On the Douban High-Scoring Movie List, there is a 9.6 rating called "Prosecution Witness", starring Tyrone Bower and Marlene Dietrich, co-written by Agatha Christie, and directed by Billy Wilder, one of the most talented directors of Hollywood's golden age. He has twice won the Academy Award for Best Director, twice won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, choreographed works such as "Sunset Boulevard", "Passion like Fire", "Jade Girl Flow", "Double Compensation", etc., the best of the department, Billy Wilder is especially good at storytelling, those witty dialogue, unexpected plots, direct eyes on human nature, the solemn and deep and mischievous humor combined perfectly, always revealing warmth and compassion, his other masterpiece "Lost Weekend" is so.
Don, the male protagonist of "Lost Weekend", is an unrecognizable writer who lives with his brother Vic at the age of thirty-six, relying on Vic and his girlfriend Helen. The movie opens with the brothers deciding to go on vacation to the countryside on the weekend, and Vic is in high spirits, while packing his luggage and talking about the benefits of the countryside, Don is distracted, as if he is calculating something. He told Vic that he was getting ready to write during the holidays, and asked Vic to go to the next room to find a typewriter, and as soon as Vic left, Don immediately ran to the window with a glare in his eyes, grabbed a rope and pulled it up, and there was a wine bottle hanging from the bottom, and there was a half bottle of wine left, which he wanted to put in the trunk.
But Vic happened to come over, and Don hurriedly hoisted the bottle out of the window again, hiding his nervousness with loud talk. At this time, Helen came to see off the brothers, Tang was absent-minded, and when he heard that Helen was going to watch the play alone later, he had a clever move, and instead of forcing Vic and Helen to go to the theater together now, they would rather take the later train. Helen says she's fine alone, Vic says she's going to go, and she's not my girlfriend! Tang who cares about this, only hope that everyone is gone, he is secretly drinking, is pushing and shoving, Vic saw a cigarette butt on the window sill, went forward to dust it, and also discovered Tang's secret.
The wine is poured into the sink by Vic, Don is still arguing, and then Vic and Helen go out to watch the play, leaving Don to rest in the room, anyway, he is penniless and has no money to buy wine.
As soon as his brother and girlfriend left, Tang immediately locked the door, jumped up and looked around the room for wine, bookshelves, under the bed, the bathroom, these places where he often hid wine were empty, desperate he held his hair and stuffy. Just as the landlady knocked on the door and said that Vic had left money in the sugar canister, Don said no and swallowed the ten dollars. Don walked into the bar with light steps, and in response to the bartender's warning not to give him credit, Don slapped the money on the table.
The above is the plot of the first ten minutes of "Lost Weekend", and an image of being manipulated by alcohol appears in front of the audience. After that, Vic undoubtedly missed the train, stayed in the city he drank one cup after another, stimulated by the bartender's words, determined to write a novel that hung on his lips all day, but as soon as he sat down, he was itchy, not only did the novel not be written, but also under the huge psychological pressure, Tang's desire to drink was even stronger, so he sold typewriters, and even stole and robbed, after a series of twists and turns, Tang, who felt hopeless in life, went to the pawnshop to change a gun, and Helen, who learned the inside story, came to stop it...
Where Billy Wilder has come to the fore is that it brings out the psychological depth of common subjects such as alcoholism. Why does Don drink heavily? Of course, because of his useless real life, his ideal self that he could not achieve, the self-esteem that was tormented by disappointment and shame in turn, and further back, it was because Tang had been inferior since childhood, once he was in charge of the school newspaper article, overheard other people's demeaning discussion of him, he gambled and drank, and wrote good articles with pleasure, and the result was that everyone looked at him with astonishment, and since then his life has fallen into such a cycle.
Whenever Don faced pressure, those negative words would appear in his ears, and he would subconsciously desire to drink, first psychological needs, and then develop into physical needs, in drunkenness, everything was dreamy and happy, he seemed to be able to become anyone, and the world after waking up was much uglier. Although there is no guarantee that the problem will be solved after each drink, slowly, Don relies heavily on alcohol to survive each emotional ups and downs. This situation is not only found in alcoholics, but also in people who have addictive behaviors such as overeating, gambling, and drug addiction.
Such people generally have a low self-evaluation, but the goal is very high, more emotional, there is a tendency to self-destruction, when the force is not caught, the first reaction is pain, in order to alleviate the pain, others may be through a variety of ways to vent, but they through alcoholism, overeating, gambling, drug addiction and other extreme and monotonous ways. Over time, even if life is stress-free, these ways of self-harm will become the only and efficient way for them to get pleasure (dopamine).
In Lost Weekend, Don, who has drunk wine, becomes radiant and gushing, he is definitely a gentle and courteous gentleman, a poet full of interest, but once his desires cannot be satisfied, he becomes like a mouse, his eyes are bone-like, looking around, he is like an evil man who does not recognize his six relatives, gritting his teeth at everything that stands in the way, he is like a walking corpse, full of resentment.
The film shows the fragility of people and the submission to desire through the capture of Tang's facial expressions and various close-ups of wine, and shows the strange world after the insanity, which makes people shudder.
Actor Ray Mirande won the Oscar for Best Actor for his accurate interpretation of Don, the film won the Oscar for Best Picture, its suspenseful opening and gripping tense soundtrack are reminiscent of Hitchcock's films, and the tone of the film that was set at the last moment made people feel its warmth and worth watching.