You left, but scattered around

Elouise 2022-03-06 08:02:06

The core of the story is actually not new.

The ex-girlfriend who never appeared and died fifty years before the story began, but set the tone of the whole story and influenced the emotional trajectory of the whole story. It was like a ghost, bringing the couple who have been intimate for 45 years together. turned into a threesome. For the male protagonist Jeff, her existence is probably "you left, but scattered around", while for the female protagonist, the ex-girlfriend is simply "the ghost of communism floating over Europe" [Sorry Brain The opening is a bit big,

which is actually a good start. Zhang Yiwei wrote in "Death in Fiction", "Death as a premise, appearing in a novel, is often higher than death as an ending. This seems to be due to the fact that good coincidences create contradictions, and bad coincidences solve contradictions. Universal principles." But in fact, even death as a premise is not uncommon in literary and artistic works. For example, Zhou Puyuan's second wife, who has never officially appeared in "Thunderstorm", her appearance led to Shiping's departure, and her death led to the arrival of Fanyi - Fanyi, who was married at the age of eighteen, had to face It was Zhou Puyuan, a middle-aged woman who lost his wife twice and was riddled with scars in his heart. The emotional tension and difficult situation between the two were established because of the death of the second wife. In the novel "The Piano Tuner's Wives" by the Irish contemporary novelist William Trevor, it basically tells the same story as "45th Anniversary". The first wife who died as soon as she appeared on the scene, her preferences, her living habits, her world view, and even the sentence patterns she used to describe colors were all retained in the male protagonist. Therefore, she has always existed powerfully in the male protagonist. Between the Lord and the second wife, it is futile to let the second wife try to destroy the world the first wife once built. The connection established between lovers, from the macro to the micro, is a whole perspective on the world.

But the difference between "45th Anniversary" and "Piano Tuner's Wives"—probably the reason why many people doubt marriage after watching it—is that the male protagonist in "Steel" has already married his first wife. After 40 years of being with him, the second wife he married. Forty years of day and night, bit by bit, he naturally established an unbreakable and self-contained world. His wife's jealousy and helplessness are very reasonable. In "45th Anniversary", Jeff's ex-girlfriend only spent a short period of his youth with him, and after that, his current wife was by his side for most of his life. According to common sense, although there is a sequence of appearances, after all, the solid years are there. The current wife should establish a closer, more reliable and more real partnership with Jeff, but the real situation is that the ex-girlfriend Katya The world built with Jeff seems to be stronger and alive, growing and aging with him, and the world is still shining. What's more deadly is that Jeff and his ex-girlfriend see the world with the same vision that he and his current wife see the world. ——It's not that the ex-girlfriend existed in their 45-year married life, but, for 45 years, Kate, the hero's wife, has been the intruder and sharer of the world between him and his ex-girlfriend.

The film uses a very subtle approach when revealing this fact.

The difference between a current wife and an ex-girlfriend is first and foremost a class difference - don't underestimate the class difference, the class difference is not equal to the difference between the rich and the poor, but a whole set of differences in world outlook and behavior. Views on politics, life, consumption, and feelings are different everywhere. Jeff was a very radical red leftist when he was young (and also in old age), very anti-bourgeois, and a typical bohemian way of life. —— There were quite a few radical youths in European literature and art in the 1960s. Wandering in different people's homes for the night, traveling around the world, climbing mountains and watching the sea, yearning for communism and guerrillas. Apparently Jeff's ex-girlfriend is also in such a role, and the two have the same political outlook and outlook on life. As for the actor's wife Kate, she is a typical middle-class, well-educated, with very middle-class tutors, and it is very obvious when she grows old. Jeff is a willful, old boy, and Kate is a Gentle, sensible, and well-organized. It is conceivable that Kate must have used a lot of love and tenderness to endure this class difference in their years of married life. However, this kind of tenderness and understanding does not mean understanding, recognition and resonance in the true sense. When Jeff recalled to her the wandering life of his and his ex-girlfriends when he was young, saying that they were purposeless and very purposeful, it was a brave and fearless youth, Kate's response was cold, she said, what did you do? ? You haven't done anything? Where are you brave? ——From the point of view of common sense, what she said is quite right, and it is not ruled out that the male protagonist is just reminiscing about his brilliant youth when he said this, and feels that the fools he committed in those days are also awesome, but from here It can still be seen that, in fact, the couple are not like-minded.

The second is the age setting of the ex-girlfriend, actor, and current wife. The ex-girlfriend Katja is two years older than the actor Jeff, and the current wife Kate is nearly ten years younger than him. The relationship between Katya and the male protagonist is a comrade-in-arms who fights side by side and a playmate who plays together. The two shape and influence each other, and even Katya has more influence on the male protagonist - the German he learned for her. And when the current wife met Jeff, she was less than 20 years old, just a little girl. In her opinion at the time, Jeff was really cool - a very typical love that comes from admiration and admiration, a little girl The love for a big man can be imagined, and the two have been getting along for a long time since then, all of which are "big brother shows me the world".

As Kate goes through the old days of her husband and his ex-girlfriend little by little, the difference between the two becomes more and more obvious. . Kate, who has lived for most of her life, is of course no longer the girl who didn't understand anything. She clearly saw that a large part of Jeff's worldview was jointly shaped by the two of them when he was with Katya. His spiritual world. , His aesthetic taste is the crystallization of love with his ex-girlfriend. The time two people spend together will not be prolonged with the unexpected death of Katja, and the memories between the two will only be so many, and they will not grow again. Jeff and he lived and died together, and in this sense, Jeff and Katya, his ex-girlfriend, were already one and the same. When Kate met Jeff, he It has already carried the imprint of Katya, and it is like a shadow. After that, Kate must have been brought by Jeff to complete her spiritual growth - this growth naturally also bears the mark of Katya. The songs they listened to, the words they said, the scenery they saw, and the paths they walked, all featured Katya.

——This is the reason why the heroine collapsed the most. She finally realized clearly that there is also a shadow of Katya in her perspective of looking at the world, her aesthetics, and her spiritual world. Those are what Jeff brought her, and what Jeff has is the common wealth of him and Katya.

But what can be done. To love someone is to fall in love with one's worldview, one's aesthetics, and one's way of existence. Even if love disappears and the lover is gone, this vision of seeing the world still stubbornly remains. In your world, once acquired, it is difficult to close. And we already live in a world of ubiquitous quotes, so we don't have to be so uncomfortable.

You left, but scattered around. This is absolute possession.

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Extended Reading
  • Dillon 2022-03-21 09:03:22

    1. After going through the 40th anniversary, but choosing to commemorate the 45th anniversary, the 50th anniversary as the unknown reason, is it really death? 2. When dancing, the lights on them are blue. 3. The bond that holds this marriage together is not between him and her, but in the hands of this crowd of cheering people. 4. At last she broke free of his hand, and he didn't seem to notice, in fact, he didn't need to notice either.

  • Margaretta 2022-04-01 09:01:16

    ...the emptiness of old age for the middle-class Dink couple...

45 Years quotes

  • Kate Mercer: Would you have married her?

  • Kate Mercer: You used to love your birdwatching.

    Geoff Mercer: I did, yes.

    Kate Mercer: It's funny how you forget the things in life that make you happy.