Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 52: Layer after layer

Mikhalkov and the people at MK2 also felt that they needed to watch the film again, as there were many metaphors that they didn’t understand the first time. For a director who considers himself an artist, finding metaphors and figuring them out is a very interesting thing.

So it was screened again.

This time it was Mikhalkov who asked first: "Mr. Cao, I noticed that in one scene, the photo of the heroine was reassembled, but the positions of her hands and shoulders were reversed. I don't understand why."

Haha, these old European perverts really pay more attention to photos of people wearing very little clothes.

“Hands are an important organ for us to contact the world. Putting the hands in the photo at the shoulder position has a sense of rejecting everything and defending oneself.”

Cao Yang explained: "This also shows that the heroine has not let down her guard at this time, and the hero has not yet completely succeeded in saving her."

"Oh, what a clever design. If it weren't for this painting, it would be hard to show the heroine's inner world through the performance. With this reassembled and slightly incomplete painting, it suddenly becomes clear. Good!"

Mikhalkov smiled and praised, and gave Cao Yang a thumbs up.

The person from MK2 was called Chabrol, which might also be a surname. Cao Yang didn’t remember his specific name. He only called him Mr. Chabrol, who seemed to be a producer.

At this moment he suddenly had an expression of sudden enlightenment, and started talking and gesticulating with his hands and feet - I have to say, these European guys have really rich body language.

"Before this, the heroine cut the photos into small squares and then pieced them together randomly. Here it's like she's tearing up her past, completely shattering it, and then restarting her life and getting a new life? Is that right?"

Cao Yang gave Chabrol a thumbs up, smiled and praised him: "Dear Mr. Chabrol, you are absolutely right. Because there are no lines, the heroine uses these small actions to describe her determination to start over."

"It's really clever. I counted, the male lead didn't have a single line in the whole film, and the female lead only had one line, but the two actors completely interpreted the various emotions of the characters in the play perfectly. It's incredible, the acting is great."

Chabrol expressed his opinion, "I love this movie very much, it's so cool."

Xie Fei whispered to Xie Xiaojing: "Have you noticed that every time the male and female protagonists break into an empty room, the photos inside always appear warm on the surface, but in reality there are family conflicts inside."

He thought for a moment and gave an example: "When a family of three goes out to play, it seems to be a very happy time, but when they return home, the woman complains to her husband, and the husband treats her impatiently.

The boxer's home seems to be a sweet newlywed couple, but in the back the woman gets into a quarrel with the man because he doesn't answer the phone and she becomes suspicious of him.

Needless to say, in the heroine's home, besides the sweet wedding photos, there is endless domestic violence.

The strong contrast between the warm photos reflects the hypocrisy of appearance and the ugliness of reality. The contrast montage technique used here is simply textbook-level. "

Xie Xiaojing nodded and sighed, "Cao Yang has made great progress. Some people said before that his films were simple and straightforward. When this movie comes out, they will be silenced."

Looking at the old Situ who was sitting there leisurely, as if he was resting his eyes, but was actually eavesdropping with his two big ears perked up, Xie Fei couldn't help but spit in his heart.

The old guy is really lucky. He is a documentary filmmaker and knows nothing about movies, but he got the bad luck to bring out the signature Class 78 of Beijing Film Academy. Now, if he can get some opportunity, he can become a great director.

No, it is no longer a blank. It has taken shape and all it needs is some fine carving.

Old Tian saw that Xie Fei was a little shocked, so he decided to give him a little more shock.

"Mr. Xie, have you noticed the changes in the statue in the heroine's home?"

Mikhalkov had heard that the people who were speaking were the film's art director and cinematographer, so he quickly asked the translator to relay the information to him. Chabrol also came over to listen to what the translator was relaying.

Xie Fei thought about it and didn't notice this. If you don't play the film or watch it frame by frame, who would notice this small detail.

Lao Tian chuckled and said quite complacently: "In the beginning, there was a statue of a woman with a broken arm in the heroine's house, but later in the film, it turned into three statues of women hugging each other. If you don't look carefully, you will definitely not notice it."

In fact, when Lao Tian was filming, he was also shocked by Cao Yang's arrangement.

Xie Fei thought about it and it seemed that there did seem to be female statues, but he thought it was just to highlight the style of wealthy families. Now it seems that there must be other intentions.

"The broken-armed woman at the beginning expresses that the heroine is isolated and helpless in domestic violence. The three female statues hugging each other later indicate that the abused women have begun to warm up and help each other, and also represent the heroine's resistance."

Seeing Xie Fei nod thoughtfully, Lao Tian continued, "We can see in the film that the abuser, the heroine's husband, plays golf in the direction of the sculpture. This is a satire on people who commit domestic violence."

Xie Fei nodded again.

Old Tian asked with a smile: "Mr. Xie, do you think this statue has any other meaning?"

Xie Fei began to think, and Mikhalkov and Chabrol also couldn't help but think, what other metaphors could there be?
The three of them shook their heads one after another, unable to think of any other metaphors.

Just these metaphors are surprising enough, could there be any other meanings?
Old Tian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately, fortunately, he was not a fool.

Even people like Lao Xie and Mikhalkov who have won the Golden Bear and Golden Lion couldn’t think of it, so it was normal that I couldn’t think of it at the time.

Lao Tian regained his confidence.

"Don't you think the image of this sculpture is very similar to the famous scene later in the film, where the hero kisses the heroine's forehead through her husband and strokes her head with his other hand?"

Mikhalkov's eyes lit up and he interrupted, "It's consistent."

Old Tian nodded and smiled mysteriously, "There is another meaning."

"besides?"

Several people looked at each other in bewilderment. This already has so many layers of meaning, how could there be more?

"This also reflects the relationship between the male and female protagonists, which is blocked by the abuser in the middle, who is the female protagonist's husband."

"Oh, God, there is actually this meaning. I racked my brains but couldn't figure it out. It's amazing. Cao is really amazing. A simple statue change can have so many interpretations and so many metaphors. It's incredible..."

Chabrol was like a bumpkin who had never seen the world. He shouted and praised Cao Yang non-stop.

Xie Fei felt even more unbalanced. How could such a good student be preempted by that old fellow Situ? What a pity, such a pity!
It's not just Xie Fei and the other three. Everyone in this small screening room is in shock.

The transformation of a small statue was played with in such a way that it could be used in a variety of ways.

What is a genius?

This is fucking genius!
(End of this chapter)