Half dream and half awake, two lifetimes

At a glance, "Flower God Cafe" is extremely dazzling. The frequency of wild editing is not at all inferior to "Requiem of Dreams", and scenes such as naked kisses in the water and nightmares in the dark night greatly enrich the color of the picture. Following the movie’s emotions, or the excitement or soothing soundtrack, it seems to become one of the protagonists, making the movie not only eye-catching but also ear-washing. Of course, all the magnificence that can be felt intuitively, including the editing techniques that confuse the time sequence, are part of the language of avant-garde movies and can only be regarded as fashionable decorations. The thematic narrative structure of "Cafe Flora" has not been overwhelmed. The two stories of Paris and Montreal are intertwined from beginning to end, just like the double time and space in "The Godfather II". To talk about this super-parallel edited movie, it is impossible not to talk about montage. The junction of the two stories in the film is naturally where the montage shines. Although there are regular picture and sound montages in the film, a large part of it is very blunt and straightforward. This seemingly anti-montage processing is essentially a more precise montage. When the scene of "Cafe Flora" was cut from Jacqueline’s face to Carol’s face, it was very abrupt and random on the surface, but it actually hinted at the similarity between the two, as the psychic said in the film. "Everything in the world is connected."

Jacqueline and Carol are the first to be linked together, but "Cafe Flora" is far from such a simple and vague single correspondence, it has a precise point-to-point connection: Jacqueline and Carol are a pair of mirror images. Antoine and the mentally retarded child are a pair of mirror images, and Rose and the mentally retarded woman are also a pair of mirror images. The film emphasizes these ties all the time. Not long after the opening, Antoine left the airport, passing by a group of mentally retarded people. When the mentally retarded girl first appeared on the scene and met the mentally retarded boy, the film was edited in parallel to the encounter between Antoine and Rose, and the similarities between the two were ready to emerge. Later, the psychic appeared on the stage, finally clarifying this ambiguous mystery. This movie is actually a story about the past and present, and Jacqueline is Carol's previous life.

Unlike the two Veronicas in "Two Lives of Flowers", the rebirth and unpredictability of the two Veronicas, the reincarnation of "Cafe of the Flower God" is extremely neatly based on the relationship between the characters: Jacqueline loves the mentally retarded son, and does not want to be mentally retarded. The girl snatched it away. Carol loved her ex-husband Antoine and couldn't let go of Ross's slashing love. . Antoine's two daughters seem to be side roles, but without them, there would be no blood connection between Carol and Antoine, and it would be impossible to accurately form an echo with the Paris mother and son. The mother-child relationship in the film did not break through the ethical boundaries, and the director boldly used it to symbolize the platonic spiritual love. The "spiritual partner" that Carol often mentioned was denied, but Antoine and Rose, the lovers who had been entangled in the flesh all day, had the last laugh. Jacqueline's "going to heaven" chanting to her son all day echoes pure soul love, but real life is full of traces of purgatory. The film’s attitude towards love is the same as Meilimei’s view of heaven and hell: we can only frankly admit the existence of physical love, but cannot determine where the soul love resides.

When the truth finally came to light in Carol's dream, the film brought out another proposition that stimulated the soul: atonement. Carol, Jacqueline, in the previous life, gradually wandered on the edge of mental disorder. She repeatedly entangled in her heart with the abnormal idea of ​​going to Huangquan with her beloved son who was out of her embrace. Finally, on a rainy night, she drove her mentally disabled son and mentally disabled girl into an oncoming truck, and all three died. The ensemble of two similar stories ends here, and finally the possibility of dual voices appears. The concept of "direction" will appear only after the aimless highway diverges into two trails. When the wheel of history ran over this fork in the road again, Carol chose another path—to forgive, to accept, and to bless Antoine and Rose. After all, the "soul mate" is in vain, but in the sad pace of life away from idealism, we can touch the true touch and beauty of a flower and a leaf. Only after acknowledging the vulgarity of life, praise and smiles will appear meaningful.

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