Many people like to ridicule "Ah Fei Zheng Biography", "Fancy Years" and "2046" for the Su Lizhen universe, because the characters in these three movies are similar and the stories are closely related. Perhaps in the hands of other directors, then these three films must be intertwined in plot, as the Marvel movies become a whole.
But when it comes to Wong Kar Wai, everything is so unclear and unclear. "2046" inherits the structure of "East Evil and West Poison", continues the main line of "Fancy Years", inherits the style of "Ah Fei Zheng Biography", these three films are precise, there is no so-called same universe.
Released in 2004, "2046" gathered Leung Chao-wai, Zhang Ziyi, Liu Jialing, Maggie Cheung, Faye Wong, Takuya Kimura, Zhang Zhen and other big-name stars, and won six awards at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Score. The film tells the story of Zhou Muyun, played by Liang Chaowei, in order to make a better farewell to the past, turn the bits and pieces of life into words, and write the novel "2046".
2046 movie poster
The role of Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung version) is absent in the movie "2046", Wong Kar-wai is not portrayed positively, although Su Lizhen only exists in the image of Zhou Muyun's memory, but it is the most important role in the whole movie, because this movie can be summarized as one sentence: "Looking for Su Lizhen".
The story of "2046" takes place during Zhou Muyun's hard work in Singapore, and then returns to Hong Kong, and the time node just corresponds to "Fancy Years". The advancement of the film is basically based on Zhou Muyun's experience and memories, which are mixed with a large number of his own consciousness projection, so several women related to Zhou Muyun in the movie are actually the embodiment of Su Lizhen.
1. The "black spider" played by Gong Li represents Su Lizhen's "identity".
Zhou Muyun and The professional gambler Black Spider played by Gong Li met in Singapore, and later Black Spider took the initiative to decide to help Zhou Muyun pay off her gambling debts, in fact, she did not have to do so at all, the fundamental reason was because she fell in love with Zhou Muyun. At this time, Zhou Muyun had just separated from Su Lizhen, and when he learned that the black spider was also called Su Lizhen, he quickly "fell in love" with the black spider and said to him the words he regretted not saying to Su Lizhen: "Are you willing to follow me?"
There is a very interesting little detail on the black spider, she has always worn a black glove, and the hand in this glove symbolizes her unknown past and vague identity, and it is precisely because of this that in Zhou Muyun's heart, she can quickly "occupy" Su Lizhen's identity. To put it bluntly, Zhou Muyun only loved this name, and what he said to the black spider was even more like what he had not had time to say to Su Lizhen, and now he would take the opportunity to say it.
Zhou Muyun and Black Spider are separated
So in the end, even the black spider who was deeply in love with Zhou Muyun did not agree to go with him, because she knew that the person in Zhou Muyun's heart was not herself after all.
In Zhou Muyun's cognition, the appearance of the black spider divided this part of Su Lizhen's identity.
2. Miss Wang, played by Faye Wong: Represents Zhou Muyun's feelings for Su Lizhen.
Miss Wang first appeared because she couldn't make love, she was fascinated, and she was concerned by Zhou Muyun when she was learning Japanese next door. Miss Wang was able to attract Zhou Muyun because of her story with her Japanese boyfriend. The Japanese boyfriend wanted to take her away, but she didn't decide at the time, and then repeated "please take me away" repeatedly. This escape is like the encounter between Zhou Muyun and Su Lizhen, miss Wang's father's opposition to her feelings, just like the moral shackles that were once shackled to Su Lizhen.
Miss Wang represents emotion, and Zhou Muyun has no emotions or desires for her. Zhou Muyun and Miss Wang cooperated to write erotic novels, just as Zhou Muyun and Su Lizhen once collaborated to write martial arts novels, which was the beginning of their relationship. The martial arts novels of the past have become the erotic novels of the present, which is simply a stroke of genius. Looking at it in the plot, Zhou Muyun can avoid martial arts novels and want to forget all this; outside the plot, it is precisely because even if Zhou Muyun and Miss Wang co-write erotic novels, there is no desire between the two, which highlights that Zhou Muyun is absolutely emotional for Miss Wang, not mixed with desire.
If the black spider divides Zhou Muyun's identity to Su Lizhen, then Miss Wang divides Zhou Muyun's feelings for Su Lizhen.
Zhou Muyun and Miss Wang
3. Bai Ling, played by Zhang Ziyi: Represents Zhou Muyun's desire for Su Lizhen.
Back in Hong Kong, Zhou Muyun originally wanted to rent room 2046 where he had previously met Su Lizhen, but he was preempted by the social flower Bai Ling, so Zhou lived next door to Bai Ling in 2047, and Zhou Muyun met Bai Ling in order to help his friend Ah Bing.
In "Fancy Years", his friend Ah Bing hopes to introduce him to Su Lizhen through Zhou Muyun, which is the embodiment of naked desire, and this bridge section is transferred to Bai Ling. Zhou Bai and Bai first met out of desire, and the financial relationship between Zhou Muyun and Bai Ling better showed this point of view. Every time Zhou Bai and the two have a relationship, Zhou Muyun will give money, which shows that Zhou Muyun has an attitude from beginning to end, and has no feelings for Bai Ling. As the old saying goes, talking about feelings hurts feelings, but here in Zhou Muyun is completely emotionless, using money to buy desire.
Bai Ling's identity as a social flower originally represents desire, and Bai Ling's role divides Zhou Muyun's desire for Su Lizhen.
Zhou Muyun and Bai Ling
Zhou Muyun's attitude towards the three women of Black Spider, Miss Wang and Bai Ling, and finding traces of Su Lizhen from them, is the backbone of the movie "2046".
Whether it is the feelings of Zhou Muyun and Miss Wang or the desire with Bai Ling, it can show that Zhou Muyun is actually looking for Su Lizhen's "stand-in", so who contributed to his desperate search attitude? The answer lies in one person, she is Lulu, played by Liu Jialing.
At the end of "The Legend of Ah Fei", Lulu came to Nanyang alone to look for Xu Zai, but unfortunately Xu Zai was dead, so she kept looking for a substitute, and her acquaintance with Zhou Muyun was because she felt that Zhou looked like a dead Xu Zai. Ironically, Lulu was stabbed by another stand-in like Xu Zai, symbolizing that such love is undoubtedly a drinking duck to quench thirst.
Lulu
Zhou Muyun in the movie clearly said that she met Lulu at her lowest point, and she taught him that as long as she did not give up, she would have a chance. Lulu is like an introduction, leading to Zhou Muyun's story in "2046".
Compared with Lulu, Zhou Muyun is cowardly, Lulu's Xu zai died on the train to the port, and she has no way; and Zhou Muyun's Su Lizhen has been living in the old house with their children.
At the end of "Fancy Years", Zhou Muyun looked at the door, I believe he knew su Lizhen inside, just like in "2046", the familiar streets that appeared in the flash, proving that Zhou Muyun had returned. But he did not have the courage to knock on Su Lizhen's door, just like in "2046", he has always wondered: Su Lizhen is in the end, whether she loves herself or not.
Fragment of "Fancy Years"
In order to show Zhou Muyun's inner struggle, Wong Kar-wai splits multiple time and space in the movie "2046", and it is precisely because of the existence of these time and space that many viewers feel that this movie looks clueless.
● The first time and space: memories of the past
This is about Zhou Muyun's past with the Black Spider in Singapore. In Singapore in 1966, Zhou Muyun said goodbye to the black spider in the casino, he wanted to return to Hong Kong, and when he left, he asked the black spider if he would like to go with him, and the black spider wanted to go with him, but still politely refused.
● The second space-time: the existence of reality
In this time and space, Zhou Muyun first met Lulu, and then met Miss Wang and Bai Ling, and many stories happened. Taking Lulu as the time node, we will find that the black spider encountered before this is the initiative to help Zhou Muyun, Zhou Muyun is passive, and then Zhou Muyun and Wang and Bai are active, actively looking for women with Su Lizhen's projection.
● The third time and space: the story in the book
In the third time and space, Zhou Muyun wrote out all his inner thoughts under the appearance of the game in real life. The book is divided into two parts: 2046 and 2047.
(1) The first "2046"
"2046" is written for the newspaper, telling a group of idiot men and women Xiangyan bizarre story, the film in a few random clip flashbacks, are Zhou Muyun's life around the people. In "2046", we can see Lulu who is looking everywhere and constantly changing stand-ins, and Bai Ling, a marionette that symbolizes no emotion, only desire.
It is worth noting that in "2046", there is also Su Lizhen played by Maggie Cheung, but here Su Lizhen has become a robot. Combined with the story, we can know that Zhou Muyun fantasized about Su Lizhen as a robot because he did not know whether Su Lizhen loved himself or not. He wishfully fantasized about Su Lizhen's former hesitation, perhaps the robot has a period of decline, the reflection arc is extremely long, so he has not been able to get the return of love, and then there is a condensed version of "2046" "2047".
Robot Su Lizhen
(2) The second "2047"
"2047" is written by Zhou Muyun based on the story of Miss Wang and her Japanese boyfriend, and at this time, Zhou Muyun has fallen in love with Miss Wang, just like the love for Su Lizhen. Because there is no desire in the memory, only love, so "2047" is completely absent from Bai Ling's figure.
The story of "2047" says that there is a place called 2046, where many people go to find memories, and the male protagonist played by Takuya Kimura is the only one who returns from 2046, and the road back is long and bruised. On this train, he fell in love with a robot and said to him what he had always wanted to say, "Can you come with me?", but did not get any answers. Maybe the robot has a period of decline, or maybe the robot doesn't love him at all.
Robot Miss Wang
Although the story is based on a Japanese and Miss Wang, Zhou Muyun transforms himself into a Japanese person and expresses his feelings for Miss Wang.
Some people may wonder, doesn't the robot represent Su Lizhen? Of course not, the robot played by Faye Wong is Miss Wang. The Japanese met the robot on the way home to 2046 to find memories, which actually means that Zhou Muyun wants to find out whether Su Lizhen loves herself or not, and finally after there is no answer, she can only choose to forget, and then met Miss Wang.
☆ The robot helped the Japanese wrap the bandage, metaphorically the appearance of Miss Wang, and healed the pain in Zhou Muyun's heart;
☆ The robot hints that the Japanese will tell themselves the secret of the tree cave, symbolizing Zhou Muyun's desire to confide in Miss Wang;
☆ When the train passes through the two cold zones of 1224 and 1225, the Japanese embrace the robot, alluding to the lonely Zhou Muyun spending christmas with Miss Wang.
Zhou Muyun gave the completed "2047" to Miss Wang, who was already married, and Miss Wang read it and relayed it through her father, and the ending was too sad. Because this ending is not Miss Wang's, but Zhou Muyun's. Although the robot in the book is Miss Wang in real life, for Zhou Muyun, miss Wang in real life is actually Su Lizhen in memory.
At the end of the book "2047", the Japanese leave dashingly, he thinks he has the answer, and likewise, at the end of the movie, Zhou Muyun breaks free of Bai Ling's hand and also leaves in a dashing manner. What they're going to do after they leave, we don't know, the movie doesn't say, it seems that all the memories, the stories are left in 2046.
Lulu lives in Room 2046 and is eventually injured by a "stand-in";
In this room in 2046, Miss Wang repeatedly said: "Please take me away";
Bai Ling lives in Room 2046, accumulating a fragment of desire with Zhou Muyun under the bed;
Zhou Muyun, after leaving "Fancy Years", never lived in Room 2046.
2046 can be a room, it can be a destination, it can be a book, it can even be this movie.
Such a setting leads to the film's deepest buried moral: 2046 represents the past that cannot be returned, the memory that cannot be found; 2047 represents the coming future, and the unpredictable reality.
The women related to Su Lizhen's memories live in 2046, and Zhou Muyun will never go back to that time, can't find that memory, and the only thing he can do is: dash away and step into the unknown 2047.