Art theory| Life is a river, love is like a cup - the revelation of "Anne Hall"

How can a love story be told to be unworldly?

Since "Later Us" was evaluated as a cliché, domestic films seem to be in a dilemma in the word "love", the same romance, not called romance called dog blood. Therefore, there is a very interesting phenomenon in the summer domestic films, the "smorgasbord" type of films are quite loved, and love has become one of the elements instead of the main line. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find qualified works by taking out these love branches alone, so the domestic film has such a recommendation: "The biggest attraction of this film is that the male and female protagonists are not lovers, but brothers and sisters." ”

Love is not tired of talking, and the love film has become "discolored", which is really a situation that makes people cry and laugh. How to tell a love story well, we may want to find experience from the world's classic movies, such as Woody Allen's "Anne Hall".

The film tells the love between a smart man and a simple woman, the comedian Ive Singer (Woody Allen) is erudite and witty, but his personality is extremely contradictory: both intellectually high and deep in his heart and a vague inferiority; he always thinks that society discriminates against him because of his Jewish status; he has seen a psychologist for fifteen years and has not seen any improvement, but he is still watching; there are two marriages with literary women but they have failed... The bar resident singer Anne Hall (Diane Keaton) is beautiful and naïve, she dreams of becoming a singer, nervous to say "la-tick", simple mind has no opinion, but is willing to actively learn and live enthusiastically. Their love also follows a common trajectory, that is, the first encounter period, the hot love period, the contradiction appearance period, the stable period and the final ending: if it cannot be cultivated to a positive result, it is because it is no longer suitable after the growth and change, and perhaps one of the parties has not yet had a residual feeling, but love has failed.

The love in films such as "Later Us" actually follows such a line, in addition to Woody Allen's ghostly approach, what is the difference in the story compared to this classic?

First, the characters lack thickness.

Ive is a typical representative of literary and artistic youth. He is like a bat, like a bird not a bird, like a beast and not a beast, and contrary to Aesop's fables, Ive hates people's pretense when he is with intellectuals, and does not want to be with them; With ordinary people, and disgusted with people's superficial ignorance, not leaning on both sides, extra lonely, so he said, "I will not join such a club, there are people like me." "Ive can see the absurd at a glance, but he is also trapped by this clever cynicism, drawing the ground as a prison, stagnating. And Anne has no heart, warm and interesting, awkwardly talks to Ivey when she falls in love at first sight, smiles sincerely and tries to respond when talking, of course, she is not stupid and ignorant, she knows Ivey also understands herself, many times said "you always think I'm not smart enough", at first always listened to this nitpicking boyfriend, and later had her own opinion. This setting is plump and natural, and it is the living person who can be seen in life. Only when the characters are alive and the environment changes, can the audience understand the different choices of the characters, and can they devote themselves to following the emotional ups and downs of the characters, and there will be no sense of distortion.

In addition, the theme lacks depth.

The reason why love stories are popular is because they are things that everyone has but everyone feels differently, and the different attitudes to love and sex reflect different outlooks on life, which can carry multiple issues such as society and philosophy. "When I was a kid, my mother took me to see Snow White, and everyone fell in love with Snow White, but I fell in love with the old witch," Ive said. This shows the unique values of the hero, who is born with a strong, intelligent, and distinctive personality, and he himself is such a person, which is why he knows their hypocrisy and arbitrariness, and despises them. So he couldn't get along with his second wife, and after meeting the cheerful and pure Anne, he unconsciously instilled his thoughts and opinions in Anne, read her books about death, let her go to college to listen to lectures, and raised her to be a thoughtful person. The ending metaphor of the egg is even more thought-provoking, love is completely irrational, crazy, even absurd, but we still have to go through all this all the time because we all need to grow.

More than forty years after Anne Hall came out, the use of black humor, fragmented editing, and breaking the fourth wall is still talked about. Of course, there can't be a second Woody Allen in our country, and we don't need it, we need the first Jiang Wen and the first Jia Zhangke. However, the two principles that the film needs to follow will not change: the characters and the plot interact organically, not that life drifts unconsciously along the river of life, but that life itself is a river; The ending of love may be very similar, but the content of love must be different, love is like a cup, can carry many issues.

(Yanzhao Metropolis Daily/Han Yue)