Gloria, a 58-year-old woman who has been divorced for 10 years, has lost her youth. In her monotonous and boring life, a cat who occasionally breaks in accidentally, and the cat's owner, a "madman" who lives upstairs. "Become the only waves in her life. A life of stagnant water, a woman looking for hope in the emptiness, she is Gloria who meets the challenge with a smile.
Chile, the narrowest country in the world, has provided us with high-quality films for nearly two consecutive years. Unlike last year's "Chile Says No", which was heavily political, "Gloria" focuses on the life of a middle-aged woman, slowly embarking on a life journey facing aging and death. Interestingly, "Gloria" still retains the usual political criticism of Chilean films. We can hear and see when Gloria eats with friends and passes through the two "irrelevant" scenes on the street. direct political innuendo. At the beginning of the film, as the camera progresses, on the crowded dance floor, we find Gloria standing in the corner. She has glaucoma, so she has to wear large, thick glasses. At the age of 58, her forehead and the corners of her eyes are covered with wrinkles. The most obvious aspect of Gloria's shooting style is the frequent use of close-ups of the heroine's face. We were able to see the marks of the years on Gloria's face with the clearest perspective. In addition to facial close-ups, the director is also generous with the performance of the hero and heroine's bodies. In other films, we can often see youthful faces and sexy bodies, which are the only choice for commercial films under the eyeball economy, but "Gloria" focuses on showing the helplessness of middle-aged people. We see daring sex scenes between Gloria and retired ex-Navy officer Rudolph, including full nudity shots of the two, which are not aesthetically pleasing and may even be considered "ugly" by most viewers, but this It doesn't prevent them from having the courage to ask for a moment of passion from their damn fate. Gloria is optimistic. On the dance floor, she can always attract the attention of men with her smile. She likes to sing along with the music, especially those songs that express emotions. Women's leisurely and open-mindedness in the face of emotional confusion.
Gloria knows how to enjoy the lonely life of middle-aged people, but she still longs for a warm and sincere hug, and longs to find a stable emotional relationship. When youth passes away, we have to face the fear of aging. In Cassavetes' "Premier Night", the heroine not only has to face the pressure of new dramas, but also has to accept the fact that she is getting older . The women in Cassavetes' lenses often use hysterical extreme attitudes to resist the unfairness of fate, but they will eventually find that this is life, and it is actually fair to everyone. The key is what kind of face it in this way. Young is good, but aging is not so scary. The pressures experienced by different stages of life are different. American Beauty's Kevin Spacey takes a more extreme approach to his midlife crisis, with disappointment in a fake marriage leading him to sexual fantasies about his daughter's classmates. "American Beauty" is extremely profound and presents the audience with the ethereal value of life and the deeply repressed desires and fantasies of modern people.
Gloria might be considered a "Chilean version" or a "female version" of American Beauty. Gloria has always believed that she can solve the challenges from life with a smile. When she was lonely, she found her children, but as soon as she picked up her grandson, the children kept crying. She participated in her daughter's yoga class, But the daughter's enthusiasm for the foreign boyfriend she just met is far more than her own mother. Gloria decided to fall into a relationship, and her relationship with Rudolph began to look like a beautiful "twilight love". Rudolph brings Gloria's long-lost passion. She participates in camouflage shooters, bungee jumps, and enjoys sex with Rudolph, but a vague worry still haunts her that Rudolph's daughters are constantly having "trouble" and he says he's gone married, but she always felt that he had another woman. An unannounced farewell at her son's birthday party made Gloria determined to say goodbye to this relationship, but when she saw a skeleton puppet performance, she seemed to understand that death was no longer for her at this time. A distant topic, she must enjoy life in this moment. Rudolph's hoax was finally exposed, and Gloria had a "third party".
"Gloria" still does not forget the theme of "femininity" when it expresses the miserable life of middle-aged people. The main female characters in the film are portrayed as independent and assertive (Gloria's daughter travels alone to Sweden in pursuit of love), while the male characters always have a moral shadow. Gloria had to deal with emotional pain, but she had an adult way of coping. She'll change her hairstyle, she'll put on a shiny new dress, but these superficial things can't ease the helplessness in her heart. In the face of Rudolph's constant calls, Gloria unplugged the phone line and held up the phone. If it were a young man, the phone would have been shattered to pieces, but when she held it up in the air, Slowly put the phone down. This wonderful detail brings out Gloria's character vividly, she chooses to face everything with optimism because she is already a mature woman. There is another detail similar to "American Beauty". Kevin Spacey began to pursue a free life. He bought marijuana from a neighbor's house, and Gloria also smoked upstairs "madman" one night after being lost. Accidentally lost marijuana at her door. Of course, in the end, Gloria also chose to fight back, and she used her method to retaliate against Rudolph who deceived her.
This is a movie that shows middle-aged confusion. They say goodbye to their youthful shyness and understand the truth of being strong in front of others and crying when they are alone; they also have dreams, but these dreams are not out of reach; they will also lose themselves , but also learned to self-heal. Everyone has a theme song of their own, and at the hopeful end of the film, Gloria sings her own song and traverses the dance floor again, but this time she's more confident and more beautiful , Gloria used her smile to overcome loneliness and the pressures of life. From now on, she will start to live a life that truly belongs to her.
View more about Gloria reviews
