"Xi Bao", which was released some time ago, only sad and unhappy, locked in the worst domestic film of the year.
Hollywood on the other side of the ocean is not idle, re-adapting the classic to the screen, but it has become the North American "Xibao".
You know, the original novel is a romantic masterpiece that has been selling well for a hundred years, and it is a literary enlightenment reading for tens of millions of authors.
In 1940, the thriller suspense master Hitchcock's film of the same name based on the original novel won the Oscar for best picture that year.
Douban scored 8.3, better than 93% suspense and 92% romance films; Rotten Tomatoes remained 100% fresh, with an average MTC score of 86.
The 1979 and 1997 TV drama versions, although they did not have the aura of the master director, but with a solid script and the superb performances of the actors, they all scored high scores of 8.5 and 8.0.
In the 97 TV series version, the young Tywin Lannister participated in the performance
It is such a classic masterpiece, which was magically changed into a bad film of the year.
Douban 5.6 (I don't know if it will continue to reduce the score), Rotten Tomatoes 45% rottenness, MTC average score of 46.
After the film critics scolded the audience, even the lead actors were reluctant to accept interviews and paid no attention to the promotion of the film.
Netflix heavy gold production, well-known IP aura, handsome men and beautiful women + British national film queen lineup, can not save this film.
Butterfly Dream
Rebecca
2020.10.21
>>>> married into the rich, the sparrow became a phoenix
The plot of "Butterfly Dream" can be summarized in one sentence:
Fly up the branches to be a phoenix, and enter the giants as deep as the sea.
The maid played by Lily James is simple and kind, but she has a hostess with an eccentric temperament and often does not give her a good look.
Once, she and her hosts were traveling together, and in the high-end hotel restaurant where they stayed, they met Mr. Juddwent (Played by Amy Hammer), a wealthy businessman.
Derwent fell in love with the maid at first sight.
Every time I see her inner activity is: Wow, she is so simple! Good not to be pretentious! It's so cute!
He invited his maid to go to the beach to splash in the water, ride on the highway, enjoy the flowers and the moon, and enjoy it.
And the maid's attitude towards the rich man was: Wow, he's so handsome! Good gentleman! What a man!
She sneaked out to date Derwent without her master, on the pretext that she was going to learn tennis, but she was actually playing with mandarin ducks.
So in the first half hour of the movie, the audience enjoyed a low-grade version of "Fifty Shades of Grey".
The good times did not last long, and on this day the hostess told the maid to plan a trip to New York in advance.
The maid panicked: she was reluctant to Devont, unable to let go of this "hard-won" true love.
When Derwent learned of this, he proposed directly to the maid and asked her to move into his "Mandley Manor" to live with him.
When the maid's master knew about it, he actually agreed, and wished the two lovers to eventually become dependents.
In this way, the maid married the rich man, and she changed from "little maid without a name" to "Mrs. Derwent".
What a drama where the domineering president falls in love with me! It's also too Mary Sue!
However, the five words of the giants as deep as the sea are not just words.
The heroine who lived in Mandley Manor did not have a satisfactory life.
Before there are mean housekeepers everywhere, there are husbands and ex-wives whose ghosts are not scattered.
The housekeeper is aggressive, fierce, smiling and not smiling, and what she says is completely different from what she thinks in her heart.
De Vinthe had great respect for the housekeeper, after all, she was the old housekeeper of the manor, she still had a certain right to speak, and the other servants obeyed her orders.
The attitude of this housekeeper to the heroine is like a vicious mother-in-law who looks at her daughter-in-law unfavorably and wishes her son to leave this daughter-in-law as soon as possible.
Christine Scott Thomas (Masterpiece: The English Patient) plays the housekeeper
This character is one of the 100 greatest villains in film history
However, more creepy than this fierce housekeeper is the existence of the undead.
Derwent's ex-wife committed suicide a few years earlier, and no one knows the truth about her death.
The name of the deceased wife is "Rebecca", which is also the title of the film.
Although Rebecca died, the manor remained as decorated as she had been: decorations, furnishings, plates, paintings, all arranged according to her taste.
And objects with her initials R are also ubiquitous.
Living in such a shadow, the heroine's heart also shivered.
Whenever she asked about Rebecca, she got the end of her husband's conversation.
For the husband who avoids talking about his ex-wife, he seems to have more secrets hidden in him.
Is Rebecca's death related to him? What is the truth?
Is it the husband with the beastly heart who hurts the killer to abandon the chaff wife, or is there something else hidden?
>>>> rotten, how bad can it be?
With Hitchcock's old version of "Butterfly Dream" in front of him, the new version of "Butterfly Dream" has attracted much attention since its preparation.
While people are expecting to see some surprises from the new version, reality pours cold water.
Cousins who have read countless bad movies, after watching the new version, can't help but open the old version to wash their eyes.
Yang Tian sighed: How can it be rotten like this!
What is the problem with making a film history masterpiece with an 8.3 score into an annual bad work with a score of 5.6?
What makes the audience most addicted to "Butterfly Dream" is the layers of suspense elements in the work.
Through the profound analysis of the transformation of human jealousy, the dramatic effect of small climaxes is achieved.
In the old version of Butterfly Dream, Derwent and the maid first met at the cliff.
The maid thought That Derwent was going to commit suicide by jumping into the sea, and she cried out, sabotaging Derwent's suicide plan.
This sets the audience with the first layer of suspense: Why did Derwent commit suicide?
This brings the audience into Devint's story.
But in the new version of "Butterfly Dream", the first meeting between the two turned out to be the blood of a dog like "Fifty Shades of Grey".
In a hurry, the maid dropped the change on the ground, and the nobles in the restaurant looked at each other with disdain.
Just then, Derwent appeared and squatted down to help the maid pack up her change.
After that, he invited the female lord, who was a servant, to eat at the same table as himself.
The first acquaintance of the two should have been like a mystery, but in the new version, they have become the hero of the hegemony to save the United States.
The most important reversal scene in "Butterfly Dream" has become a family ethics tearing drama in the new version of the movie.
There is no tension, only helplessness.
In the old version, this scene focuses on the contradictions of human nature, and how Rebecca, a character who has never appeared before, haunts everyone like a ghost.
But what about the new version?
The audience only saw the heroine's obsession with Derwent, and did not see rebecca's death bothering everyone.
You know, the real heroine of "Butterfly Dream" is Rebecca, who "doesn't hear her voice and doesn't see her form", and even the title of the film is her name.
The new version not only does not shoot the soul of the original work, but also puts the cart before the horse, weakening the existence of Rebecca.
I have to mention another important point.
The new version of "Butterfly Dream" has gone to extremes with the old version in terms of plot setting, one to the east and one to the west.
Many viewers will also feel that new directors should shoot their own style and not try to imitate the works of the masters.
It is difficult to surpass the previous game, and we can only try to create new surprises.
Hitchcock reads the Butterfly Dream novel to the actors on set
Admittedly, it is a good thing not to be bound by pearls and jade, and to show independent creativity.
However, the director of the new version of "Butterfly Dream" is so extreme that it is contrary to the direction of the original novel.
The essence of the original novel is also the use of suspense setting and reversal, not because Hitchcock is good at creating suspense, so the movie must be made into a suspense film.
The director desperately wanted to get rid of the shackles of the old version, but he did not think that he had stepped into the field of magic reform again.
Make suspense films into romance films, and change the chilling bridge section into a jaw-dropping dog blood scene.
This also leads to the fact that the new version of the work is not like "Butterfly Dream" at all, but more like a hot-eyed movie in the name of a famous book, but in fact, it is mixed with the director's personal goods.
New director Ben Vitelli (left) on set
>>>> classic is a classic
80 years later, the old version of "Butterfly Dream" is still regarded as a classic in film history by audiences.
And the reason why the classic is a classic is also for a reason.
"Faithfulness to the original" is the first point of its success.
Hitchcock did not drastically alter the literary nature of his work, but instead brought the established framework into his own film world.
The first-person narrative perspective, the most wonderful opening monologue of the original book, and even the rhythm of the plot direction are all adapted with the original novel as the core.
In the old version of Butterfly Dream, the maid was a naïve and innocent young woman.
She and the troubled Derwent acquaintance, such as the collision of ice and fire, brought the audience the first layer of doubts:
Can two people of different classes have a perfect marriage?
The maid's master hid a thorn in his words, foretold the direction of this marriage in advance, and sounded the alarm bell for the heroine.
Such a simple opening not only brings the audience a sense of suspense, but also amplifies the inner fear of the characters.
As we all know, the director's control over the actors is quite important.
While directing the performance on set, Hitchcock told the actress that she was not popular on the crew.
This frightened the fledgling actress, who was extremely panicked throughout the filming.
And such a performance is exactly what Hitchcock was looking forward to.
The mandley manor is hostile to the new hostess, especially the mean housekeeper, who is difficult to deal with the heroine at every turn.
The actress's heartfelt fear is exactly the emotion that the heroine has in Mandley Manor.
Knocking on the side, finishing touches, the natural performance of the actors also adds a lot of points to the work.
In contrast, in the new version of "Butterfly Dream", the actors' embarrassing performances in the skyline, really no contrast, no harm.
"Butterfly Dream" not only helped Hitchcock win the Oscar of the year, but also brought the "Gothic melodrama" to the big stage of the film industry.
"Gothic melodrama" refers to a work that combines the temperament of a Gothic novel and a melodrama that caters to the emotions of the audience.
The entire plot of the original novel "Butterfly Dream" has a mysterious atmosphere of "Gothic novel", which throws many questions to the audience, and the audience needs to read it repeatedly before they know the truth.
On the basis of the original novel, the film expands the entanglements and love-hate disputes between the characters, making the work more full and vivid, thus driving the audience's viewing emotions.
The former planted trees, and the latter shaded.
The Olympic Award-nominated film "The Phantom Sewer" was deeply influenced by the old version of "Butterfly Dream".
Paul Thomas Anderson left many details in the film in tribute to Hitchcock.
In "The Phantom Seamstress", the shape of the male protagonist's sister reproduces the shape of the butler in "Butterfly Dream".
And her name, Alma, is also the name of Hitchcock's wife.
The male protagonist's fragile and sensitive personality and handsome and stylish hairstyle are also similar to Derwent in "Butterfly Dream".
Butler styling comparison, left: Butterfly Dream, right: Phantom Seamstress
Male protagonist styling comparison, left: "Butterfly Dream", right: "Phantom Sewer"
>>>> Hollywood's magic change, stop!
The failure of the new version of "Butterfly Dream" has, to some extent, unveiled the fig leaf of the current Hollywood.
The film company has targeted the classic masterpieces of the last century, selling emotions and eyeballs through "remakes" and "sequels".
What about the quality of the tablets?
It's hard to put into words.
Murder on the Orient Express, Dumbo, Cinderella...
By the way, there is also "Mulan" that was criticized by the audience some time ago.
In the name of the big IP, the kernel has changed its taste, the magic has changed, the chaos has been changed, the change has been torn apart, and the face of the change has been completely different.
"Mulan" two versions of the rating comparison
The audience wanted to see the eye-catching combination of handsome men and beautiful women, so they arranged the hot little flowers with tough guys at the moment, but they did not consider whether the two actors were suitable for the movie role.
The audience wanted to see the acting school soar, so they found a post-film level actress to do the matching, but did not want to change the script, there was no room for people to play their acting skills.
The director and screenwriter thought that they understood the tastes of the audience very well, and changed the original suspense-based story magic into a "domineering president fell in love with me" scene, which was really fresh and creative, but ruined the soul of the original work.
Without diamonds, don't do porcelain work, don't understand the essence of "Butterfly Dream", don't easily take on the burden of remake.
Hollywood's remake wave, maybe it's time to stop.
Stop and think about it, is there any need for a remake?
Is it the needs of the audience, or is it the product of business, the purpose is to make money?
Is it a tribute to the classics, or is it a wanton magic change with bootlegs?
Audiences are willing to accept remakes that are new and heartfelt, but do those remakes that have no nutrition really need to exist?
Instead of wasting time on a bad film, it is better to turn the classic out and taste it.
After turning off the Netflix playback page, the cousin immediately opened the old version of "Butterfly Dream", drawing a spiritual washing.
Can't help but say the last sentence: classic, that is, the more tasteful the more taste.
The more people taste, the more people sigh: it is good to have a movie!