Everyone who has seen Tony Erdman loves it to death

【Cannes Film】

"Tony Erdman" is a fictional character of the father, and the funny father does achieve the effect of a comedic role. But it is also a serious and profound family drama with bitterness and a period drama. The "intimate relationship" that exists in director Marlen's work is mutually influential and mutually defined, and the father-daughter relationship in the film is such an "intimate relationship".

Film critics from all over the world participating in the Cannes Film Festival always have the same harshness despite their different tastes, so in the live screen ("Screen"), the ratings of film critics from various countries in the same film often have a huge disparity, and it is rare to have the unanimous applause of the public. However, this year's German female director Marlen Ade's new film "Tony Erdmann" not only won many applause at the premiere of the media field, but also won almost full applause from media reporters and film critics after the screening! At present, almost no media critic has given a bad review when evaluating this movie, of course, it is just that everyone may have a different perspective.

As a new face shortlisted for the main competition at Cannes for the first time, many people felt that Marlen Ade would be a neglected newcomer. In fact, she only created two feature films in twelve years, but her wonderful resume should have attracted the attention of media people long ago. The all-round female director, who wrote and directed herself and is also responsible for her own production, is the most noteworthy "newcomer" in Germany in recent years. The most crucial film to interpret her was actually "Everyone Else" (2009), which won the Berlin Silver Bear Award that year. It was only her second feature film, but it was compared by some well-known film critics at the time with the Swedish national treasure director Bergmann and the famous French director Eric Houmai. In The Others, Marlen has already proposed the theme of "intimacy" that continues in Tony Erdmann. It's just that "The Others" is between husband and wife, and in the new film, it is a father-daughter relationship.

Tony Erdman does make people laugh, because when father Winfreden (Peter Simonschek) in the virtual identity "Tony Erdman" tries to help his daughter Inas (Played by Sandra Hooler) in the workplace rediscover the meaning of life without stopping to prank, the "humorous" funny father does achieve the effect of a comedic role. And daughter Inas also followed the coach "Tony Erdman" without stopping, gradually taking off the professional suit that was always sitting precariously, naked and colleagues to hold a "team-building meeting", which was even more relaxing and laughing.

But "Tony Erdman" is a serious and profound family drama with bitterness and era drama. The "intimacy" that exists in Marlen's work is one that influences and defines each other. Winfredden and Inas are such an "intimate relationship" in the film. Inas's tolerance for his father's stalking pranks is staggering enough, and Winfreden's willful behavior as a father is also incredible, but it is in the influence of this "intimate relationship" that the plot continues to advance.

All script textbooks emphasize the importance of "laying the groundwork", and in this two-hour and forty-six-minute feature film, director Marlen Ade cleverly designs several scenes of father-daughter meetings, so that the gap between each encounter becomes a blank space for the audience's emotional memories, and the foreshadowing of two hours and three parties makes the final nude meeting a metaphor. The relationship between father and daughter was thus reconfirmed. The final ending is obviously more joyful, but in fact, the process of the film is also painful. The gap between father and daughter and the gap between each other's living classes have become a major source of jokes in the film; and the small talks in the film also reflect the current state of politics in some EU countries.

The film's ingenious structure and profound humanity are naturally and simply revealed on the director's lens, while the sensitive and nuanced performance of the heroine, Sandra Hoehler, truly recreates the intimate relationship between father and daughter. In the end, "Tony Erdmann" became one of the most moving legends in this year's Cannes.

□ Yiying (Film Critic in Europe)

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