The same goes for French director André Tessine’s 1994 film The Wild Reeds: a love story between four young men, François, Serge, Henri and Marie; An unofficial history of the great impact of the collapse of the empire on the French nation; it is also a contemporary presentation of an ancient fable. Obviously, this film touched the subtle emotions in the French people's bones, so it won four Caesar Awards in the second year after its release.
The eyes of this film have always focused on two themes: one is the theme of growth, the so-called "cruel youth"; the other is the theme of queerness, that is, the alternative emotions of homosexuality. But I think that the youth story of "Wild Reed" is sad but not cruel, and the emotions are complex but not unusual. In other words, "youth" and "homosexuality" are just the perspective and foothold set by Tessine. The real intention is to use young people of different identities to build a biography of the national character of France.
Taisine is so good at telling stories in a gentle and elegant film language, so that the audience is often immersed in the eloquent plot, but forgets the core of the story. As far as "Wild Reed" is concerned, only French people who have experienced the 1960s can truly understand what Tessine said, and of course, they will not refuse to relive the sadness and beauty of youth.
Love Quartet The
south of France is the hometown of Tessine. When he was a child, he must have seen the picturesque beauty of the local area, watching the wind blowing and wrinkling a pond of spring water, and watching the light breeze in the willow pond. Like sketching, these beautiful scenes later became his typical lens images. The tenderness of the images further influences the overall style of his work: the rhythm is soothing and the emotion is subtle. The same is true of "Wild Reeds": in the boarding school in a small town, all kinds of subtle feelings develop between the three boys in the same class, François, Serge, Henry and the French teacher's daughter Marie.
I hesitated for a long time before writing to describe the plot, and even felt that the writing was pale in comparison to the camera. I was worried that the blue emotion between the four young men was twisted into a vulgar love at the pen end. Then, I think of the string quartet in classical music, which is played by a cello, a viola, and two violins. The sound lines of different instruments are ups and downs, but they can assemble a beautiful melody. I think the emotional story of these four is a quartet.
Francois is undoubtedly the first violin. As the male protagonist of this film, he has a wealthy family, good education, and a natural melancholy temperament. Heart disease prevented him from exercising vigorously, so he became more and more quiet like a woman. At first, he fell in love with Marie, but men who are so melancholy tend to turn gay, like the poet Rimbaud, whom François loved, and today's famous Foucault, Roland Barthes and, of course, Tessine himself . Francois became aware of his sexuality during an encounter with Serge. Since then, he has fallen into deep melancholy about love and homosexuality.
Mary is the viola. As a woman, her tone is softer and deeper than a violin. Her breasts were filled with a deep desire to grow into a mature woman. She once said to Serge: "I wish I could be ten years older tomorrow, so that I can make my own decisions." Serge liked her, and she loved François. Mary is like Sarah, the heroine in another Tessine film, The Eyewitness - the man she loves is gay. Such an identity setting should be the director's intentional arrangement rather than a coincidence. So, growth and love are Marie's confusion.
Serge was apparently the second violin because the other violin fell in love with him. Serge was an Italian immigrant, and his brother died fighting in Afghanistan. At first, he approached François almost just to cheat on exams, but as they got closer, they finally faced each other naked one day. They chatted about masturbation, Serge suggested that they could "jerk off" together, and Francois said, "Okay, but it's a little different." The "different" Francois said was sex. After the first night, François fell deeply in love with Serge. So Serge must deal with the death of his brother and the struggle of bisexuality.
The oldest, silent Henry had to be the cello. He was an expatriate who fled back to France from Afghanistan, and his father died in the turmoil in Afghanistan. Therefore, he is always as low, hoarse, and even a little vicissitudes of life like a cello. Among the four, he is the most different, after all, he has experienced more death, escape, and hatred than others. As a French right-wing opponent who opposes the independence of Afghanistan, Henry had a great conflict with Mary and her daughter who advocated the independence of Afghanistan, but life is always full of paradoxes. The more enemies are, the more likely they are to love each other. After Henry escaped from school, he met Mary by chance, then fell in love, and finally made love. Everything was like a dream.
This is the love of four people. It seems disturbed, but in fact, when I watch the film, I feel more simple and innocent. This is thanks to Tessine's superb narrative. He did not deliberately explain the relationship of the four people one by one, but put them in the same environment - the school and its surroundings, so that they naturally interpret each other with subtle feelings. The warm taste of love, coupled with Tessine's signature southern French landscape description, has no reason not to be deeply attracted to me. What happened in France in the
1960s and 1960s
?
In the 1960s, the "New Wave" began to die out, and Tessine worked as an editor of "Cinema Manual" for many years. At this time, several masters of the "Manual School" had become famous, and Tessine finally directed the tube in 1969; in the 1960s The famous "May Revolution" took place in Paris; in the 1960s, the French colonial rule in Algeria came to an end in violence and blood, and a large number of French people living in Algeria returned to the mainland. Confusion, restlessness, and conflict with others.
In "Wild Reeds," Tessine portrays all of the above from the side, thus establishing the context for the film's theme. For the French, this must not be a leisurely memory. If someone burst into tears at the film's premiere in 1994, it might be Henry in the film.
Henry's appearance has been accompanied by his contempt and even hatred for Serge and Francois. Where does hate come from? Let's take a brief look back at this history. A former French colony, the country sought independence after World War II. French left-wing forces also support its independence, and Marie's mother is the representative of the left-wing in this film. On the contrary, the French who have worked hard for generations in the country and dedicated their youth to their descendants are opposed to independence, and Henry is their representative.
This battle tore apart France and Afghanistan as well as the interior of France, eventually leading to a war between the two countries, with heavy casualties. The French expatriates were forced to flee back to the mainland. Henry's father was an expatriate who died tragically in the Afghan Revolution, and his mother was a refugee who fled to Marseille. He had witnessed his father's face with half of his face blown up, and he said he would always remember it. Obviously, what he "remembered" could only be hatred. Returning to France, Henry felt more and more that the expatriates were like homeless people, and the dignity of France was completely destroyed. For this reason, he hated these "cowardly traitors" of the native country, such as the rich boy François, such as Marie's mother.
The history behind "Wild Reed" is the source of the four teenagers' confusion about life and love, and this history also vividly shows the national character of the French nation. Therefore, the image of Henry is not designed to interpret the love entanglement of Francois and others, nor is it a gangster who is full of "no reason to resist" common in youth films, but a perspective point of this historical fact. Henry's fierce and vulnerable character, self-respect and inferiority, is simply the epitome of the twentieth century's repeatedly defeated French.
How did the French face the collapse of the former French Empire? Henry always denounced the French for not resisting, even betrayal. But the male teacher he had taught in Algiers, the capital of Afghanistan for 15 years, asked Henry to "overcome grief and move on with life". The two sides of the French are on display in both of them.
"Overcome the pain and go on with life", this is what the director said to all the characters in the film and all the French outside the film. From the adjustment of the people's mentality after the war, to the confusion of love with a smile and a frown, this sentence can be used. Therefore, this leads to the rhetoric of the title of the film "Wild Reed".
The allegory
French philosopher Pascal famously said first: "Man is a thinking reed." The French seem to especially love this kind of plant. They are weak and swept by the wind, but they can always thrive after the wind and rain, regardless of the initial submission. . Tessine picks up reeds to make a fuss, and it does imply ingenuity. He is a late figure of the "Manual School", so he is not like Truffaut and other New Wave players who became famous in the 1950s, pouring too much into the film. ideology. In other words, Tessine is more willing to tell stories, tell fables, and include philosophy in the plot.
"Wild Reeds" is a modern fable or fable, because the film is philosophically profound and beautiful as poetry.
The male teacher introduced the French Renaissance fable writer La Fontaine's "The Oak and the Wild Reeds" to the classmates, and Francois volunteered to stand up and read it. Tessine gave him a close-up view, and he was still slightly melancholy. The gist of the allegorical poem is as follows: A towering oak tree looks down on the weak wild reeds, and arrogantly expresses that it can shield the wild reeds from the wind and rain. But the wild reed said, "I can bend my bow, and the wind will not break it." Sure enough, when the storm came, the oaks were uprooted and the reeds were safe.
Tessine asked Francois to read the entire poem word for word, which shows that this is the core of the film. "I can bend my knees, the wind will never break" is a well-known phrase in France, just like the Chinese often say "do your best and obey the destiny", this concept has shaped the national character of France. If the French were strong enough to overthrow Louis XVI overnight, if they were weak, Paris was occupied by the Germans in three months. But just as the teacher said, French people encounter difficulties, no matter how servile they are, they will eventually be able to "overcome the pain and continue to live". All the characters in the film encounter the pain of identity and try to escape, but they will return to life in the end.
What Francois faces is the confusion of sexuality. He has Marie in his left hand and Serge in his right. His affection for Mary was not love, but rather "giving". So, when Mary says she doesn't care that he has sex with another boy, he's also very cooperative and hugs and dances with her. At this time, the ballroom began to play the famous old Broadway love song "Smoke gets in your eyes". The warmth of the two people showed his tenderness. Serge is the love he can't get. As a result, he tries several times in the film to transcend his confusion. For example, he once stared at himself in the mirror one night and repeatedly said "I'm gay", which was a homosexual awareness and a sad protest. He also tried to ask an older gay man for answers, but didn't have the courage to talk to him. In the end, Francois finally surpassed himself. He communicated with the old gay man, and though he did not get an answer, he gained courage; he confessed to Serge, although Serge said: "Forget the past between us, just as I forget the death of my brother." But the two teenagers swimming naked in the glistening river became his most beautiful love memory.
Serge, the son of an Italian immigrant and a peasant, struggles between life and death. At the beginning of the film, the old bell of the village church rang, and Serge's brother Pierre came out of the church in military uniform with the bride; El's coffin was carried out of the church. Since then, Serge must also think about life and death. For this he endured great pain. In the film, Serge commits adultery with the new widow's sister-in-law and even plans to marry her. It's not absurd, it's a teenager's agonizing struggle to think; he loves Mary, and his love for Mary is the most "normal" love in the film. But he has always been rejected, and the pain of not being loved is no stranger to everyone in the world. After many difficulties, Serge's peasant consciousness finally prevailed. He realized that it was impossible to marry his sister-in-law, and he could not be with Francois. He was the son of a peasant and had to marry a wife, have children, and reproduce. Think about death, and the answer is survival.
At the end of the film, Henry walked away gently, just as he came gently. Henry said to Mary's mother, "The French who bleed on the soil of Algeria are defending the dignity and territory of France." So, as the son of the expatriates, he hated the left wing because they spoke for the Albanians and were traitors; he also hated the natives. "Bourgeois", because they are pampered but indifferent to the bloodshed of their fellow men. The former is like Marie's mother, the latter is like François, and this contempt and hatred are hard to reconcile. Until the end of the film, Henry still fled the campus, and Tessine used Henry to expose the French's scars, which can be described as well-intentioned. Interestingly, Henry fell in love with Mary, and Mary became his savior. His long-suppressed love was finally released in Mary. The left-wing natives redeemed the right-wing diaspora. This is Henry's first step to transcend hatred and move towards life. The male teacher in the film who teaches "Wild Reeds" to the children may be Henry's appearance many years later. Because what the audience saw and Henry didn't see was that the teacher's wife was an Aboriginal native. His feelings for Ah Guo and the great changes of the times must be much deeper than Henry's. The "go on with life" attitude he had chosen was desirable, and sooner or later Henry had to accept that too.
Marie's identity is the most special. Compared with others, she is a woman; compared with Henry, she is left-wing; compared with François, she is heterosexual; compared with Serge, she is an intellectual. Therefore, the spectrum refracted by her predicament is the most complex. Of course Mary had her own confusion, she was too eager to be a woman. But her love for François is her admiration as a maiden, and only her love for Henry is a woman's admiration, when she handed it over to Henry for the first time. Henry flew away, and she completed the bar mitzvah. Tessine's positioning of Mary seems to be a reflection of other characters. Mary is a character that is both heavy and light, and without her we simply cannot recognize the other three.
In fact, Tessine's films often feature a heroine similar to Mary, whose roles are like prisms that reflect the identities of other characters. Such as Sarah in "The Witness" and the mother in "The Lost Man". Does it mean that the world of men must be seen through women? Or rather, Tessine prefers to give his heroines leverage.
In any case, in Tesine's poetic image, the four teenagers emerge from their confusion, like wild reeds that have experienced a storm, showing the vigor of life. This is also an allegorical poem, with a slow rhythm and subtlety.
Behind the Poetry
In 1995, "Wild Reeds" won four Caesar Awards, which is a film of "Flowers in the Walls and Fragrance in the Walls". There's reason to believe that the French won't win Best Director, Best Film, Best Screenplay unless they're thoroughly impressed, while Boucher, who plays Marie, won Best New Actress.
Most of Tesine's films have a poetic exterior, an allegorical core, like an allegorical poem on the screen. "Wild Reed" is a typical work of his type of film.
When you first watch Taisine's film, do you suspect that it is a "new wave" work? Is this "Manual School" style? In my impression, "New Wave" and "Manual School" are inseparable from the image styles of Truffaut, Godard and other masters, especially in the powerful shots, obvious ideological viewpoints, clear tonal contrast, and not prominent plots, etc. feature. The first impression of Tessine is full of classical poetry: the rhythm is soothing; the lens rarely gives close-ups or deliberately long shots, and uses more moderate medium shots or close-ups; the colors are mostly soft and restrained, and there are many characters. Wear light-colored clothing. Most importantly, Tessine has the patience to tell the story.
In terms of poetry, Tessine creates images that are beautiful but unpretentious. He never uses technology to create images that look beautiful but are false. Looking at him casually, there is a faint blue sky here, and a shallow stream there, and the artistic conception comes out naturally. The description of Francois and Serge riding a motorcycle to Toulouse in The Wild Reeds is a classic example of this type of poetry. Francois sat in the back, wrapped his arms around Serge's body, and pressed his face lightly to his white coat, the sun was shining, and they were walking through the thick green fields of the country, the sound of the motor and the violin in the background Sounds together, it is such a beautiful love, which makes people feel warm and moved.
Looking at Tessine's works, his early films such as 1976's "Baroque", etc., this kind of poetry is not obvious. It is from "Wild Reeds" that his poetic style fully matures. For example, in "The Lost Man" filmed in 2005, the camera is also aimed at the yellowish wheat field, the house shaded by weeds, and the half of the light blue sky before the death of the gray-eyed boy. In the "Witness" filmed in 2007, the sky blue beach of the bay also has the feeling of the tranquil sea that summer. "Wild Reed" can be described as a representative work of Tessine-style poetry.
Behind the poetry lies the allegorical core of Tessine. In fact, his films have rigorous clues and clear logic. We found that his stories often took place in some closed circles, and the relationship between the characters was not outward but introverted: such as the four teenagers in "Wild Reed"; such as the mother and child in "The Lost" Between the gray-eyed boy and so on. He uses this relatively introverted character relationship to present the allegory, so the characters tend to be contemplative and introspective.
The gentle character and the intention contained in it outline that Taisine deserves his name as a member of the "Manual School". Like other "Manual School" masters, Tessine also infuses ideology into the film, but he never expresses his heart directly, but speaks it like a fable. This is where he differs from other great masters.
In June 2009, Taisine got very close to China, and he directed "The Girl on the Train" to participate in the 12th Shanghai Film Festival. It is reported that he is the "biggest director" of this film festival. Big name or not, presumably Tessine doesn't care, because he once said: "Movies are a way for me to love the world, and it also taught me how to love others." This statement is really touching.
Originally published in the 13th issue of "Watching Movies", 2009, "Classic Worship"
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