Lisa has been a teacher for 20 years, watched mediocre children for 20 years, and accidentally discovered a gifted child, and she rushed towards him like a hungry wolf.
The film is adapted from the 2014 French film "The Kindergarten Teacher". It tells the story of a kindergarten teacher, Lisa, who accidentally discovered that a child in the class, Jimmy, would recite poetry unconsciously. She asked the child's nanny to always pay attention to Jimmy's reading. Poetry, jot down these wonderful sentences in time.
But the nanny didn't take it seriously.
Gradually, with a desire for beauty and a sense of mission to discover and cultivate talent on her back, Lisa began to walk into Jimmy.
The following contains spoilers, please consider carefully.
~ 01 ~
The film presents several opposing positions through alternating light and dark scenes.
Should children's talents be guided from an early age, or should they be allowed to develop freely?
Should we help him choose his future path?
Be a poet, or be a businessman?
Poetry and distance, or bread?
Lisa's goodness, such as her sense of mission to guide her talent, is manifested by some obvious elements, such as straightforward words;
Lisa's evil, such as excessive selfishness, is expressed through subtle hidden plots, such as the character's expression in the close-up of the camera, and the character's mood reflected in the narrative rhythm.
These two positions are evenly spread through the background music of the occasion. When watching a movie, you can choose a position with certainty for a moment, but sometimes you can't figure out the boundaries.
As Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in the New York Times film review,
the director and writer skillfully fudges the line between mentoring and manipulation.
Lisa has the professional kindness, professional tolerance, and professional patience of a kindergarten teacher. She encourages Jimmy to use his imagination and let everyone see his talent. He kept saying that it was all for his own good.
She sees her actions as a feat of rescuing the Mozart prodigy, taking the child away from the vulgar world.
However, his father didn't take this set, saying that he only hoped that he would become an excellent realist, grow up happily, and not have to bear the burden he should not bear at this age. No matter what art, any poetry and distant places, are all guys who can't be eaten.
~ 02 ~
Some people say that the "vision" that parents impose on their children is their own "desire", selfishness, and kidnapping. If you can't get it, you order your children to get it.
But what if you don't even own the child? Outrageously selfish. Lisa can't become a poet herself, and forces other people's children to become poets.
With the excuse of "encouraging and guiding talent", selfishness is not very explicit in this film, but it is enough for the audience to notice.
For example, Lisa often disturbed Jimmy who was taking a lunch break, and often found time to be alone with him in kindergarten, guiding him to read poetry.
When selfishness is overwhelmed, it is the time for poetry recitations.
There are ulterior motives in the shooting of the recitation scene. Jimmy, who was on the stage at that time, had already started reciting the first sentence, the second sentence, and the third sentence, but the camera kept staying on Lisa's face, observing her expression: proud and looking forward to it.
At this time, Jimmy, who was supposed to be the protagonist, became a voice-over. The camera forces the audience to pay full attention to Lisa's expression, deliberately making the audience feel uncomfortable.
Lisa yearns for the spotlight to shine on herself, expects applause and praise from the audience, expects to get the honor she deserves, and becomes a "Bole".
During the rehearsal before the recitation, Lisa asked Jimmy to prepare answers in advance to answer questions the audience might ask, such as "Who is Anna" (the poem Jimmy was about to read was about a person named Anna). In Lisa's view, Anna is the embodiment of a beautiful thing, a star and a moon.
But then Jimmy said at the recitation that Anna's prototype was another kindergarten teacher.
At this moment, she collapsed instantly and rushed off the stage, as if she had been betrayed.
Why another teacher? She is so good to Jimmy, why is Anna not herself, but another teacher who didn't discover his talent?
She is the one who deserves the attention.
She wants to be Jimmy's inspiration, she wants Jimmy's talent to belong to her, not to praise other teachers.
~ 03 ~
Lisa started reading Jimmy's poems in poetry class and received compliments from her evening teachers and classmates, getting the attention and recognition she wanted.
She did not reveal the source of the poem, nor did she lie that she wrote it herself, but just let everyone acquiesce to her talent. However, this "unintentional" move became a "deception" in the later episodes.
In the later recitation, that is, the recitation mentioned above, she knew that the night school teacher would be there, but she still took Jimmy to perform the poem she had read in class. At this time, her eagerness to be praised as "Bole" drove her, and she wanted to be praised by more people.
After the recitation, the night school teacher angrily said to Lisa,
You're not an artist. You're just an art appreciator, a dilettante.
First, Lisa invisibly deceived the evening school teacher and classmates. Everyone thought she was writing poetry, but in fact she was just sharing poetry;
Second, the night school teacher's original personal affection for Lisa stemmed from her talent, not her appreciation, and was deceived for the second time;
Thirdly, Lisa participated in his poetry class. If this poem was not written by Lisa, it can only mean that the teacher at night school has no way to teach, and his students actually appropriate other people's poems for themselves;
Fourth, the opportunity for night school teachers to become "Bole" is disillusioned.
That sentence,
An art appreciator, a dilettante. Inexplicably suddenly hit the pain point.
It seems to be talking about someone. Longing for a world that does not eat human fireworks, I am immersed in fantasy, and I like to look up at the figure of the master of art, but I never go deep into it, let alone learn it. I can only put together a few rough and boring sentences and pretend to be mysterious.
Lisa thinks that her children are not artistic enough, and only thinks about parties all day long. Her daughter hit back with a vicious tongue, saying: I party every day but every class is an A, and you don't see any achievements even if you recite a hundred lines of poetry every day.
Appreciation and creation are two different things.
Appreciation of art is no problem, you can write an appreciation article, you can comment. But please don't impersonate the creator of the artwork.
~ 04 ~
After Jimmy's father strongly forbids Lisa from contacting Jimmy, Lisa secretly took Jimmy to the suburbs.
Although the outing was pleasant, Jimmy knew very well that it was a "kidnapping".
When Jimmy decided to call the police, she said to Jimmy,
This world is going to erase you. There's no place in this world for you. For people like you, couple of years, you were gonna be just a shadow, just like me. A place to stand. So in a few years, you'll be a shadow, just like me.)
She wanted to tell Jimmy that without Bole, the horses would be reduced to ordinary horses.
In her opinion, mediocre people are pathetic. But whether Jimmy wants to be a mediocre person is not something that others can decide at this moment .
In the end Jimmy called the police, probably because his dad gave him a stylized sense of self-preservation. Dad's general education triumphed over Lisa's special education.
Not sure if this is good or bad because,
In the last scene, Jimmy is in the police car with a sudden rush of thoughts, remembering a poem, but no one listens.
No one cares, in the eyes of others, he is just an ordinary bear child.
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