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There may be a literary film here, and there may be a horror film here. I don't know if you'll fall asleep or if you'll be scared even more out of bed.
Tonight we will introduce a family ethics film.
Note: This article contains spoilers.
The Chinese translation of the American movie "Gifted" in China was translated as "Genius Girl", which is a great misunderstanding.
The film is not a biopic, but a family ethics film, in other words, the main theme of the film is not to create the image of a genius, but in a family where three generations of grandchildren are gifted, how the three generations adjust their roles within the family and finally take their place.
Although the most important role in the film is the little girl Mary, who has made great achievements in calculus at the age of 7, the Chinese translation of "gifted" should be translated as "genius family", even if only the word "genius" is much more appropriate than the current "genius girl".
Mary's grandmother, Evelyn, was Anglomerate and showed great mathematical talent at a young age, and later she met Mary's grandfather, an American boy, who followed him to the United States to marry and have children, giving birth to Mary's mother Diane and Diane's brother Frank. Her mathematical talent was reflected in a pair of children, so Evelyn continued her unfinished academic ambitions on the rigorous training of her children.
The result of the training is that the brothers and sisters have superior IQ and low emotional intelligence, and this personality trait that is not proportional to IQ and emotional intelligence has been reflected in Mary.
Diane fell in love with her neighbor Paul when she was 17, and this was probably her only real love experience. However, this first love has not yet sprouted before it is snuffed out in the cradle by the authoritarian and domineering Evelyn.
Diane then devoted all her attention to the study of mathematical topics, as many academic achievements as she published, as many things she hid, until she ended her life at home at the age of 27, catching everyone off guard. When she committed suicide, there was no one else in the family except Mary, who was less than 1 year old.
Mary's biological father was the object of Diane's one-night stand, and she had known the man for less than a month when she had a relationship. Mary's birth was an accident in Diane's life, and it was also an accident in this genius family, of course, the most unexpected was Diane's fragrant death. Her death laid the groundwork for the family war that later caused Evelyn and Frank over custody of Mary.
Diane's last words appointed Frank as Mary's custodian and guardian, and Frank devoted all his mathematical knowledge to Mary before she was 7 years old.
Before taking Mary to live in this seaside town, Frank was an associate professor of philosophy at Boston University, majoring in logic. Mary inherited the mathematical genius of her mother's family, and at the same time, her mathematical expertise was strengthened in the environment of her growth, although Frank hoped that she would not follow in Diane's footsteps and have a happy and relaxed childhood, but Mary's love for mathematics was spontaneous and tireless.
On the first day mary reported to school, she found herself out of place with her surroundings, and when all her classmates were adding and subtracting within a single digit, she was already able to multiply and divide in many digits and skillfully perform square root operations. She provoked her classmates, teachers, and principals to impress everyone. The headmaster suggests that Frank transfer Mary to a gifted school, but Frank says that his family had had an unpleasant experience with the so-called "gifted school." His reluctance, the apparent cause, is Diane's death, and the implicit cause, presumably even he himself does not realize, is the subconscious resistance to Evelyn, the resistance of a son deprived of a happy childhood to an authoritarian mother.
Probably thanks to Evelyn's extensive connections in academia, she learned of Mary's genius through her equally well-connected elementary school principal (the principal had sworn to Frank that as long as Mary wanted to attend a gifted school, she would definitely have a way to apply for a full scholarship, which Frank, who was already out of touch with academia, could not do).
In short, Evelyn, who had tried to break off the mother-daughter relationship when Diane was pregnant, learned that 7-year-old Mary was also a mathematical genius, and she decided to compete with Frank for Mary's custody, and after Frank refused, Evelyn took her own son to court. At the first hearing, even the judges who tried countless cases asked the prosecution and defense in shock: "Are you sure that this matter is really not resolved privately?" ”
After several court battles, Evelyn and Frank, despite their very different educational philosophies, have equal advantages and disadvantages in the fight for Mary's custody. Their problems are all in "understanding Mary but not educating", Evelyn's educational method is to sacrifice social and mental development time to invest in the tempering of intelligence and skills, while Frank is the opposite, but he ignores that Mary and Diane are different, Diane is intellectually superior but does not love mathematics, but Mary is a true love for mathematics, depriving her of time to study mathematics is tantamount to stifling her true love.
Mary's own wishes were to live with Frank. She once confessed to Frank: "I like Evelyn, but I don't want to live with her, she is too bossy." When Evelyn first visited her granddaughter, whom she had never met, she brought the highest-end Apple computer and used the family's pile of mathematical monographs as a reason to seduce Mary to live with her, an act that successfully pleased Mary. Evelyn and Mary really love mathematics, so Evelyn understands her, but in addition to mathematics, Mary also wants to be happy, which Evelyn can't give her.
Frank did not want Mary to fall into the clutches of Evelyn's tyranny, so he was bound to win the case. But he didn't have the health insurance that came with a stable job, and he didn't have a fixed spouse to give Mary a complete family, which put him at a disadvantage in the lawsuit.
Any decision is not easy for Frank, frank is Mary's uncle, but it is the responsibility of father, and marrying a wife means finding Mary a mother, which is probably why he has not fixed a partner and spouse for many years, but relies on friday night outs at the bar to solve the needs of marriage, because he can't find the right woman to be Mary's mother, until he meets Bonnie, Mary's math teacher, someone who digs up Mary's genius and is willing to tolerate her strange behavior.
Material flaws force Frank to compromise in order to win a lawsuit—he finds Mary an adoptive family, a materially wealthy but childless couple, while Evelyn is granted legal visitation rights. Evelyn had excellent educational resources in her hands, which were good for Mary's growth, and Frank could not deprive her of it.
Mary was crying on the day she left Frank, and the scene was extremely heart-wrenching, but only a small action brought Evelyn back to Frank's side.
After being sent to an adoptive family, Mary was not happy, and she even faced the biggest parting of her mother's death. Freddie, the one-eyed cat in Frank's house, is sent to a pet store because no one adopts her and is about to be destroyed. Bonnie, who learned of the news on the library's bulletin board, quickly informed Frank, and Frank rushed to the pet store to perform a "hero saves the cat" drama when Freddie was about to be destroyed by humanity.
After this incident, Frank learns that, despite his flaws, he offers unconditional love and understanding for Mary that no one can replace. Evelyn also recognized this and no longer objected to Frank living with Mary. Mary's college education was carried out in college with a group of adults, but after class, she was no different from ordinary elementary school students, playing hide-and-seek and slide with her friends on the playground. Evelyn, Frank, Bonnie, all of whom found the right and right role in Mary's upbringing.
The topic of "nature versus nurture" provides a steady stream of debates and dramatic conflicts in the educational and artistic worlds, and such discussions continue and there will never be a standard answer. In real life, there are very few clear boundaries between innate and acquired, IQ and emotional intelligence, advantages and disadvantages, and the ending in the movie is already a relatively complete and ideal ending compared to the chaotic real world.