Xu Anhua's film "The First Burning Incense" was recently released, which is adapted from Zhang Ailing's novel "Agarwood Crumbs • First Burning Incense". As of now, the film's reputation and box office are not ideal, with a Douban score of 5.5 and a box office of only 30 million yuan in the 6 days of release.
As one of the most prestigious novelists in the Chinese language world, Zhang Ailing herself is a big IP with huge traffic. Therefore, since the release of "First Incense", despite the polarization of reviews and various controversies, the popularity has not decreased.
Why is Zhang Ailing's novel difficult to adapt?
Zhang Ailing's novels have a very unique temperament in terms of narrative, imagery and style, and also cause many difficulties in their film and television adaptations. It is a well-known fact that Zhang Ailing's novels are not well adapted. Director Hou Xiaoxian even said, "Zhang Ailing's novel cannot be filmed, it is a trap." ”
The author believes that the first is because Zhang Ailing's novels have a large number of delicate, rich and subtle psychological descriptions, good at using strange metaphors, unique imagery, emotional subtlety, background color sadness, and do not have the strong plot and dramatization required for film and television; Second, Zhang Ailing's works are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and have many readers. "Zhang Fan" is very familiar with his works, and is naturally more critical of the remakes of film and television works and the speech and behavior of the characters in the play.
Xu Anhua is currently one of the directors who have adapted zhang Ailing's works the most. As early as 1984, she directed a film adapted from Zhang Ailing's famous work "Love in the City", with Zhou Runfa and Miao Qianren playing the male and female protagonists Fan Liuyuan and Bai Liusu, which was also the first time that Zhang Ailing's novel was put on the movie screen. However, the film's reputation after its release was mediocre.
In 1997, Xu Anhua adapted Zhang Ailing's novel "Half Life", inviting popular stars such as Li Ming, Wu Qianlian, Mei Yanfang and Ge You to co-star in the film of the same name, which was a great success. Gu Manzhen, played by Wu Qianlian, is like a woman who came out of Zhang Ailing's novel, and Shen Shijun, who plays Ru Yawentun by Dawn, is also very appropriate. The film restores the sense of depression and sadness in the novel with a dark tone, and has been affirmed by many Zhang Ailing fans.
The recently released "First Burning Incense" is the third time that Xu Anhua has adapted Zhang Ailing's work. Last year, Xu Anhua won the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, and she was the first Chinese female director to receive the award. In addition to well-known directors, the film "First Burning Incense" has a luxurious production team: screenwriter Wang Anyi is a famous writer, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Award and the Lu Xun Literature Award; Director of Photography Du Kefeng is Wong Kar-wai's royal photographer, who has won the photography awards at the three major international film festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Venice; Costume and styling design and Emi Tian have collaborated with Akira Kurosawa many times, and music supervisor Ryuichi Sakamoto is even more internationally renowned, and both have won Academy Awards.
However, the top production team failed to bring success to the film "First Incense". After the film was released, it was controversial, and the Douban score fell all the way and the box office was not good.
Ge Weilong's fate turned
The novel "The First Burning Incense" depicts Ge Weilong, a shanghai schoolgirl studying in Hong Kong, who defected to her aunt Mrs. Leung because of her livelihood problems, but was used by her aunt as a tool to collect money, and was attracted by the mercurial prince Georgie Qiao, and finally fell under the tearing of desire and the drag of fate.
"Ge Weilong, a very ordinary Shanghai girl." This is the description of Zhang Ailing's novel at the beginning. In the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong, driven by vanity and desire, she has experienced at least three twists in her heart.
The first turning point was to enter the Liang family. Ge Weilong's aunt, Mrs. Liang, was an outlier in the family, and in her early years, despite the family's opposition, she married a rich merchant in Guangdong as a concubine, and the rich merchant left all the family property to her after her death. When Ge Weilong came to the room that her aunt had arranged for her, "I opened the closet and looked at it, but it was full of clothes, and the golden cui was brilliant; Unconsciously, he sighed and said, 'Whose is this?' Presumably my aunt forgot to vacate the cupboard. She couldn't help but lock the door and secretly try on them one by one, but they all fit, and she suddenly realized that this was specially prepared for her by her aunt. "A variety of gorgeous clothes indicate that the bustling world of Hong Kong will open up to her." Ge Weilong was soberly aware of what her aunt was here, but in the face of those gorgeous clothes, she chose to "look at it." And in the movie, through the dialogue between the two beards, they also said the essence: "What is the difference between this and buying a person in the Long Third Hall?"
The second twist is that Situ xie gives the bracelet. Situ Xie is Mrs. Liang's old friend, a rich businessman, and an uncle in her aunt's mouth. After the banquet, inside the car, Situ Xie first gave his aunt a bracelet. When Ge Weilong praised, Situ Xie quickly put one on Ge Weilong's hand. Ge Weilong blushed anxiously and did not want to receive it, and her aunt said next to her: "People are kind enough to send you, you can't help but give face." The moment he put on the bracelet, Ge Weilong was also shackled by fate.
The third turning point is to stay in Hong Kong. After witnessing Qiao Qiqiao's abusive affection, Ge Weilong made up his mind to return to Shanghai: "I will go back and be willing to be a new person." But a typhoon hindered her return to Shanghai, and when she boarded the ship back to Shanghai for the second time, she was cursed by passers-by to "marry out". After several struggles, Ge Weilong finally chose to stay, unwilling to bid farewell to the bright lights of Hong Kong. After she returned to the Liang family, her deal with her aunt was that she wanted Ming Media to marry Qiao Qiqiao.
"Love is an invisible flame, love is an unscented trauma." This is a verse by the medieval Portuguese poet Louis de Camense, and it is also a love sentence spoken by Georgio and Gravelong at the first meeting, foreshadowing the direction of their relationship. The wandering son Georgie Joe was born in a large Hong Kong family, his father married a multi-room aunt, he was bent on climbing up to the rich lady to eat soft food, marriage is only a tool for him. Therefore, he told Ge Weilong very bluntly: "I can't promise you to get married, I can't promise you love, I can only promise you happiness."
When he first turned to his aunt, Ge Weilong still had his own ideas and plans, but he unconsciously followed the trajectory laid by his aunt step by step, and could not turn back. Zhang Ailing wrote in the novel: "From then on, Ge Weilong was a person who was sold to Mrs. Liang and Qiao Qiqiao, and was busy all day, either getting money for Qiao Qiqiao or making people for Mrs. Liang."
Will you fall or will you love?
Since the release of "First Incense", word of mouth has been polarized, and many topics such as "Where is the problem with the first incense" and "The word of mouth of the first incense" have been on the Weibo hot search list.
Controversy over First Incense originally came from casting. In Zhang Ailing's pen, Ge Weilong is a puff face, "Her eyes are long and charming, and the deep marks of her double eyelids sweep straight into her sideburns." Slender nose, small fat mouth. Her figure was ridiculed by her aunt as "too thin", and she had to use a pin to close her waist in order to wear her aunt's clothes. Many netizens believe that the heroine of the film is far from The image of Ge Weilong in Zhang Ailing's pen. Peng Yuyan's dark, sunny appearance is equally incompatible with the gloomy and pale temperament of the mixed-race Georgie Qiao in the book.
Many viewers also disagree with the adaptation of "First Incense". In the original novel, Ge Weilong is a very assertive girl, and every step she takes is carefully selected after repeatedly weighing the pros and cons. From hiding her parents from her aunt who is not well-known for financial support, to knowing that her aunt's mansion is full of drunken gold fans and still staying in, to willingly selling herself for Georgie Joe to make money, Ge Weilong's "self-willed degeneration" has traces to follow. The film version of "The First Incense" cuts off Ge Weilong's sophistication and calculations, blaming her depravity on sacrifice for love, and shaping a story of "love and not love". (Zhang Dongmei)