu Qianlian in 1997.
She herself was not satisfied with both films. In her own words: when filming "Love in the City", she was too young to understand Zhang Ailing's original intentions, nor could she better control the actors; while "Half Life" was too large to grasp the main line because the original work was too large, and after leaving off the side line, she found that the work was very discolored.
But now looking at the "First Burning Incense" with a Douban score of only 5.7, the reasons Xu Anhua said before are no longer valid.
From the perspective of the fans of Zhang Ailing and Xu Anhua, this is actually not a technical problem as director Xu Anhua said, but a problem of two different aesthetic appeals. Like I said before —
Zhang Ailing was fierce and cold, but Xu Anhua was compassionate.
The completely different aesthetic tendencies determine that the two authors have strong attributes and cannot reach a reconciliation at the narrative level.
END