Directed by Hungarian female director Irtico Injeti, "Flesh and Spirit" tells a surreal love story: in a slaughterhouse, Ender, who has a left hand disability, is the financial director here, who eats alone and lives alone, with few friends. Until Maria, a new quality inspector with social disabilities, arrived at the slaughterhouse, Ender quickly became interested in her. Two equally lonely people who start walking towards each other because they have the same dreams...
Two people sharing the same dream may not be a new meme, but the film uses poetic lenses, full of metaphors, and a very mystical interpretation of a strange love story, which won the Golden Bear Award for Best Picture at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
The story begins with a dream shared by two people: in the snow-covered woods, the doe and a doe have been meeting, the doe gently touched the doe, the doe did not respond and walked away, the doe also followed the doe away from the picture... The light falling snowflakes and the graceful deer make up an incomparably poetic picture, but the next picture switches to the cattle in the slaughterhouse. That's right, this somewhat grotesque love story unfolds in the slaughterhouse...
The cattle in the slaughterhouse were kept in herds in the feeding area, the bell sounded, the cattle were released, they were chained, and after a series of procedures, they were unloaded into eight pieces, hung on display shelves, and the blood rushed.
These beef may be the "meat" that the film wants to express, alluding to the imprisoned flesh, just like the two male and female protagonists, who are unable to live like normal people because of their own diseases.
The heroine Maria is physically imprisoned by social disorders, she is afraid of interacting with people, rejects physical contact, and is treated as an outlier in the crowd. In fact, she also has the physiological needs of being an adult, but she has not been able to break through the difficulty of contact with people, so she has to live a single abstinence life.
The male protagonist is trapped in the disability of his left hand, although he has interacted with many women and married, he is still a lonely life in the end. He dresses and undresses with one hand, eats with one hand, lives with the other... The inconvenience of the limbs imprisoned his flesh, and it seemed to imprison his life.
But their souls are still free, and they incarnate as deer in their dreams, meeting, accompanying, foraging together, walking, running through the woods. Their souls are attracted to each other in the underworld, and in dreams they become spirit deer, and they are the same kind in dreams, and they are also in reality.
It's like a lot of people living in the world with masks, they're not perfect, they try their best to hide and hide their true selves, in order to better integrate into the environment and survive better. Who among us is not physically imprisoned by the world? Although the physical body cannot escape the shackles of reality, our souls are free and full of power, and free souls can create infinite possibilities for us.
As Balzac said, the human soul is really a spirit, it can turn a straw into a gold and steel diamond; under the command of its wand, the enchanting palace appears before its eyes, like a flower in a field, one after another blooming under the heat of the sun...
"I saw that you also ordered wild spinach, and this is the only dish here that is delicious." Oh, and maybe crumbled pumpkins, do you know why I like to drink pumpkin chowder? ”
"Probably because you have a disability in one hand, it's more convenient to eat mushy things with the other."
At lunchtime, Finance Director Ender took the initiative to talk to maria, a new quality inspector, and two people who were not good at socializing awkwardly chatted about the above conversation.
Although they did not know that they shared the same dream with each other at this time, they began to attract each other. After a theft, the two discover that they have the same dream every night.
Mating powder used in slaughterhouses for cattle was stolen, and police and psychologists were involved in the investigation. During the psychiatrist's questioning, it is discovered that Ender and Maria have the same dream, and the psychiatrist thinks that they have discussed it to deal with her.
At this time, they realized that they had such a wonderful connection with each other, and they began to enter each other's hearts...
The encounter between two "outliers" in the eyes of the world in the slaughterhouse has broken the barriers of each other's once lonely lives. The two isolated islands are drifting in the direction of each other, and although they will encounter obstacles, they will eventually join the continent.
In this world, no one is a real island, two lonely but free souls will meet, and even a lonely heart can have a safe haven.
After the theft, Ender and Maria, who found that they shared their dreams, met to "sleep" together, that is, simply fell asleep together and tried to enter the dream together. Unsurprisingly, they failed, and both men lost sleep.
So they got up and played cards.
Ender discovers that Maria has superhuman powers of observation and memory, she won Ender by counting cards the first time she played cards, and she can read the inadvertent expression signals on Ender's face. She could retell all the conversations she had had with Ender for the first time, even in sequence.
Ender was surprised and appreciative, and reached out to touch Maria's hand, but Maria flinched, she was not ready to adapt to such a touch. Ender was frustrated and decided to give up chasing the relationship.
But Maria decided to start fighting: she tried to watch adult movies, listened to music at the record store, petted the cows in the slaughterhouse, stared at the kissing couple on the grass without regard for others, she practiced touching people with dolls, and she tried to overcome her fears.
However, when she offered to go to Ender's house, she was rejected by Ender, who had already closed her heart, and Maria sadly returned home, turned on the music, soaked in the bathtub, and chose to kill herself by cutting her wrists.
At this time, Ender called and confessed to Maria: "I feel like I'm dying, and I love you so much." Maria hurriedly bandaged her wounds and went to the hospital.
The near-dead body is saved by love, the free soul is intermingled by love, Ender and Maria are finally physically united, and their common dream disappears.
Two lonely people, clumsily and hard to love, although not as beautiful as idol dramas, but such a crippled and jerky love is the portrayal of true love.
The two people, who were originally timid and closed themselves, gathered up enough courage for love and eventually gained their soul mate. Therefore, don't dare to pursue love because of your own imperfections, it is better to wait in place than to be brave, anyone can love and be loved.
Conclusion: "It is god's vocation to spend our entire lives looking for the people we love. In the process of searching, no matter how much disappointment and pain there is, there is also affection. Two lonely souls, one. ” Ender and Maria, two lonely souls, have achieved spiritual and physical unity, and they bravely break the barrier of self-isolation for love and move towards each other. Look, even the lonely souls in this world will meet each other.