A lonely life in a chaotic time and space——The film analysis of "I want to end it all"
The director of this film is Charlie Kaufman. In his 21-year directorial career, his way of telling has always had his own characteristics, breaking all the time and space and adding a lot of emotions and absurd humor elements. things that have always persisted,
Based on the book of the same name, I Want to End It All, the film blends philosophical discussions about self-belonging, the individual and the group into a dark fantasy, telling the story of a divided, twisted personal tragedy. The film continues this. From a commercial point of view, this is undoubtedly not a good blockbuster movie. There are not many characters, no ups and downs, and no thrilling special effects, but it tells about life, the real life experience of an ordinary person. .
a movie content
(1) On the surface
The film tells the story of Jack taking his girlfriend home to meet his parents in the middle of a storm, and the terrible consequences of various impromptu decisions (staying at his parents' house a little longer, shopping for dessert, going to Jack's school) The story of the result
(2) In fact
This film tells the story of a lonely old cleaning worker who has been pursuing knowledge and love all his life. When he was old, he fantasized about his life alone in a school in the storm, and went to the end of his life.
Two film features
(1) Lens language
The footage in this film is different from many movies. In the film, the camera has its own stronger subjective consciousness and emotional expression. Many times, it is holding the characters in motion. For example, when they first arrived at Jack's parents' house, the camera moved first. After arriving on the sofa, the two walked into the picture again: when Jack's girlfriend went upstairs to look for it, the camera behind him was pushed slowly, which was similar to a first-person peeping point of view, and the heroine often mentioned that there was always someone sneaking Looking at her, in the dialogue shots of the two people, the characters in the single shot are all in focus, but in the double shot, one person is always in a defocused state. Such expressions are relatively rare in two-person shots. This shows the oneness of the two, and the contradiction.
(2) Expression method
Repetition plays an important role in the expression of the film. The film uses constant repetition to gradually reveal the mystery and strengthen the atmosphere. In the film, there is a corridor from the beginning to the end, the end of which is always dark, and the old man has been walking alone in this corridor, one cycle after another, one cycle after another. The metaphor of this experience has been played out countless times in the old man's mind.
And the constant incoming calls is also a kind of repetition. There is only one problem that needs to be solved, and this problem is the self-questioning thinking that the old man keeps appearing in the subconscious. The name of the caller is different every time, which also shows the uncertainty of his memory and the evasion of his self. The bell tries to bring the old man back to reality over and over again, but Jack (the old man when he was young) has been discouraging and refusing to accept it all. This fantasy brought him some warmth but more loneliness and loneliness. In this film, the dog that keeps shaking is also one of the elements that adds to the surrealism of the film, which is an element that clearly proves the confusion of memory. It has two shakes in the film, the first time at the door and the second time at the door, but it has actually gone upstairs, and the urn in Jack's childhood room also indicates the passage of time. Slippers, accepted when he was Jack, but rejected when given by the old man, is also a contrast, although both are fantasies but the last fantasies are crueler and closer to real life.
Interspersed narrative is also a very important expression method of this film. Different from ordinary films, this film is far greater than the real time and space in the carving of virtual time and space, which is also a major feature of this film. This expression method also shows that the old man's time in memory and fantasy is far greater than the narrative of real time and space, and this expression method will give the audience more imagination space.
three characters
All the main characters in this film, including Jack, his girlfriend and his parents, are produced by the old man's review and fantasy of his life. Each of them represents a part of his character and life, and is also his A manifestation of the constant collision of ideal and reality.
(1) Jack's girlfriend
Jack's girlfriend is a complex of thoughts and confused memories of the old man's youth. She often felt that someone was watching her, because the old man often peeped at this personality of her. The entire film unfolds from her point of view, and Jack can hear her voice when he is muttering to himself. She gets calls from herself at every stage of the film. She is also an incarnation of an ideal life for the elderly, which is also a very important reason why the film's perspective is developed by her. At the end, she confided to the old man and reconciled to her own.
(2) Sisters of an ice cream shop
They are all people the old man met in the process of cleaning, and they are also the epitome of what Jack encountered in his life. After Jack arrived at the ice cream shop, the constant fear and escape was also the foreshadowing of the director. To a certain extent, they are flat characters, staring and laughing all the time.
The memory of almost all the characters in the film is chaotic, as is space-time, the father's amnesia, and the girlfriend's fading memory also shows the surreal nature of the experience.
Four lonely love and regret to live
Since the first work, loneliness, love and regret are the eternal themes of the director. The old man spends his life in regret, regret and loss, and keeps repeating the memories of his youth and his fantasy experiences in his mind, as well as his daily life. memory. The image of the pig is also very important to the film. No one cares when a pig dies, and no one cares when such an unconcerned person dies. At the end of the film, the old man took off his clothes and walked through the corridors countless times in his life. It is also a kind of despair. And the fantasy of winning the Nobel Prize in the end. It is also the warmest and cruelest. But the whole film is still an open ending. All subsequent imaginations are constructed by ourselves. In repeated lives, such people may not be uncommon, and perhaps they just need a little more love, and they will not go into complete despair.
The false truth and the true false make up the film, in the cold night, the old man takes a final look at himself, which is an end and the beginning of a new story.
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