Today, let's talk about an Oscar-winning film from seventy years ago, and the actress we know as "Gone with the Wind" actress Olivia De Hafran.
The film tells the story of Catherine Slopper, a "rich second generation" girl with mediocre posture and average knowledge, who was deceived and abandoned by the "scumbag" Morris Townsend, and she used the experience she learned to finally expose the trick of this "scumbag" through temptation, and finally grew up .
"The Heiress"
The film is based on the novel by the 1880 American novelist Henry H. Thompson. James' Washington Square.
The director is the famous William. Wheeler, "Roman Holiday", "Ben Hur" and other business cards are from his hand.
There are many works adapted from literary masterpieces in the history of cinema, and those that can be famous in history must be films that can perfectly express literary connotations in the language of images.
Wheeler is an expert in adaptation.
Heiress brings together the actor's performances, costumes, sets, music, and even the original author's extremely sophisticated psychological content.
At the 22nd Academy Awards, the film won four awards: Best Actress, Best Art Direction and Set, Best Soundtrack and Best Costume Design.
Back to the point, let's start with the story itself:
Catherine Slopper, a female heiress who will have strong assets in the future.
His father, Austin, was a famous doctor, and although his mother died early, she was born into a famous family and left a large inheritance after her death.
Unlike the white rich beauty we usually remember, Catherine does not have the appearance of a heroine at all: her hair is divided, her hair is braided in a circle, her appearance is mediocre, her dress is poor, her behavior is clumsy, and she is full of childish innocence.
Her father gave a cruel and contemptuous assessment:
"A plain-looking, feeble thing, without a hint of grace."
The only thing Catherine loves and excels at is embroidery, so she spends most of the film there embroidering things.
Through some fragmentary descriptions and flashing shots in the film, we can piece together the image of Catherine's mother: beautiful, elegant, intelligent, independent, versatile, and the perfect goddess in her father's mind.
At first, Catherine was raised by her father as a mother NO.2, even after her mother.
But as she grew older, her father found that she was not only different from her mother, but even a negative case of her mother, so she was disappointed and always expressed disappointment.
"She was sent to learn so many things, her mother was so good, but she ended up being mediocre."
In the first half of the film, it is obvious that Catherine, although not pretty and intelligent, is very kind and pure, and loves her father very much.
Even Austin never spat out anything nice in his mouth.
Since Catherine is too mediocre except for having money (please let me be so mediocre too),
So she has the fragrance of a single dog all year round, and a hallwife heir does not even have a suitor.
However, the twist happened at a wedding.
Handsome, personable lad Morris. Townsend began to give a lot of hospitality to Catherine.
Knock on the blackboard, the following is the identification of scumbag teaching time, especially the previous mock test results are "by the scumbag in the palm of the hand", give me a careful listen!
Sending flowers, sweet talk, this is a beginner operation.
When Morris smiled at Catherine while playing the piano and singing, it was as if the sour smell of love in the air had overflowed the screen, and it turned out that the prince really existed.
Cough cough, this is intermediate operation.
The ultimate operation is what, is handsome, is handsome, is handsome.
A handsome guy sends you flowers all day to talk to you and can't wait to marry you, a simple little girl who stands in the way of this kind of attack.
Fortunately, the little girl and her father could stop it, and the fathers were all old foxes who had practiced for a thousand years in this regard.
Austin could see at a glance what Morris was—a poor boy who had come for money.
Although the doctor was extremely poisonous most of the time, after discovering his daughter's unreliable love, he immediately took a series of measures to try to wake her up.
First of all, find Morris's sister to understand the situation, find out the details, and know that he is indeed an irresponsible bastard.
The doctor then packed his bags and took his daughter on a trip to Paris, where he and Catherine's mother were on their honeymoon.
In this way, Austin tries to tell her daughter what true love is and how important she is to herself.
As a result, Catherine fully demonstrated her lack of intelligence, did not understand her father's painstaking heart, and was preoccupied with her little boyfriend.
After three times and five times and three times of effort were in vain, Austin could only make a contribution.
Catherine: "He thinks I'm cute. ”
The father replied, "Yes, I'm sure he thinks so." Hundreds of them are prettier than you, thousands more intelligent than you, but you have a virtue that dwarfs them all. ”
"What virtue?" Catherine's heart lit up with anticipation and hope.
"Your money."
I have to say that the power of Dr. Austin's poisonous tongue can definitely defeat the bar spirit in an instant and dominate the Internet era.
Catherine was struck by the immense lethality carried by these words, and she risked losing her eligibility to inherit her father's inheritance and desperately wanted to follow Morris away.
But the doctors didn't look away, and after learning that Catherine had lost two-thirds of her property, Morris disappeared.
Sure enough, the first love of the woman's IQ is not very high Yazi.
Since then, Catherine has refused to speak to her father, sitting there all day quietly embroidering.
Later, Austin became seriously ill and ran out of time, and he begged his daughter to come to the room to see her, but Catherine never responded.
Even before her father died, she refused to go into the room to see him one last time. To his death, Austin did not deprive his daughter of the right to inherit.
Pity the hearts of parents in the world.
Catherine's ultimate revenge was achieved through Morris.
"He came back with the same lies, the same stupid words. Over the years he has become more greedy. For the first time, he only wanted my money. Now, he still wants my love. ”
Seven years later, the returning Morris once again asks for Catherine's love.
She first agreed.
Then on the night of the wedding carriage, Morris was allowed to shout her name outside the door, but he walked up the stairs in a quiet way.
At first, Austin, who was seriously ill, also went up the stairs from here after being rejected by her daughter.
In the same shot, the father's figure gradually becomes smaller until it disappears, while Catherine's shadow gradually becomes larger under the illumination of the light.
Catherine replaced her father as the strong, ruthless side of Love. But, is it really ruthless?
In fact, they just chose the wrong way of expression.
Catherine still loves Morris seven years later, but a deeper hatred manipulates her and makes her a goddess of vengeance.
In Heiress, no one is happy.
The father chose the wrong way to miss his mother and lived the rest of his life in the hatred of his daughter; Morris wandered all his life, without love and money; and Catherine, all she had left was hatred, pain, and loneliness.
Olivia. morality. Harveyland almost perfectly played the image of Catherine, winning the Oscar.
In the first half, through the bitter eyes and sluggish movements, Harveyland shows a kind of clumsiness, which is very consistent with the character setting.
When Morris played the piece he had brought from Paris, Xaviran's face was filled with joy.
When she waited in the living room for hours, morris never appeared, the deep pain on her face was engraved.
The mixed feelings she shows and the final determination when Morris returns to beg for her love is impressive.
At the end of the film, when the aunt says that Catherine's behavior is very cruel, she replies: I am very cruel, because I learned from the masters.
Yes, under the words and deeds of her father and Morris, Catherine learned to be cruel and learned to hate. It's like a neatly arranged set of dominoes, the first one pushing down the latter, interlocking.
The three protagonists in "Heiress" all express their love in the wrong way, and in the end, they lose both.
Just as today, parents will criticize you for not being good enough/disobedient/not getting married and having children, etc.; we will choose to marry because the other person has a house, a car, and a good family, these loves are not pure.
And when affection and love are conditional, pain is inevitable.
(Rotten Tomatoes Movie Editorial Department: Mao Mao)