In February this year, the Berlin Film exhibited a lot of explosive models. The Lev Landau series, which challenged the boundaries of ethics, continues to be controversial. "Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always" with a beautiful female partner is frequently searched on Weibo. But it is not them that make front-line film critics uniformly give high ratings. It's a fantasy romance with tenderness and affection—
Wendine
Undine
Director: Christian Petzold Screenwriter: Christian Petzold Starring: Paula Bell, Franz Rogowski, Marianne Zarre, Jacob MachenzRelease date: 2020 -03-26 (Germany) Duration: 90 minutes
The film was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 70th Berlin Film Festival. In the end, she won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress and the Fabisi International Film Critics Union Award for Best Picture .
At that time, Chinese fans who were fortunate enough to "try the early adopters" on the big screen also praised it. Some people likened it emotionally to a beautiful lyric poem . Some people simply and rudely call it a premium version of The Shape of Water . Although the language styles are different, there is recognition and love from the heart between the lines.
"Wendini" is the opening work of the "Elemental Elf Trilogy" planned by Christian Petzold, a leading figure in the Berlin School of contemporary German films . As the name suggests, it focuses on the ancient legend of the water elf Wendini .
For Chinese audiences, Wentini is probably an unfamiliar name. But in the Western world, she is known to everyone and unknown to everyone. As a goddess in classical European mythology, Undine is the master of the water element. Unfortunately, she cannot control her own destiny.
In Germany, there is a sad and terrifying curse about Wendine. It is said that Wentini herself has no soul. Bonding with mortal males is her only means of obtaining souls. But if the man she was married to betrayed her, she would have to kill the man and return to the water.
This film is a modern rewrite of this medieval legend. Although the protagonist Wendine lives in the 21st century, she, like the water elf, bears eternal doom. The role is played by up-and-coming German actress Paula Bell . Paula, who was born in 1995, has performed very well in works such as Franz and No Master. This time "after the seal" can be said to be well deserved.
The actor Franz Rogowski , who plays with her in the opposite role , is also quite charming, and has cooperated with famous directors such as Michael Haneke and Terrence Malick.
It is worth mentioning that Paula and Franz played a pair of lovers in Petzold's "Transit" two years ago.
Now that the two are continuing their relationship, the tacit understanding has not diminished in the past. The soulful performance is still heartwarming.
The story begins with a heartbreaking betrayal. At a coffee shop, boyfriend John Nas, who loves the new and hates the old, proposes to break up. Wendini refused to accept the reality, so she bluntly said a cruel sentence: "If you leave me, I will kill you."
It doesn't matter what the words came out of someone else's mouth. But in Wendini, it will definitely come true. It's a pity that Johannes didn't take Wendini's words seriously, and naturally he didn't abide by the agreement between the two. By the time Wendini finished explaining, the cafe had long since disappeared from Johannes.
Wentini didn't know how to choose. She didn't want to lose her love, and she didn't want to kill her lover. But God's will is hard to resist, and even the statue in the aquarium on the side calls her name faintly, reminding her of her mission. At this moment, Wendini was at a loss, embarrassed, and extremely frightened.
Industrial diver Christopher showed up just in time. Although he is not good at words and looks ugly, at the right time, his appearance is enough to "save" Wendini, who is in a dilemma. An inexplicable suction quickly dissipated between the two. Mysterious elves and unremarkable mortals fall into unbelievable love.
Whether on the platform, by the bed or on the street, they are always sticking together, hugging and kissing each other generously and affectionately, never caring about the eyes of others.
The two bodies are attracted to each other like magnets, and no one can separate them. I have to say that while full of tenderness and sweetness, this relationship often makes people feel unreal.
Sure enough, when the disappeared Johannes broke into Wendini's sight again, everything became real and biting again. On an ordinary day, Wendine and Christopher were walking on the road snuggling up, but when they looked up, they saw Johannes and his new girlfriend walking towards them. Hiding on Christopher's shoulder, Wendini couldn't hold back and glanced back. She thought that the sneak glance would not cause any waves, but unexpectedly, people can be betrayed by their heartbeats.
On the other end of the phone, Christopher said - "Your heart skipped a beat when that man passed by." At that moment, he understood why he had met Wendine in the coffee shop. It turned out that, from beginning to end, he was nothing but a substitute for others.
Wentini wanted to explain in person, but she received the bad news of Christopher's accident. Could this be God's punishment for her disobedience to fate? Somewhere, Wendini realized that the long-standing curse was about to come .
Born in 1960, Petzold has a deep affection for Berlin . He spent his youth in this city.
He studied drama and Germanic literature at the Free University of Berlin; and at the Berlin Film Academy he made friends with the Berlin School. The city of Berlin naturally became the object of his characterization. Its most well-known "Phoenix" and "Barbara" are set in Berlin. The years may be different, but the space has never changed.
"Wendini" continues this tradition and still chooses to start the narrative in Berlin. Therefore, whenever Wendini, as a narrator, narrates the planning of the city and the form of buildings, the interlacing of history and the present is always in a trance, which makes the love in the film even more erratic and elusive.
Indeed, from the unforeseen first sight of the unexpected separation, one magical moment after another runs through the whole process of this relationship - the coffee shop, the broken aquarium wets the bodies of the two.
Their faces were covered with drops of water.
The shattered glass balls penetrated into Wendini's abdomen through the white shirt, reflecting a little blood, and green water plants dotted it.
Underwater, the two of them were swimming hand in hand in the unfathomable waters, and they came across a wall with Wendini's name printed on it.
But in the blink of an eye, Wendini was taken away by the catfish.
The next second, he floated lifelessly on the water again.
In the swimming pool, Wentini drowned Johannes who betrayed her once again, and then walked from night to dawn wet from night.
She walked through the woods to another body of water and was completely submerged.
On the other side, the comatose Christopher suddenly woke up.
The film maintains a fantasy and suspenseful tone at the narrative level , and it is always difficult to distinguish between reality and reality. Whether Wentini was drowning, whether Christopher made that call, and whether Johannes was handily murdered by Wentini, it's up to you to believe it or not.
At the end of the day, these narrative strategies don’t need to be explored. It is not bad to simply understand "Wendini" as a beautiful and sad love fable. Initially, it was Christopher who gave the outcast Windini a glimmer of hope. In the end, it was Wendini who sacrificed herself to redeem Christopher's life.
The biggest mystery was clear as early as the moment Wendini's heart skipped a beat - Christopher was not an excuse to escape the curse, but her heart belonged .
Then, for this man who gave her infinite tenderness, she was willing to give up everything. At the end of the film, when Wendini sank to the bottom of the water and said goodbye to her lover from a ghostly perspective, the audience could of course think that she was dead.
But I prefer to believe that she has become a real water elf. In the underwater world, she forever treasures a pure and flawless love that has a beginning and an end.
*The author of this article: kiwi
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