What kind of food is durian? The smelly and hard shell, but wrapped in a gentle and sweet core, makes people love immortal, hate want to die.
The movie "Durian Fluttering" tells the story of a northeastern girl who went south to work, took the initiative to become a prostitute, and earned money to support her family by operating the skin and meat business.
The past is like a nightmare, but people can't help but sink, just like the durian, hard but soft, stench but delicious.
Director Chen Guo is good at shooting cruel reality, this time, he will focus on the world of "Wind and Dust Girl", to explore and excavate the unknown bitterness and helplessness behind the Wind and Dust Girl.
This profession hidden behind the sun, although it is not visible, has always existed.
Through the career of "prostitute" Qin Yan, the director peels off the cruel truth of life little by little and shows it to the audience with peace.
In the 1990s, the traditional industries in the northeast were facing unprecedented difficulties, and a large number of workers were unemployed and laid off, and had to find another way out, and the protagonist Qin Yan was a generation that grew up in this context.
After studying Peking Opera in the mainland for 9 years but unable to find a job, Qin Yan had no choice but to go south to work. She came to Hong Kong on a tourist visa for only 3 months.
She set herself the goal of making the most money in the shortest possible time in these three months.
So, she hid her identity and started a career in Mong Kok, shuttling between the apartment room, the tea restaurant and the mallet.
Walking on the street with a backpack, she looks like a well-behaved and cute girl, but what passers-by don't know is that she is actually running on the road of "selling herself".
The hectic crowds, narrow alleys and dark burrows form the background of Qin Yan's survival in Hong Kong, just like her heavy heart.
In order to achieve her goal, Qin Yan has to pick up at least 20 guests a day and can earn more than 4,000 yuan per day. You know, in that era, the house price of Mudanjiang was only 400 yuan / square.
Here, her life is turned upside down day and night, day and night. Every day is either a pick-up or a way to pick them up.
In order to save time, she can only devour even eating, but she often faces the situation of being called away halfway through eating, and can only come back and nibble on the leftovers.
From the economically impoverished northeast to the bright and green Hong Kong, she has not had time to enjoy the beauty of this bustling big city, but she is forced by life to adapt to its fast pace.
There are two key imagery in the film, which are always interspersed throughout the film, not only assuming the function of narrative, but also rich in symbolism. One is "bathing" and the other is "durian".
First of all, "bathing", Qin Yan is different from other "wind and dust women", in that she will take a bath before and after each pick-up. That is, she bathes at least 40 times a day.
The film repeatedly gives close-ups of her feet full of "dead skin", which are the after-effects of her frequent bathing.
A companion advised her, "It is better to save the time of bathing and pick up more customers." But Qin Yan did not comment.
The image of "bathing" is easy to understand, Qin Yan tried to wash away the humiliation and unwillingness on his body with the help of clear water. Every bath in Hong Kong was the last trace of Qin Yan's stubbornness to keep her personality awake.
Back in the northeast, Qin Yan still bathes, but it is completely different from the situation in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, every time Qin Yan takes a bath, she waits for guests in a small hotel, hurried but indispensable.
In the northeast, Qin Yan can devote herself to bathing, completing a spiritual dialogue with her heart in the bath.
Returning to her hometown in the northeast, Qin Yan was ashamed to mention her career in Hong Kong, and whenever she was questioned by relatives, she only found an excuse to prevaricate.
This professional trip to Hong Kong has made a huge change in Qin Yan's life. Although she has changed her face and re-lived, the traces of her life in Hong Kong are always a reminder that she is incompatible with the life in her hometown.
Only when she was bathing alone in the bathhouse could she completely empty herself. That's her search for her soul.
As for "Durian", it appears three times in the movie, and each time it appears has a special significance.
Its first appearance was to be used as a weapon to attack the pimp Ah Xuan who "escorted Qin Yan". After being injured, Ah Fu did not investigate deeply, but instead self-deprecatingly borrowed a knife from a nearby household and cut open the "King of Fruits". Qin Yan thus met Ah Fen, who lived nearby and was also a "stowaway".
The second appearance of durian was at Affen's birthday table. Obviously, life is difficult, but Dad insists on spending a hundred yuan to buy a stinky durian, and he also explains the benefits of durian as the "king of fruits".
The third time the durian appeared, it was after Qin Yan returned to the northeast, Ah Fen sent her over, "it was very smelly when eating, but then slowly felt very delicious." Qin Yan's parents ridiculed this as "stinky tofu in the northeast", and only Qin Yan was alone and silently nibbled it.
In the 1990s, the northeast was in a period of material scarcity, and durian, a southern fruit, would not appear on the table of northeasterners. Therefore, the film describes the desire of mainlanders for durian, which is actually an expectation for a better life.
Ah Fu was attacked by durian, but he ate the durian with a determined face;
Ah Fen's father thought that eating durian would bring him closer to a prosperous life;
Qin Yan swallowed the durian alone, which meant that she was incompatible with her hometown.
What exactly does "durian" symbolize? Everyone has a different perspective.
It may symbolize "money", it can hurt people but also bring happiness to people, and everyone takes risks to flock to it.
It may symbolize "life", the hard shell pierces everyone nowhere to hide, and under the smell of corruption and erosion, it hides everyone's expectations and authenticity.
It may symbolize the "man" itself, walking in society, everyone arming themselves, tit-for-tat, just to protect their soft hearts.
The first half of the film tells the story of Qin Yan's crazy money making money in Hong Kong's bright and green life, and the second half is the story of Qin Yan's search for herself in the life of her hometown after returning to her hometown.
The surrounding relatives did not know what happened to Qin Yan, thinking that she had made a lot of money doing business in the south, and hoped that she could take her cousin to the south to work. Qin Yan's face was embarrassed, she didn't want this cousin who studied dance to follow her old path, but she was powerless to stop it.
At the end of the film, Ah Fen's family is sent back to the mainland, although the days are hard but very reassuring; Qin Yan re-sings on the stage of her hometown; her cousin embarks on a journey of southward migration with hope...
Qin Yan finally bid farewell to that strange world, but behind him there were countless people who went to the unknown but thought they were beautiful.
Life goes around, the roles on the stage change one after another, but this drama of life will not end.
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