Lead...
When our children die, they raise a glass to celebrate
When their children die, so will we
We are all people who will raise a glass to the death of our children
Text: Zhuo Yun
Pictured: Douban
This week's introduction is:
"Franz"
Directed by: François Ou Jong
Douban: 8.3
France/Germany · 2016
Franz poster
(1) Post-war Germany
The war is over.
In a Small German Town Surrounded by Green Leaves, everything is black and white. A young woman, Bella, takes black and white flowers to the cemetery to visit her fiancé Franz, who died in battle. There was no body of Franz, who was buried anonymously in France along with most of the dead soldiers, with only a letter in his pocket sent back, a piece of paper full of thoughts and hopes.
When the young Frenchman Adrian came here alone, the traces of the war had not been erased, the national anthem was often sung in the tavern, and people gathered together to carefully remember their dead relatives. Everyone squinted at him and talked about him, the drunkard on the street corner was picked up by him and spat at him, and Franz's father refused to treat him and drove him out. Adrian endured all this, and all the indifference, though painful for him, had a certain relief of redemption. He had come here to see the graveyard of Franz, the unarmed enemy he had killed with one shot.
Stills from "Franz"
(2) Exhibition of paintings in Paris
Adrian wept at Franz's grave, a scene that was seen by Bella, whose parents invited him into the house and made the gentle and thin young man Franz's friend. They were so similar, shy, little talking, fiery inside, playing the violin, watching the paintings of the Louvre, walking together on the streets of Paris. The family imagined Franz's happiness in life and tried to fill the pain in their hearts with these sentences. Those fantasies turned into color under the camera. It is as if the happy picture at this time is the reality, and the previous black and white image is only a temporary illusion.
Bella and Adrian were lying on the grass chatting, and the black and white skirt coat that had previously been black and white had gradually turned yellow, which matched the color of her hat.
Adrian played Franz's favorite violin. Franz's mother asked him why he was no longer a violinist, and he replied because he couldn't enjoy music anymore.
The family is immersed in the memories of the past, but Adrian breaks down and interrupts the performance, and he escapes from the memories and confesses his pain to Bella at the grave.
Adrian had only seen Franz once, or the last, but imagined all kinds of pasts with him, met his cemetery, met his family and fiancée, and learned about his dreams and preferences. Franz went from a corpse in a German military uniform to a physical, living young man who was also loved by many, and the guilt that came with it was unbearable for him. Adrian mentions that Franz likes a painting by Monet, a man with a backsliding back. The painting was his favorite, depicting a man lying down after being shot, exactly like the pose of Franz dying.
(3) Same journey
Adrian left by train, and Bella lost her last solace.
Two weeks later, Adrian wrote again begging for forgiveness, and Bella hid from Franz's family that he was doing well in Paris and was playing the violin again. The process of replying to the letter was delayed for a long time, and by the time Bella finally made up her mind to forgive, Adrian had moved out of Paris and disappeared.
Franz's parents encouraged Bella to go to France in search of Adrian.
Bella carried her luggage and boarded the train alone. Same as what Adrian had seen when he first arrived. French couples hugging each other and falling asleep in the car, French people standing up in taverns singing marches, soldiers wounded on the battlefield, and listening to classical music in silence.
Bella felt Adrian's mood and sat down in the corner of the Parisian tavern. France is so similar, war teaches them hatred, death teaches them love, but this love is deeply hidden by sadness and a sense of responsibility for the country, love makes the Franz family so friendly to receive young people from hostile countries, and also makes the Song of the French Tavern not tolerate a German woman. Like Franz's father once said, when our children die, they raise a glass to celebrate, their children die, and so do we. We are all people who will raise a glass to the death of our children.
Bella eventually met Adrian. She no longer missed her lover all day long, no longer refused to dance, no longer black and white, and she could not wait to forgive Adrian.
But then she meets Adrian's lover, who Bella watches at them, interrupts the playing, and flees back to her room, where she understands that she has come not to forgive Adrian, but to forgive Adrian.
(4) Suicide and rebirth
The next day Adrian gave her a ride on the train and a parting kiss, he was still so sincere, shy, vulnerable, affectionate, but Bella became firm.
Maybe it's because of Adrian, maybe it's because of his lover, maybe it's because of the trip, maybe it's because of the painting by Monet on display in the Louvre. Impressionist brushstrokes are messy, speckled with light and shadow, like paints piled together, just to show a fleeting scene in a certain moment, the name of the painting is "Suicide", which depicts a man lying on the bed after being shot.
Bella committed suicide once, just like the man in the painting. But she was saved, something that the people in the painting could not understand under any circumstances.
The camera finally freezes on Bella's face gazing at the oil painting, the picture gradually changes from black and white to color, Bella's cheeks are rosy, the blond hair is neatly coiled, and in her eyes, love breaks through the grief and confusion, and firmly emerges.
She had saved her parents who had heard of Franz's death in battle, and she had also saved Adrian's guilty soul, and this time, she had saved herself.
This is not a movie about war. It's about love, it's about redemption and growth. We are not born to learn to love, but in the extreme loneliness, love gives us the hope of living.
-end-
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