This article is a reader contribution, and the submission can be sent [email protected].
Text | Sai Dong Shi
In the early morning of May 23, 2016, the 69th Cannes International Film Festival officially came to an end, and Canadian director Javier Dolan's "Just the End of the World" won the Grand Jury Prize.
Since his debut film "I Killed My Mother" in 2009, the young director's six feature films have been shortlisted for three major international film festivals, all of which have been won, and he himself has attracted the attention of the world as a rookie.
The brilliant picture like overturning the palette is the most intuitive feeling that Javier Dolan's film brings to the audience, and under the gorgeous appearance, there are two heavy themes of LGBT community and mother-child relationship, and the director does not seem to try to find an outlet for reality through the film.
First, color
Javier Dolan is undoubtedly a master of color, in his view, film is not only the depiction of nature and the presentation of reality, but a direct expression of human emotions, he regards color as an important tool to externalize emotions and set off atmosphere, and put a deep personal imprint on his film works.
Top left: "I Killed My Mom" Top Right: "Fantasy Love"
Bottom left: Fantasy Love Bottom right: Two-Faced Lawrence
In Dolan films, the walls that act as the background are often painted into large areas of bright color blocks, which is a decorative technique that many modern art exhibitions are keen on, which not only makes the overall picture clean and concise, but also makes the character silhouettes clearer, greatly enhancing the sense of form and style of the film.
Bottom left: "Two-Sided Lawrence" Bottom right: "Mommy"
Dolan subtly weaves his fanaticism for color into the narrative, brilliantly but not abruptly. (Top left) The mother in Dolan's films is often a middle-aged woman with a low level of education and a very low aesthetic level, and you can find the possibility of various color combinations from her clothing and home. Dolan's lens has a deep fascination with delicate objects, never sparing a single detail to show their beauty.
(Bottom left) Since most of the work can be classified as queer films, Dolan's films exhibit a certain degree of camp fun: quirky and bold characters, tasteful costumes, ornate and tacky sets, over-rendered styles. (Bottom right) In order to depict the nightlife of the characters in the play, bars, song halls, dance floors and other places appear frequently, which is the main source of cold and warm color in the film.
Left: "I Killed My Mother" Right: "Mommy"
The protagonist of "I Killed My Mother", Yu Bell, grew up in a broken family and ran away from home to get rid of the control of his powerful mother, he went to visit his father who lived alone, and when he entered the house, he found that his mother had been waiting there for a long time, which turned out to be a trap set by his parents. At this time, Huber stood in front of the fireplace, surrounded by scarlet walls, he respected and worshipped his father, using him as a haven from the wind, but he was betrayed by him unguarded, and a wave of anger spread in his heart, like the red in the background.
The mother and son in "Mommy" have two kissing scenes, the first one is made into a poster for this film, the mother who failed to apply for a job almost collapsed, the makeup on her face was crying, in order to comfort her, the son raised his hand to cover his mother's mouth, and then kissed the back of the hand.
The second took place after a heated argument between the two, in the bedroom shrouded in dark red lights, the naked son confessed his heart to his mother, in a calm and affectionate tone, and then went forward to kiss her mouth, and the mother was first stunned, and then pushed her away.
At this moment, the son's strong possessiveness towards his mother is fully released, and the movement of the two people's lips close together is neither an intimate act of infancy, nor is it different from the first indirect kiss, but is given a certain incest meaning. The ubiquitous red in the picture is a metaphor for desire, taboo, and danger, and the three are entangled with each other until they become one.
Tom's Farm Trip
Based on a stage play of the same name, Tom's Farm Trip is Dolan's bold attempt at the thriller genre and one of the more realistic of all his works, with a relatively monotonous representation of color. Late autumn farms, straw from cowsheds, dried corn leaves, Tom's hair, and neon lights in bars appear frequently, causing the overall tone of the film to turn yellow. In addition to the uniformity of style, the striking yellow color is also given a layer of "warning/warning" meaning.
Tom's boyfriend's brother Francis is a homophobic violent maniac who hates Tom so much that he often threatens him verbally and physically.
The oppressive Tom ran wildly in the endless cornfield, the corn leaves of this season were as yellow as gold, sharp as blades, and many wounds were drawn on his face and hands, he looked around dazedly, and suddenly rushed out of the beastly Francis behind him, the two tore and wrestled on the ground, Tom was completely at a disadvantage, and the yellow of the screen was almost breathless. Later, Tom approached Laura posing as Gyolme's girlfriend, and when he tried to persuade him to stay, Tom used the bladed cornfield to intimidate and warn her.
Tom walked into the bar alone, the room filled with bright yellow lights, and by this time, his relationship with Francis had eased, and the latter's strong hormonal atmosphere even made him a little fascinated. Hearing that Francis had torn a boy's mouth with his bare hands, Tom's look became dignified, and the yellow background light was like the dead leaves of the cornfield, warning that there was always danger lurking around him.
"Mommy"
The son in "Mommy" has ADHD, an extreme personality, manic and violent tendencies, and his helpless mother eventually sends him to a juvenile detention center. The floors, walls, doors and windows of the detention center were painted clean and pure white, and the son's previous bright clothing had become a white hospital gown. White symbolizes cleanliness, sterility, and correctness, but also an authoritarian force that erases all individuality, where the son is treated and transformed, and behaves meekly and politely on the phone with his mother, but in fact resembles a manipulated marionette, and the black in the background is the abyss of despair, which is the true portrayal of his heart, forcing him to flee.
Above: "I Killed My Mother" Bottom: "Two-Sided Lawrence"
The mother of "I Killed My Mom" learns the fact that her son is gay at the beauty salon, and then she goes into the tanning room. The tanning lights in the room emit blue-purple light against the mother's wooden face, which is a typical sci-fi genre film, which is aimed at creating an extreme sense of unreality, because the mother is unwilling to accept the cruel truth in front of her.
The protagonist of "Two-Faced Lawrence", Lawrence, wears women's clothes to work for the first time, and when he passes through the school corridor, the students around him all cast strange eyes. Covered in dazzling fluorescent green, Lawrence seems to be an unreal monster, wandering the world, satisfying the curiosity of others, and accepting the judgment of traditional laws.
Two-Sided Lawrence
Dolan is well versed in the psychology of expressionist color, often using the contrast of cold and warm colors to set off the emotional transformation of the characters in the film, "Double-Faced Lawrence" has a clear example: Lawrence can no longer restrain the desire to become a woman, when taking shelter in the street corner, he and the people around him are trapped in a rose-red halo, and a girl looks at him sideways, and the corners of her mouth outline a charming smile.
The girl is a projection of Lawrence's deep inner desires, he wants to become such a charming woman, but also suffers for it, and red expands his uneasiness and irritability. Amid the cacophony of car washes, Lawrence finally erupts, yelling at his girlfriend for his true thoughts, and then the camera switches to the outside of the parking lot. Lawrence's cathartic silence, his girlfriend's desolation after the blow, and the chill that filled the air all turned into a cold lake blue.
Fantasy Love
The director not only uses harmonious colors to create a psychological atmosphere that fits the situation, but also adds symbolism to a color. "Fantasy Love" has four love scenes, Dolan in turn with red, green, yellow, blue to identify them, the opposition of these four extreme colors constitutes extreme, combined with the content of the dialogue between the characters, before and after each other, so as to form a strong tension, leading the audience to think about intimacy and alienation, to think about emotion and carnal desire.
2. Composition
For the creation of films, realists favored open forms, formalists preferred closed forms, and Javier Dolan belonged to the latter. Dolan paid great attention to beauty, sometimes even at the expense of the truth of the expression, and in his works, most of the elements are clearly precisely arranged by the composition, and the balance of visual weight is carefully designed. Unlike the open form, which brings free choice, the closed form implies the helplessness of fate and will, because the character cannot choose, and the camera can.
Top left: "I Killed My Mom" Top Right: "I Killed My Mom"
The above four stills, the first thing we feel, is the rounded and smooth lines of the props, the curves are good at expressing sensibility, which can stimulate intoxication and pleasure. Formal beauty goes beyond concrete practical functions.
Washing machine, dinner plate, gift box, toilet... Originally the most ordinary object in life, it was captured by Dolan's overhead shots and took on a new look. Like a very curious child, breaking all the previous viewing habits, replacing "reproduction" with "discovery", and rewriting "reality" with "art", this is why Dolan's films are always full of freshness and vitality.
Top left: Fantasy Love Top Right: Two-Faced Lawrence
Bottom left: Tom's Farm Trip Bottom Right: Mommy
In addition to the frequent use of the above circular compositions, Dolan's fascination with left-right symmetrical compositions has also reached the point of near paranoia. With the centerline of the frame as the boundary, Dolan arranges the people and objects in the picture on the left and right sides on an average basis, and corresponds one by one. Such an artificial approach allows the sense of form of the film to be greatly displayed, and the symmetrical composition of the left and right also balances the visual weight of the picture, which is uniform and orderly, bringing the audience a harmonious and pleasant viewing enjoyment.
Top left: "I Killed My Mom" Top Right: "Two-Faced Lawrence"
The center of the left-right symmetrical composition is sometimes occupied by a main character, and the director's intention at this time is to try to focus the audience's attention on this character, and then further experience the ripples that are surging under his/her calm appearance. (Top left) Yu Bell was forced by his mother to send to boarding school, and since then he has been away from his mentor and boyfriend, can he adapt to a new environment when he is alone? What happens next? (Top right) This is lawrence's first lecture in women's clothing, is he scared? How will the students react?
Fred is reluctant to accept the idea of her boyfriend transsexuality, she carefully dressed up, gorgeous appearance at the ball, is to buy drunk to release the pressure? Is it to meet the man you want? Is it to make your boyfriend jealous and change his mind? Or do you want to start a new relationship? (Bottom right) Steve on the skateboard rides the wind and waves, flying like a bird, is he really so free? What is the source of his violence?
Mommy, Dolan's first film shot in a 1:1 square format, believes that this proportion can convey a special sense of emotion and sincerity, "For portraits, this is the ideal proportion, because the audience can only see the characters, and there is nothing else in the picture."
Closed forms are often used to deal with imprisonment and dilemma, and directors often use door and window frames to express closed sieges or lack of psychological freedom, which is particularly evident in Dolan's films. (Top left) Hubert curled his body in the bathtub like a fetus in the womb, and insecure, he tried to defend himself against external aggression in this position.
(Top right) Lawrence began to learn makeup, step by step toward the goal, his face showed joy, the walls on both sides of the door squeezed the screen very narrow, Dolan used the power frame technique to create a suffocating visual feeling, suggesting that Lawrence's road ahead is full of unknown difficulties.
(Bottom left) Lawrence rushes to the train station to give his mother a birthday present, but is deeply stung by the reaction of the other party, the red fringe decoration above occupies two-thirds of the whole picture, and in principle, the upper half of the composition is always heavier than the lower half, and Lawrence is confused with the pressure from the world.
Diane in the house greets her new neighbor Kayla through the blurred glass, and from Diane's point of view, Kayla outside is also trapped in the window frame, the former is overwhelmed by her son's affairs, the latter suffers from aphasia, and the two women in distress feel sorry for each other.
3. Editing
Editing is not only a matter of action, but also a matter of drama, which has a crucial influence on the formation of a film's style, and the editing method itself has undergone a transition from classical to modern in the 120 years since the birth of the film. As a formalist, Javier Dolan's point of interest in filming is not objective things, but subjective feelings, so he often uses the thoughts and emotions of his characters as the primary motivation for editing.
Bottom left: "Fantasy Love" Bottom right: "Fantasy Love"
Like the stream-of-consciousness technique often used in French "Left Bank" films, Dolan also subtly integrates psychological editing into the narrative, expanding the psychological space of the characters in the film through associative matching editing.
(Top left) Mother Yu Bell is a vulgar and tasteful woman in the eyes of Bell, and when she and her girlfriend plan to do skin tanning, they suddenly insert a funny picture: the mother and girlfriend dressed as Hawaiian girls, with gorgeous and exaggerated shapes, and the background is a naked man and a beach. This scene does not really appear in the film, but only the imagination in Bell's mind, which vividly expresses Yu Bell's disdain for his mother and adds to the fun of the film.
An enraged Huber smashes her mother's favorite cutlery in the kitchen, and then, in the camera, she appears as a mother in the form of a virgin, surrounded by clouds, holding a red flower and a cross, her hands in prayer, and blood flowing from her eyes. This is no longer Yubel's imagination, but a visual treatment of the mother's pain.
At the party, Mary looks affectionately at the dancing Nicholas, the picture switches back and forth between Nicholas and the human sculpture. Because in Mary's eyes, Nicholas was a perfect being like the ancient Greek gods.
Francis at the entrance of the supermarket sent a piece of marshmallow to his mouth, and on the background of sky blue, the beautiful teenager Nicholas closed his eyes slightly, his jaw was smiling, and the sky rained pure white marshmallows. On previous outings, Nicholas had teased Francis with marshmallows, a move so sexually suggestive that it later provoked Francis's reflexive associations.
Dolan would even choose a more radical approach: visualize abstract mental sensations as concrete elements, juxtaposed in the same picture along with their subjects. This approach is reflected in the movie, which is the whimsical picture, and there are two obvious examples in "Two-Faced Lawrence".
Fred on the couch read her ex-boyfriend's new book, and when the excitement in her heart could no longer be suppressed, she saw a huge curtain of water above her head, like a waterfall, violently washing her. Lawrence and Fred strode with their heads held high, radiant, and the wind blew up their trench coats, and they laughed and kissed, free, dashing, unbridled, colorful clothes fell from the sky, like a mighty rain, and like a blooming firework.
Director David Lynch believes that editing is like music, and it is crucial to strike a delicate balance between fast and slow. "If music is always fast, it's going to feel bad. However, music such as symphony is based on slow and fast, high and low rhythms, which can shock your soul. The same goes for movies."
Dolan's films are always interspersed with a lot of soundtracks and songs, and for him, music is important, the soul of the film. "60% of the music in the film I already knew I would use when I was writing the script. It's the direction of the music conductor, and everything that the music shows is consistent with the character of the character." In order to better handle the musical passages, Dolan often uses MV-style quick editing and soothing slow motion, which not only enriches the rhythm of the film, but also makes his personal style more prominent.
"I Killed My Mom"
"I Killed My Mother" has a "painting + making love" paragraph, using the MV style of rapid editing: Huber and her boyfriend dipped their brushes in paint, swinging wildly, the colorful walls quickly changing shapes, the two lie on the newspaper, kissing, undressing, intercourse, the action is fast, all in one go. This rather fashionable and gorgeous editing method brings great visual impact and emotional appeal to the audience.
Left: Fantasy Love Right: "Mommy"
Slow motion is often used to stretch a moment to reinforce its emotional qualities and can give elegant and poetic qualities to a character's movements.
Francis and Mary of Fantasy Love set off from their homes to Nicholas' party, bang bang music plays, accompanied by a sexy languid female voice, the camera becomes slow and lyrical, we can carefully appreciate the subtle expressions of the characters and the details of the costumes, and the excitement and uneasiness of meeting the lover is greatly rendered.
"Mommy" Steve wears headphones, pushes a shopping cart, glides through the streets, and in the melody of "Colorblind", his body stretches slowly like a dancer, the sun shines on his childish face, and the blonde hair flashes in the breeze, everything is so quiet and beautiful.
Dolan uses flashback and flashback as important narrative methods in two works showing mother-child relationship ("I Killed My Mother" and "Mommy"), or recalling the past or imagining the future, and this escape from reality reflects the director's pessimistic attitude towards the mother-child problem from the side: they love each other, but the gap can never be dissolved.
At the end of "I Killed My Mother", the mother and son sit by the sea, and then insert the family video from many years ago: young and cute son, young and beautiful mother, simple and comfortable life, and a happy and harmonious atmosphere. Faced with an unknown future, how should the two get along? Dolan did not give an answer.
There is such a passage in "Mommy": the son no longer causes trouble everywhere, is admitted to the Juilliard School of Music, graduates with excellent grades, meets the girl he likes, has children, and enters a happy married life. The repeated false focus of the character's face makes us doubt the authenticity of this plot, and sure enough, it turns out to be the mother's fantasy about the future.
What happened next was even more ironic, with the mother sending her son back to the juvenile detention center, the son in the car looking out in despair, the sky raining down and tears running down the window. The mother who proudly videotaped her son's wedding only existed in the imagination after all.
Editing is both a connection and a split. (Left) Yubel has a bad relationship with his mother, and his words are full of gunpowder. In the dinner scene, the two people in the picture are located on the left and right sides, this composition shows the estrangement of the relationship between the characters, the characters begin to talk, the camera places them in separate shots, alternately edited, and the mother and son are completely separated, as if their opposing concepts of life.
(Right) In the school, Ms. Julie is the only person who really cares about Bell and appreciates each other. In the small restaurant, the two sit side by side in the center of the picture, and through the composition, it can be seen that the teacher-student relationship is more intimate than the mother-son relationship, but when Julie tries to comfort Bell with her own experience, the same alternating clip once again separates the two characters. Even people with the same disease cannot truly appreciate each other's feelings.
When his boyfriend dies, Tom travels to his hometown to attend a funeral in the church. Inside the church, Tom and her boyfriend's mother and brother stand side by side, and they can see that the three of them are very close.
The ceremony begins, with the clip dividing the three into two parts: the boyfriend's mother and brother in one scene, leaving Tom himself in another. With the deceased's family on one side and the deceased's lover on the other, Tom could only bear the great pain alone because this homosexual affair was not accepted by the boyfriend's traditional family.
Fourth, the lens
Hand-held photography is flexible and improvised, able to create a sense of presence and presence, good at capturing the most vivid and dramatic parts of the characters, suitable for the expression of turbulent, more subjective objects. Since the characters in his work spend most of their time talking, arguing, and yelling, Javier Dolan uses handheld photography to deal with their relationships, as a way to reinforce subjective emotions and plot conflicts.
Chaplin famously said, "Comedy uses vision, tragedy uses close-up." Because the farther the camera is from the subject, the more neutral the viewer's attitude becomes. Dolan is very fond of shooting close-ups of actors' faces, using the camera to enlarge their facial features and expressions, and then nakedly presenting them on the screen, so as to shorten the psychological distance between the audience and the characters, so that the transmission of emotions is more unimpeded.
Dolan also repeatedly uses telescopic lenses to interfere with the audience's attention, not only suggesting that the content is independent of the storyline, but also prompting the audience to withdraw from the image for more calm and rational thinking.
In Dolan's films, through the movement of the lens, the elements in the frame can be reselected and arranged to achieve the effect of assisting the dramatic conflict. The son of "Mommy" is angry with the lawyer because he covets his mother. The mother desperately needed a lawyer to help with the compensation, so she shared a picture frame with him and her son was isolated.
During the quarrel, the lawyer slapped the son, the mother immediately returned the slap, after which the mother and son coexisted in the same frame, and the lawyer was isolated. (Below) The lawyer whisked away her sleeves, and the helpless mother finally broke out, loudly reprimanding her son for not understanding things, and the two sides were in different frames, forming a hostile relationship with each other.
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