The movie "Snowy Winter Solstice", released on January 25, tells the story of an "old man and a dog". The protagonist Wei Daxue's memories of the past, his concern for his children, and his fear of death are intertwined and spread poetically and desolately in a winter. Unlike other films about empty-nesters, Snow Solstice shifts its focus from exploring the relationship between two generations to tapping into the inner world of old people, reflecting social realities in a seemingly mundane life.
Zhu Xijuan, the star of "Snow Winter Solstice", is the winner of the first Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress in China and one of the "Twenty-two Movie Stars". "Wu Qionghua", who was once "hot with big eyes", has now become an old lady with kind eyebrows and good intentions. She played the role of Wei Daxue at the age of 80, shooting in the cold northern studio without heating for 26 days, and the whole play was almost alone.
Stills from "Snowy Winter Solstice"
With this role, Zhu Xijuan won the Special Honor Award of the Jury in the Media Attention Section of the Film Channel of the Shanghai International Film Festival last year. She said that she has loved acting all her life, and there are not many opportunities to play the main role in her old age, although this time is not a dramatic performance with a strong plot, but "maybe it can be said that I have used my life's acting experience." ”
For Zhu Xijuan, her most important film career leader is undoubtedly director Xie Jin of "Red Detachment of Women". Xie Jin filmed "The Old Man and the Dog" that year, and afterwards complained to Zhu Xijuan that only two copies were sold. "Snow Winter Solstice" is still a literary and art film that few people pay attention to, Zhu Xijuan said that she "can't keep up with the market, can't keep up with the times", but "as long as someone watches the movie and thinks of calling their parents, this is the meaning of this movie."
Famous performance artist Zhu Xijuan
【Dialogue】
It was so cold during the shooting that the dogs were on strike
The Paper: "Snowy Winter Solstice" tells the story of an old man's life and the social changes she faced in her life. What impressed you about this character?
Zhu Xijuan: This character is someone I am more familiar with, and I have experienced the era she has experienced. She was a relatively hard-working person, her husband committed suicide after the "Cultural Revolution", she took her own children, and her daughter grew up to go to Shanghai, and she only had a dog as a companion in her later years.
I am still relatively happy, although my children are not around, but I have always kept in touch and lived with my wife and children. However, I also understand the mentality of these old people. When reading the script, one of the scenes that moved me the most was that this old man finally went to the store to make a set of birthday clothes by herself, and she thought that there might be no one to send her, and she had to plan for herself. Finally died alone, with only one dog. It turned out that I lived in the United States, and I knew that many elderly people living alone in the United States would die alone at home for a long time, and no one knew, I thought there was no such thing in China, and then someone told me that there was such a story in Beijing, which touched me a lot.
The Paper: As an old lady in the south, is Beijing still adapted to winter filming?
Zhu Xijuan: I went to Shenzhen in 1983, and the northern winter is really not too adaptable. Our conditions are still relatively difficult, I remember going to Huairou base shooting in January last year, it snowed just after I went, and the whole shooting process was also three days of underground snow, there was no warm time, and there was no heating in the shed. It was too cold, the dogs were shivering, and after a while the dogs were no longer dry, and they had to jump into the car because the air conditioning in the car was warm.
I used to go from Shenzhen, and I wasn't too prepared for the climate, and I didn't have so many warm clothes. The whole scene is 26 days, every day is my play, I account for more than 1,000 of the 1200 shots, and the conditions of this crew are difficult, it is really unprecedented low cost, low to unimaginable degrees. I also joked with the director, "The old filmmakers at this age are in good health, and others may not be able to shoot this scene." ”
The Paper: Xing Xiao, the director of "Snow Winter Solstice", is a young man, do you think his grasp and understanding of the world of the elderly is in place? As a person who has come over, you should be more experienced, have you given him some advice?
Zhu Xijuan: The director is less than half my age. But I've always respected the director, and I think the actor is meant to embody the director's intentions. In terms of characters, we study each other, and artistically we are very democratic. I am very happy that there are young people who do not take the box office as the only criterion and are willing to pay attention to the elderly group.
The only big disagreement was probably that he wanted me to speak Beijing at the beginning. Because I have not lived in Beijing for a long time and I am not familiar with the life of the courtyard, I feel that if I insist on speaking a language that I am not familiar with, it will hinder my performance. And I think this theme is not aimed at the elderly in Beijing, but is aimed at the whole of China, or even a worldwide theme. The fear of old age, loneliness, and the memories of one's youth are all commonalities of the elderly.
The Paper: Everyone who shoots movies knows that children and animals are the most difficult to shoot, how about the run-in between you and the dog actor "juice"?
Zhu Xijuan: It's very strange, the first day this dog saw me kissed me, and I conquered it in two days. And it's so clever that some long shots can be combined in one go. The average dog can do two actions and be strong, and the juice can be made up to 5.
I love animals myself. But because of the professional relationship has been going out to the north and south, there is no long-term pet. This is the third time I have worked with a dog actor, the first time is Zhao Dan's "Love on the Mountain", a mountain dog runs with me; the second time is the stage play "Goodbye, Paris", I eat and live with a German blackback named Feather for a month, and I always have beef jerky in my pocket. At that time, I knew how to train dogs, and I knew that dogs were extremely intelligent and sometimes stole scenes. After performing well, he shook his head and tail, and if something went wrong, he shrugged his head on the side curtain. Half a year later, when we rearranged the scene and brought the feather again, the actors forgot their positions, and the dog remembered clearly. The director joked that you are not as good as dogs! Jiang Ping, the art director of this film, knows that I have this experience, knows that I can train dogs, have a dog relationship, and this is one of the advantages of my acting in this movie ("Snow Winter Solstice").
The Paper: Speaking of the challenge of long shots, there is a seven-minute long shot in the movie, is it still fun to perform, you are a drama actor, you should like to perform like this non-stop, right?
Zhu Xijuan: I also prepared for that scene for several days, because the climax of the whole play was this one. She had to say a lot, and she said to the old man, "It's good that I keep you." I was very impressed with my own performance. Just this shot was shot all day. Fortunately, my skills as a drama actor are there, and I still joke with the director, you also met me, and your memory is OK, and you can memorize such a full page of lines.
The Paper: Because this is a literary film, the emotions are very delicate, the performance is also very lifelike, there is no great dramatic conflict in the performance, the characters you have created before are very distinct personalities, and now such a more "warm and swallowing" performance will feel like another challenge?
Zhu Xijuan: In fact, I didn't always play such a fierce role, and then my own personality changed. I remember when filming "Daming Dynasty 1566", director Zhang Li said that I wanted to find a powerful old lady how to become "kind eyebrows and good eyes". It is true that "Red Detachment of Women" has a lot of performances, and after so many life experiences, there must be a change in a person. We have performed so many movies and so many plays, and we have gradually matured and accumulated experience. Although this play is very lifelike, but in life to show the tension of drama, the history and heart of the characters are in ordinary life, some words seem to be casual, can be my logic is very carefully considered, it can be said that my performance experience is used.
Stills from "The Red Detachment of Women"
"No heart, no lungs, can eat and sleep"
The Paper: At the Shanghai Film Festival last year, you brought the "22 Movie Stars" documentary project, how is the project progressing?
Zhu Xijuan: It's almost finished filming, and after the Spring Festival, I will go to Beijing to talk with TV stations. Now they tell me that the Internet sells money more than TV stations, and I also want to see if I can cooperate with the website. I actually want to record the virtues and arts of these old actors, their works and their artistic characteristics, and do not involve private life. The virtues and arts of these old actors are really worth remembering and learning, and it is also a good education for the current young actors. I've done a lot of things in my life, and after doing this, I think I'm pretty much ready to "retire.".
The Paper: You yourself were selected as one of the "Twenty-Two Movie Stars" commended by the Ministry of Culture in 1962, the youngest one, do you remember how it felt at that time?
Zhu Xijuan: I don't know what's going on in the clouds, how can this be me. At that time, there was also the life of the party organization, which always said "modesty, prudence, arrogance, and impatience." These eight words still pop out a lot now, and I can say that I have never been proud in my life. I know that the success of The Red Detachment of Women is not my own. It's the good director, and so many good actors who give me the opponent scene. Later I felt like I wanted to work out on stage. The studio may make a movie a year, the drama rolls on the stage every day, and I am the protagonist, and that exercise for me is huge.
The Paper: How long have you been separated from your child? If the child is not around, will there be concerns?
Zhu Xijuan: I often say that I am a good actor, but not a good mother. Because of the relationship between work, the energy spent on children is indeed relatively small. My child was all in kindergarten at the age of three, once a week, and had very little time with my children since childhood. Later, I went to Shenzhen first, and my children went to school in Shanghai. In Shenzhen, it is a business, and they rarely get along with their children, and when they grow up, they will naturally go to life on their own.
So I don't have the kind of concern that most Chinese parents have, as if they can't see their children and are not practical. Every week I talk to my children on the phone, and I am very happy that they come back from the Spring Festival, and my love for them is in my heart.
The Surging News: Empty nesters are actually a social problem, most of the elderly really can't do you so calmly, what kind of observation do you have on the peers around you?
Zhu Xijuan: I feel the responsibility to talk to the elderly and ask them to throw away old ideas. In fact, we did not foresee that China would enter the elderly society so quickly. There are now 250 million people over the age of 60, and neither the government nor the people are mentally prepared. In fact, before the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the end of the "Cultural Revolution", there were two batches of baby boomers, everyone felt that life was good and stable, so they got married and had children, and now these people have gradually entered the old age, which has become a social problem.
Now from our generation onwards, the concept of old-age care should be changed, the choice of old-age care methods should be independent, and it is impossible to raise children and prevent old age. And it is not that young people are not filial piety, only children get married and raise four old people, maybe the old people above the old people are still alive, they are too stressed, what we have to do is to reduce their burden. I often tell people around me that we don't have children to ask for retribution. I also have classmates who have children to grow up and raise grandchildren, and they also say that they want to leave the house for their grandchildren to marry, I said what do you do, people are not living for the next generation, they have to live for themselves.
The Paper: When did you start thinking about the elderly?
Zhu Xijuan: I really haven't thought much about this, I always think I'm still young. In fact, three years ago, a senior care community came to me, and I began to think about this problem. Next year I will officially live in the retirement community, mainly because I feel too tired of cooking and want to have more time to do what I like.
The Paper: Really looking at your state, I don't think you are 80 years old, how do you maintain it?
Zhu Xijuan: I am indeed in good health, after filming "Snow Winter Solstice", the director said that you did not have a cold and I took you. I don't have three heights now, every tooth is intact and there is no problem, as soon as I have time to go out with the old man to travel and take pictures. In the past, teacher Zhang Ruifang taught me the secret of her longevity, "No heart and no lungs can eat and sleep." That's it, keep feeling happy and optimistic. I think I have had good luck and a good mentality all my life, and I have given me the honor that the party and the country and the people have given me, and I have already gained enough.
The Paper: I also watched one of your speeches on the Internet before, which is particularly funny, and I know the current Internet language very well, and I know the words "internet celebrity" and "calling", how did you learn it?
Zhu Xijuan: I have always asked myself to keep pace with the times. Learning English at the age of 60 and getting a driver's license at the age of 65, I didn't want to drive at the time, I wanted to prove that I could. When I went to the United States in my later years, I actually learned how to make movies in Hollywood. I came back and started a company myself. It turned out that running a company is really not a strong point, and now I have to raise funds to make movies, and I don't mean to do this. But in life, I ask myself to keep up with the world of young people, I also play mobile phones, have WeChat, and use Taobao.