When "Inspired by Stefan Zweig" (revised: "Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig") is played on the screen at the end of the film, several seemingly unthinking places suddenly feel very clever.
There are actually three Zweigs in the film, two of which are obviously "writers", middle-aged and young writers. But these two are at best metaphors for identity. The character who really echoes Zweig is, of course, the protagonist Gustave. In the film, Fiennes can actually see the similarity of Zweig's temperament in the photo at some times from his appearance.
To understand from a few questions:
1) Why did Zweig commit suicide?
2) What did Gustave die for?
3) What are the characteristics of Gustave?
4) Where is the echo of Gustave and Zweig?
1) Why Zweig committed suicide.
A large part of the reason is because of the regression and demise of humanism in the temple of art and humanism that Chinese in his heart, and the world in which he uses his mother tongue is the executioner who destroys it all.
Why do you say that.
1941年茨威格就亲口在人前说过 ”I’m here to apologize before you all. I’m here in a state of shame because my language is the language in which the world is being destroyed. My mother tongue, the very words that I speak, are the ones being twisted and perverted by this machine that is undoing humanity.“
The subtlety of Zweig's language is evident everywhere. The fact that he said undo humanity rather than destroy can be reflected in his eyes that the Nazis' actions were not so much about destroying humanity and destroying humanism as it was about being a step backwards of human spiritual civilization that would commit such a dehumanizing act. After the Nazis came to power, they blocked the works of Jewish writers and artists, but at the same time they also frantically promoted German culture and art. The Nazis spared no effort to seize the artworks after invading France and other European countries. This kind of contradiction distorts the extremely narrow behavior, not so much an act of total destruction, but more appropriately, an act of regression contrary to the direction of the development of human spiritual civilization. So it's undo.
Europe at that time was committing suicide in Zweig's eyes, his homeland no longer existed, and the one that existed was no longer his homeland. Even if the food and clothing are worry-free and the reputation is not reduced, but "homelessness" is the most terrible, the spiritual home has been lost, and there is no hope in sight.
他的遗言说 "I think it better to conclude in good time and in erect bearing a life in which intellectual labour meant the purest joy and personal freedom the highest good on Earth"
But what makes Zweig uncomfortable is that there are actually many concepts of suicide in his works. But he still let the characters in his book persist, like Dr B in "The Story of Chess", and the torture he was subjected to was, to some extent, also Zweig's torture, but Zweig could not hold on.
2) Gustave died for what
3) Gustave is a person with some characteristics
Gustave said to Zero that "You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity". The reason why this film has a tribute to Zweig, I think this is one place. The belief that humanitarianism remains, even if it is very weak.
Gustave is a very particular person, and he also needs to spray perfume on the way to escape the pursuit. Buying a candle can crackle and talk about a bunch, and even the rest of the money for the broken leg shoe shinemaker has to be covered.
He is a pure and kind person who knows how to appreciate beauty and has a beautiful heart. He pays attention to the color of Madame D's nail polish, which is ugly if it is not beautiful, and perfect is perfect. When fleeing for your life, don't forget to praise the snow scene. Even if there were only a few seconds left to gasp for breath after being shaken off the edge of the cliff, he would recite his favorite verses aloud.
When he escaped from prison, he asked Zero how your girl was, and when the siren sounded, he bothered to say that I can't listen to you now because the siren is ringing, but you must tell me carefully in the future. If you don't pay attention to this clip, most of you will think how to be so Rory's mother-in-law, what nonsense to say when you should escape, and the director deliberately makes the audience nervous. I don't think so, Gustave is such a guy who asked Zero how your girl was, because he really wanted to know from the perspective of a friend, not because he had just come out of prison and was close to getting acquainted with you. He was very impolite to interrupt his friend's narration because he was running for his life, so he sincerely explained and made an appointment to continue the lecture in the future.
This also comes from his misunderstanding of why Zero did not bring him clothes (correction: At first, Gustave was slightly unhappy because Zero did not wear a false beard and a false nose and could not disguise himself to escape properly, and then he was angry that Zero actually forgot his perfume, and he was angry and did not hesitate to say anything about the place where Zero came from and the status of immigrants, and after Zero explained that he had become a refugee because of the war, he lost all his family members), and a very serious and almost exaggerated apology can be seen. A large part of his apology is actually self-blame, self-blame for how he can think of others like that.
In retrospect, why did Gustave die. He defended both his friends and himself.
Defending friends goes without saying.
Defending himself means that even if Zero wasn't his friend at the time, he wouldn't sit idly by as the soldiers behaved. If he had watched his soldiers oppress Zero, or anyone else, he would have lost his man and conscience, or that the only humanism he thought remained in this troubled world would cease to exist.
Gustave and Zweig have a counterpart, but he is not a reproduction of Zweig. The work was also inspired only by Zweig [and the work], not in the Zweig style. But you can also get some similar feelings to reading Zweig's novels, such as a sigh after a closed book or a sadness that you are not particularly sure of, such as the absurd celebration of life mixed with tragedy.
Listening to Gustave has a similar contradictory feeling as reading Zweig. Marveling at the whimsy and precision of his words and poetry, I don't understand how I can say it so long and half-breathing, and I think he is cleverly praising him at the same time. Just like he seems to be able to blossom in the mouth of Madame D, but he does care about this before and after staying 18 (19?) An old woman who is about to die.
When reading Zweig, the mood is very contradictory, greed and miserliness are together, excitement and calm are together. Greedily wanting to read every word is like just looking into the eyes is not enough. Stingy not to read too fast, reluctant to finish reading. Excited to accept the next twist that makes you sigh. Calmly feel the tenderness and delicacy he wrote in such a sonorous and logical language.
If Hitler wanted to hate a writer, Zweig had to be on the list, a Jew who had exhausted the beauty of German and literature in German.
Digression: This movie is really a full-name actor, it is a feast.
05/05/2014
Put a USNews review (http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/14/hints-of-history-in-the-grand-budapest-hotel), where I didn't pay attention to when watching the movie before, a few statements about the Nazi image involved in the movie:
Note that after the capture of the hotel in the movie, all the flags were replaced by the ZZ logo.
1) The SS abbreviation is SS in English and Schutzstaffel in German. If you search for the SS logo and flag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel), you will see a great resemblance to the flag in the movie.
2) Similarities between ZZ and SS.
3) Z can also represent the fictional Pluralic of Zubrowka in the film.
I don't know why I think these statements are quite interesting.