Perfect Stranger: Digging into the hidden corners of human nature

Remakes are a common phenomenon in the film industry, and remakes of a good story can be more communicative, such as the Hollywood film "Infernal Walker" remade from "Infernal Affairs", which is an example of this. But to say which movie is the most remade movie in the world today, many viewers may not know. The film has been purchased by more than 30 countries, and 18 versions have been remade in China, France, Spain, Turkey, etc., setting a Guinness World Record. Although each country's remake has a different focus, these remakes are based on the film's exploration of mobile phones and the hidden corners of human nature, and then spread out. This is 2016's Perfect Stranger, produced by Medusa Pictures in Italy.

The story of "Perfect Stranger" is simple, three couples and a man who has just entered a hot love, will play a Truth or Dare at dinner, revealing all their mobile phone information for the night. How important are mobile phones to us? According to the latest data from the China Online Audiovisual Development Research Report, Chinese mobile phone users use mobile phones for nearly 6 hours a day on average, so it is no wonder that some people call this a movie that absolutely dare not watch with their partners, because mobile phones are like black boxes that record too many secrets about us.

"Perfect Stranger" was able to set a remake record precisely because it detonated this small black box. So, how did this story come about? The answer is the film's director and screenwriter, Paul Genovese. Born in Rome, Italy in 1966, Genovese did not directly enter the film industry after graduating from university, but shot more than 300 advertisements for some international big names, and was voted as the Italian advertising director of the year many times. However, his interest in the film eventually led him to put down advertising and start writing the script for filming until the success of Perfect Stranger. So how did he get the inspiration for the film?

A good friend of Genovese was hospitalized in a car accident, and his mobile phone fell into his wife's hands, revealing his secret. Not only did he have an affair, but he also had a house outside and lived outside for a long time. When his friend was discharged from the hospital, he and his wife divorced. When Genovese heard about it, he thought the story was very good, so he wrote a script based on it and put it on the screen, so there was the successful movie "Perfect Stranger".

The reason why the film "Perfect Stranger" has been remade 18 times is also because it has 7 characters who represent different stages in love and marriage, and has laid a solid template with 7 italian actors, who spent a full two weeks rehearsing with the director before the film began, almost every line and every expression. Among them, the hostess of the apartment, Eva, played by Cassia, is the most impressive. She was actually the only one of them who was not born in Italy, born in Poland, and later married to Italy and quickly became famous, starring in many commercial blockbusters such as "Paris Spy". Regarding this film, she is not only the lead actor, but also one of the producers, and after the success of the film, she also starred in the Polish remake, still playing the role of Eva.

Marquis, the Nobel laureate in literature, once said, "Everyone has three lives, public, private, and secret." "Mobile phones have become the concentrated carrier of these three lives, is it the drawbacks brought about by technology, or is human nature unable to withstand the test?" "Perfect Stranger" has been repeatedly remade through this layer of thinking.

Last year, Hollywood actress Charlize Theron watched the film during the flight and immediately decided to remake and star in the American version. I believe that more national remakes will meet with us in the future. Let's grab our phones and see what the charm of this Truth or Dare in Perfect Strangers really is.

August 15th, 22:24 CCTV-6 meets you on "Perfect Stranger", August 16th, 15:23 "Good Film Appointment" Sunday film review version continues wonderfully.