"Fragments of a Woman" can be said to be this year's "Marriage Story", but it is more gentle and more personal.
The camera is close to the couple of Martha played by Vanessa and Sheehan played by LaBeouf, and the tragedy finally makes the two people part ways with the fine snow, the bridge will still close, and the apple tree will eventually flourish, but the lost, passed, broken warm vein can only be slowly pieced together in memory and imagination.
In the past year, there have suddenly become many films focusing on women's perspectives, such as "The Assistant", which records women's work dilemmas based on the Weinstein incident, "Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always" and "Not Pregnant", which discusses the problem of female abortion, "Ammonite", which records the wandering of low-level women, "The Land of No Dependence", "The Girl with a Bright Future", which accuses women of guilt, "Swallowing", which focuses on the psychological state of deep girls, "Levlando Natasha", the first part of the Levlandau series that caused widespread discussion last year. Including Anya's "Radioactive Substances" and "Emma" (these two are used to make up numbers, purely because there is Anya in it I will add).
Among these works of the same theme, "Fragments of a Woman" should be regarded as the best performance of the category, photography, story control, point of view, acting skills are not obvious shortcomings and even have many very bright spots.
The story firmly grabbed the audience's attention from the first half hour of the opening chapter, and at the beginning, the bridge repair worker Sheehan rushed home, and the wife was about to give birth, because the family was average, so the wife and mother helped them buy a car, but despite this, the husband and wife were still harmonious.
The following paragraph is very exciting:
Wife Martha suddenly began to contract, and Sheehan called barbara, the former midwife, but Barbara said she was helping someone else give birth and would come soon
Sheehan comforts Martha and tells her jokes, and Martha is in a little better shape, but this time the amniotic fluid is broken, and Martha's pain is gradually increasing
At this time, another midwife, Woodward, came to help Martha give birth, and although Martha's fetal position and opening finger, including the baby's heartbeat, were normal at this time, Martha was almost unbearable in pain, so Woodward suggested that Martha take a bath first
Martha, who was hugging Sheehan, temporarily overcame the pain and prepared to give birth, but Woodward could not hear the heartbeat of the fetus at this time, and asked Sheehan to call the hospital, and with the efforts of several people, the child was born and cried
Just when everyone was relieved, they suddenly found that the child's body turned purple, and the ambulance was late.
These are all in a long shot.
This shot is naturally edited, but the director chose such a relatively compact event and achieved a near-panoramic narrative through the long shots in the room, precisely because this section is the most central part of the whole film, the husband and wife are in love, and the midwife's conscientious work despite the changes has begun to be distorted because of the death of the baby.
I took this paragraph out alone to show the narrative of this emotional twist and turn, combing through a little, in this long shot of about 22 minutes, the forward and reverse of the event are changed back and forth ten times.
Contractions pain (bad) - > phone to contact the midwife (good) - > midwife can't arrive in time (bad) - > Sheehan comforts Martha to let Martha relax (good) - > the amniotic fluid ruptures and is more painful (bad) - > another midwife comes (good) - > Martha can't stand the pain (bad) - > bath, music, Sheehan's reassurance (good) - > fetus has no heartbeat (bad) - > fetus is born, there is crying (good) - > Baby's body is purple (bad)
So this paragraph at the beginning is a perfect fusion of the three aspects of drama + photography + acting, the story under the smooth lens is also undulating, and the characters are also given a unique personality and emotional bond during this period, I like this paragraph.
Regarding the long shots, this film is actually used in many places, and at the beginning, Sheehan goes all the way from the workstation to the car
Long shot of Martha spinning upstairs (this one is really beautifully shot)
Sister Martha takes her boyfriend home for a long indoor multiplayer shot (this one's scheduling is good)
Includes a scene at the end where a child goes up a tree and picks an apple.
In addition to the camera, Vanessa and LaBeouf both offer convincing acting skills, the long shot is the most considered actor's ability to continuously drive emotions, sheehan and Martha in the bathtub holding hands and clinging to each other The emotions shown by the two people are very in place, and the strangeness and parting of Sheehan and Martha gradually drifting apart later have their own flavors.
LaBeouf's recent scandals, whether it is violent tendencies or alcoholism, etc., from "Transformers" into everyone's field of vision, LaBeouf embarked on a very bumpy road of self-degradation, but then again, on the acting alone, LaBeouf really has nothing to say, from "Female Addict" in 13 years, to "American Sweetheart" in 16 years (although I don't like this one but played it well), to "Peanut Butter Falcon", to "Fragments of Women", LaBeouf proved his ability to control the role. (If it is not a problem of his own style, LaBeouf should still be able to get an Oscar supporting actor nomination with this)
Speaking of LaBeouf, I suddenly think of the scene a few years ago when he was inseparable from the little beauty in the cage in the mv of the sia song elastic heart.
And Sia's new film "Miao Jiko" (music is really not easy to translate into Chinese title, can not be directly called "music") is about to be launched at the end of February 21, you can pay attention to it.
Oh, almost forgot, Alan Justin, who plays Martha's mother, is also pleasing to the eye in the emotional explosion of the film
This mother is an old drama bone, and I was amazed by the role of the mother in "Requiem for Dreams".
However, the camera and acting skills are ultimately for the narrative service, and the ripples of the events caused by the death of the baby in this film have spread to many aspects, the most important of which is naturally Martha's life and work, and her feelings with Sheehan have begun to be as estranged as a cliff after this, on the other hand, the family's lawsuit against the midwife Woodward has given the whole film more connotation.
This confrontation between mother and Martha in the kitchen, I think, is the biggest difference in this film.
Although Martha is in pain, she hopes to gradually get through this sad moment by diverting her attention, and she resents her family's "you must find a murderer to bring justice" approach, because it will constantly tear her wounds and bring harm to others.
The mother's words show that she hopes that Martha will face up to the problem, that the death of the baby must be negligent, and that the midwife is to blame and must be punished by law. (Of course, it may also be related to compensation)
In fact, these two points, it seems that there is nothing wrong, just the attitude of facing the pain, Martha in the final trial, in fact, still chose to stand up to face this incident, but she did not want to use this trial to hurt a midwife who was not a big mistake, the death of the baby, and her original choice to give birth at home, and his husband's support, and the midwife's momentary negligence, and the baby's own physical condition, etc., there is no need to really find a murderer, because the tragedy is composed of a chain of choices. No one can blame it.
From this point of view, I think the treatment of the film is still good.
Let's talk about the three intentions mentioned in the title of this film review.
With the change of time in this film, the city slowly enters the winter, the river surface has ice floes, and finally spring comes, and the river surface is surging again, which is obviously to use the climate to show the downward state of the event.
As the temperatures get colder in December, Sheehan starts drinking again, his attempt to take Martha on a trip has failed, and Martha has no interest in having sex.
In January, ice floes began to appear on the river surface, Martha and Sheehan became more and more distant, Sheehan and Martha's lawyer relatives became gun friends, Martha also wandered in nightclubs, and the fitness balls she once bought to have children were also poked by cigarette butts.
In February, the river was completely frozen, martha and her mother had a big fight, and Sheehan, instigated by her mother's money, left Martha forever with a little snow.
And when temperatures start to pick up in March (we can see that there is still snow on the stairs outside the courtroom), Martha chooses to face the past and abandon the accusations of midwives, and the apple seeds she planted begin to sprout.
In April, she scattered her daughter's ashes on the bridge, which means that she is finally slowly relieved, perhaps the pain is still there, but time will eventually let everything disappear.
So why say "fine snow"? Because there is a very beautiful scene in the movie, that is, when Martha and her sister are talking, when there is a little snow outside, the sun shines, like thousands of tiny stars, usually the movie is mostly snowflakes, it is rare to see such a delicate snow foam flying shot, at that time really showed me stunned, also very lucky, the camera recorded this moment perfectly.
In the first scene of the film, Sheehan is repairing the bridge, and at that time he still loves Martha so much that he hopes that after the bridge is repaired, their unborn daughter will be the first to board the bridge.
Every time time passed, the bridge was built a little better, but this bridge was probably not built by Sheehan later, so he once wanted to use this bridge to express his love for his daughter, but the bridge was built, but the people left, probably Sheehan thought, without his daughter, the previous enthusiasm would have no meaning.
However, at the end, Martha still scatters ashes on the bridge, which is considered to be a belated visit by her daughter.
However, the meaning of the bridge in this film is not only this, Sheehan and his lawyer Gun friends introduced the reason behind the collapse of some bridges, that is, resonance, when the frequency of the outside world is the same as its own oscillation frequency, it will produce a superposition of shocks and cause disasters.
And if we think of Martha as a bridge, her own cold way of dealing with it, although she has always been concerned, but at least she can survive, but with the continuous intervention from her husband and from her family, they seem to be constantly approaching this resonant frequency to which she is sensitive, leaving her at a loss and on the verge of breaking.
Finally, there is this apple that we will feel a little inexplicable in front of us, with apple cores.
After the baby's death, Martha suddenly liked to eat apples, and later began to look for books to grow apples, and at the final trial, she replied that she smelled like apples at that time, and then we can see from her actions in reverse that her obsession with apples is actually a silent nostalgia for her daughter, and the germination of apple nuclei has more new meanings.
The last shot of the apple tree is also her best dream.
She smells like apples, and she must like to eat them too.
If I eat apples, will I be able to get closer to my daughter?
When the apple tree grows, the daughter will probably come back, right?
I mentioned at the beginning that this film is this year's "Marriage Story", which also focuses on the disintegration of the feelings of a once loving couple, the child is also both a bond and a fuse, "Marriage Story" obviously has more discussions on the topic of "marriage", and "Fragments of Women" is a journey of re-starting after facing tragedy.
Winter will come and pass again, even in the middle of the harsh winter, there are beautiful fine snow flying.
The bridge, whether there is this once enthusiastic bridge repairer, will also close as scheduled.
Apples, after eating, still have a core, and maybe one day, this little seed will be able to produce the same sweet apple.
In the layers of family space constructed in the long shot, a woman silently rejoins her heart.