With the gradual integration of the world's film and television industry,
Nowadays, we can see all kinds of different ethnic elements in any film.
For example, Marvel movies, "Shangqi" and "Black Panther",
Among them, there are Chinese and African elements that fascinate the Western world;
In the recently released "Dune", there are also the faces of our Chinese actors - Zhang Zhen~
At the same time, each country is also very active in maintaining its own film characteristics and culture;
For example, South Korea's film and television industry, from "Parasite" to "Victory" to "Squid Game",
From connotative plots to interstellar science fiction to battle royale genre works, South Korea's description and satire of the current situation of various classes in its country has never been less~
Or Germany's "How to Sell Magic Drugs Online" and "Darkness",
One is a juvenile crime comedy, and the other is a brain-burning multi-time travel and multi-line character crossover,
But you have to convince that the German spirit of rigor, meticulousness, and scientific longevity is presented in both plays.
Although it is said that the US film and television industry in the past two years has not been as menacing as in previous years,
However, in the post-epidemic era, Disney+ cooperated with Marvel on "Rocky" and "Wanda Vision",
It is still the original American heroism and capitalization, and the powerful output of social network propaganda.
And France, as an old film powerhouse,
Although the output of films in the past two years is not much, the quality is extremely exquisite.
While other countries are still making rather dogmatic "politically correct" films,
France's "Les Misérables" and "Patrol of the North" have been very direct, even cruel, showing the shocking sights of Paris and Marseille in recent years.
On the one hand, it is romantic and prosperous, on the other side, it is sunny and facing the sea, and on the other hand, it is the crisis of various races.
The same three plainclothes policemen, aimless street patrols, groups of people of color, the vicious circle of violence against violence, the violence and helplessness of the police...
After watching French crime documentary movies, and then looking at other countries, everyone probably can't help but sigh:
"Only France, dare to make a racial theme film that truly exposes reality~"
On the other hand, the French sense of retro high-end atmosphere is still the trump card output of French movies.
2019's "Portrait of a Burning Woman", aesthetically like an oil painting,
Instantly, the love films produced by other countries over the years are rough and straightforward.
The two heroines who are so exquisite that they cannot be squared,
Even if you don't speak, just the four eyes facing each other when painting, it also makes the audience's heart feel like the flame of the swaying skirt of the lady,
The beautiful burning cannot be extinguished for a long time.
In 2021, Melanie Roland, a famous French beauty actress known as one of the "Three Beautyes of France",
He also directed a film with a female theme.
Full of classical French aesthetic elegance, and there is a kind of hysterical realism in it,
It's "Crazy Woman's Ball"~
Eugenie, a girl from a 19th-century aristocratic family in Paris, France,
Radiant, passionate and talented, she also possesses a special talent:
People who can hear and see the world
When Eugenie's aristocratic family discovered the secret,
She was sent by her parents and brother to the Women's Neurology Clinic, which was run by a famous professor.
He was a prominent neurologist and psychiatrist who hosted female patients diagnosed with hysteria, madness and epilepsy, as well as physical and mental disorders.
Subsequently, Eugenie met a neurotic female nurse,
The nurse's life passed before her eyes, but she never really lived.
Their encounter will change their destiny, and they prepare for the professor's famous ball at the clinic every year, the Mad Woman's Ball.
To tell the truth, Hongyan Xiu still vaguely remembers,
Melanie Rowland's stunning debut in Quentin's Shameless Bastards almost laid the groundwork for a type of French woman:
Blonde haired and blue-eyed, wearing a beret, smoking in a bar, drinking wine while reading a book, haughtily and indifferently in the face of German soldiers.
And in "Crazy Woman's Ball",
Melanie Rowland expressed the tragic situation of women in the past era in a beautiful way.
For example, the Louise in the movie who has a slight mental retardation, but is beautiful and pure, brave and righteous,
The cruel and beautiful sight of her being hypnoticized by a group of male doctors and psychiatrists,
Louise in a plain white shirt fainted in the nurse's arms, and a group of doctors dressed in black watched mercilessly.
I really don't know who is the devil and who is the angel?
And Louise's dress in the movie is a true reproduction of a scene in one of Brouillet's paintings.
The painting, which was exhibited in the Salon in 1887, is still shamefully hung in the corridors of the Five Congresses of Paris.
The beginning of the film is the free and enthusiastic life of the beautiful and enthusiastic aristocratic Lady Eugenie,
She goes to Victor Hugo's funeral, hinting at her freedom-loving nature;
Dad and brother always looked indifferent to the maid, and only she would whisper to the maid.
When Dad wasn't home, she was going to Montmartre, sit in a café and smoke a cigarette, read quietly,
Loving art and coming from a noble background, she did not have any contempt for chain emotions, she said to her brother:
"I believe that the north of Paris is also Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Beautiful and enthusiastic, noble from a noble background, dare to say and dare to do, do not hate power, do not look down on the bottom,
This is definitely a fairly perfect female figure.
However, she is "gifted" and can always see ghosts.
Dad thought that her frankness and talent would bring shame to the family, so he coldly sent her to the madhouse.
This aristocratic family, seemingly rich and happy, in fact, everyone's status and psychological thoughts are very interesting,
For example, Dad is the center of power in a family, and no one dares to oppose it;
The younger brother is kind but cowardly, and he can't protect his sister at all.
Mom just quietly shed tears after knowing Eugenie's "weirdness",
The most interesting thing is the grandmother, when Eugenie used her "talent" to help her grandmother find the engagement gift, she said:
"You're telling me the truth, I believe you", turned around and sold his granddaughter,
Even in medieval France, the status of women was precarious.
The days of the madhouse seem dark, crazy, and unfree.
However, there is a radiance of female tenderness and defiance in it.
These madwomen who were sent by their families,
Secretly chatting after the lights out, and quietly fantasizing about what to do after being discharged from the hospital,
Instead, there is an atmosphere of friendship and thoughtfulness among the female patients.
What is terrifying is the treatment given to them by the so-called doctors.
Hypnosis causes the kind and weak Louis to convulse continuously, ice water therapy makes the patient calm, and the isolation of the small black room makes people lose their spiritual personality.
There is even the perverted love of young male doctors for female patients.
Even so, these women patients who may have diseases, but are good-natured,
Or the mutual dependence of helping each other like partners makes the audience feel a sense of pity and empathy.
And in the end Melanie helps Eugenie escape,
Under the background of the gorgeous and eerie crazy woman's dance party, it seems to be full of anger and regret,
As a kind and sensible nurse, her strength can only save Eugenie,
And as a price, I want to stay in the insane asylum forever like a patient,
There is no liberation of the insane asylum and the coolness of women, but a kind of calmness that sacrifices oneself.
Human processes In patriarchal societies, the female community is still struggling,
The sacrifice of one for one is like a dragonfly dotting water, but for Melanie and Eugenie, it is already a terrifying stroke.
Not the American kind of slogan-shouting breakaway and resistance,
"The Mad Woman's Ball" is like "Portrait of the Burning Woman" and "Adele's Story",
What is shown is the sense of French high-end atmosphere, with the secret but powerful power of women.
This is probably the cliché filter that French women bring in the movie.
Make good use of smoking and reading shots, not at all pretending to be literary, but rather free and deep;
There is no need for fierce resistance or struggle, just the firm eyes in desperate situations and the mutual observance of female friendship;
Whispering softly and even silently is the coexistence of strength and gentleness!