"The Children Are All Well": Homosexuality is a pretense, and adults are children too! (Fourth in a series of Oscar-nominated films)

When Obama ran for president, he had a slogan ""Change we can believe in" (change is our belief), and sometimes you really can't help but admire the self-improvement and continuous improvement of American society. The racial massacre that broke out in Los Angeles in 1993 The riots once shocked the world, but 16 years later, the United States had a black president. In 1993, "Philadelphia Story", which won Tom Hanks Oscar for best actor, showed the problem of discrimination against homosexuality in American society, but 16 years later Today, if an American drama does not introduce gay characters, it will attract criticism of "discrimination against homosexuality". Think about it, have you seen any American dramas in recent years that do not design gay characters? I'm afraid you want to think about it. It's not easy to come out with one. The reason why I said a few words in the front that have nothing to do with the content of the film is that I hope that when you watch "The Children Are All Well", you don't focus on "homosexuality". On the topic, because homosexuality has become a normal phenomenon in the United States, treating the gay family in the film as an ordinary family will help you grasp the connotation of the film. The director mainly wants to discuss family ethics and emotions On topics such as relationships, personal values, and meaning in life, gay themes are just an ingenious entry point to create dramatic conflict and promote emotional interactions between characters.

"The Children Are All Well" uses gay themes to create dramatic drama. The: Nicole and Jules formed a gay family and gave birth to a pair of children, Joni and Lesse, using the sperm of the same man, Paul, through the sperm bank. On Joni's 18th birthday, her younger brother Lesse proposed to meet her father, so They didn't have much trouble finding Paul, who ran a restaurant and lived a casual life in his 40s. After meeting his children, they made a good impression of each other, so he joined the family of Nicole and Jules. There was an intersection. The strong Nicole was very dissatisfied with the closeness of her children to Paul, while the housewife Jules had a good impression of Paul, and became the space designer of Paul's home garden, and then emotionally derailed and slept with Paul. , when Nicole finds out about their affair, a family storm ensues...

This film belongs to the type of family problems and emotional conflicts that American literary films love to discuss. The family problems of Nicole and Jules already exist. Children in the rebellious period of their youth are unwilling to abide by the old-fashioned dogma of their mothers, while Nicole and Jules The unequal relationship of Ernes also has hidden worries. Paul's intervention happened to be a fuse for the outbreak of conflicts in the family. Everyone changed in the emotional collision and repositioned their relationship with each other. The children find Paul, like an older child, more close than their mother, Nicole, further sparking a conflict with Nicole. The derailment of Jules and Paul is not because Jules "straightened", but because of the "macho" Nicole and Jules showed when they got along, so that Jules could not find someone to be loved. Feeling, unable to feel personal value, so I sought solace in Paul. And Paul's life has also changed. He used to live a casual life with no goals in life, but after getting along with this gay family, he felt the meaning of family to a person and became serious about relationship issues. It is not difficult to see that the title of the film "the children are all good" actually refers not only to the two little children Joni and Lacey in the film, but also to the three parents, Nicole, Jules, and Paul, who are actually "big boys". "Children", there are many childlike willfulness and selfishness in life and emotions that need to be changed and grown. Unfortunately, the final solution given in the film is a bit far-fetched. The members excluded Paul from the family. Jules apologized to his family for his cheating. A happy ending for the audience is too much emphasis on maintaining traditional family values. The film just doesn't show the transformation of Nicole, the source of family conflicts. It is her strength, strictness, and selfishness in the family that put pressure on other family members, which accumulates over time to form conflicts. Just because she is the victim of emotional cheating, you can only arrange for others to apologize and communicate with her, instead of showing that she admits her mistakes to her family and changes her strong style to resolve these family conflicts caused by her, and thus the ending family. Reconciliation is also difficult to convince the audience, feeling that the family's problems have not been resolved.

"The Children Are All Well" was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor at this year's Oscars. Although the theme of this film reflecting the real society and discussing family issues has always been favored by the academy judges, but because of the two well-known films of "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech" this year, this film has nothing in the best picture. Victory. Mark Ruffalo's performance is the most comfortable and natural in the film, and it captures the soul of the character best, but it also has the nature of running with him in the Best Supporting Actor Award. Annette Bening's nomination for an actress is more competitive. First, because of her years of experience in Hollywood, the judges felt that she owed her a favor when she did not win an actress in "American Beauty". The "macho" lesbian Nicole played in the film looks unique, and her acting skills are also very good. The image of this old man woman can be regarded as a "disfigurement performance", which is in line with the taste of the academy judges. (Text / Levin)

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