If you were given the chance to be reborn, what would you most like to do?

Providenci 2022-03-23 09:03:36

A linguistics professor who was over 70 years old was planning to commit suicide, but was struck by lightning suddenly. After 70 days of recovery, he became a young man of about 35 years old.

Why do you want to commit suicide?

His memory declined, he was obsessed with academics all his life, and the person he loved left him, as if there was no desire in life.

After he was reborn, a second personality appeared. Not only was his body younger, he was more able to communicate with God, and he had a super strong learning ability. He could learn all the knowledge with just a book, and he was able to continue uninterrupted in the dream. Learn. More able to control the behavior of others through the mind.

He pursued "knowledge" and "science" all his life. The person he loves wants to leave him, thinking that he is more obsessed with "research" than life and love.

His rebirth has allowed him to learn and study linguistics, which he loves, more quickly. I would like to study the origin of human language.

At this time, he met his love. The rebirth of his deceased lover, and the memory of having a previous life after being struck by lightning. A predecessor in the study of theology.

The male protagonist is eager to study the origin of language, and this lover has a variety of past life entanglements, and he has the "language" he wants. But with the entanglement, the heroine became weaker and weaker, and her age suddenly changed from 25 years old to middle-aged and elderly. The mental entanglement of multiple previous lives has consumed the heroine's energy.

The male protagonist chose to leave for the female protagonist's life. Without the male protagonist's persistence, the female protagonist returned to her original appearance.

We can think of this film as an allegory.

1. Human life is very wonderful. Without time, we cannot determine whether the time and space in which we exist is true or false. Or what is true? What we think is true. What about dreams? Or is our existence in this world also a dream?

2. If people can freely choose their own body age and keep emptying themselves, then they have the ability to choose their own appearance. It is no wonder that people who practice cultivation are generally young, without karma, and can change at any time by throwing away "difficulties".

3. The female protagonist is projected by the male protagonist. The woman he loved so much died when she was very young. When he was reborn, the first thing was to miss her, so she returned to his world in a way of rebirth. He wants to study linguistics, and the heroine becomes the one who can have many souls. When he finally gave up academics, he returned to "love". The heroine returned to her original state. He felt that he was unworthy of affection, so he chose to leave. Could this be seen as a hindrance to him?

4. Life and death are both philosophical issues. When the living holds two roses, the last one is dedicated to him after death. Roses represent youth and love. Two flowers are given to the reborn dual personality, which is youth, and the last one is presented by the heroine to pay tribute to love. It can also be seen as "one for the past, one for the awakened, and one for the future."

5. The male protagonist gave up his lifelong pursuit, which also heralded his death. Because there is no pursuit of "knowledge" and "science", he gave up, believing that nothing could be accomplished by himself, and that he would not be able to produce excellent works in the end. Rather than giving up, it is better to say giving up on attachment.

6. After being reborn, he faced love and academics again. This time, he chose love. Make up for the regrets before his rebirth.

7. Zhuang Shengxiao is a fan of butterflies. Whether it's true or not doesn't matter.

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Extended Reading
  • Dax 2022-03-22 09:03:04

    The emptiness and truth of life

  • Johnathan 2022-03-28 09:01:13

    Lara has a natural sense of mystery in this film

Youth Without Youth quotes

  • Dominic: [records his voice] Geneva, 1941, May the 7th. Dominic Matei. Dictation. The documents in the Geneva safety deposit box summarize my life, which was profoundly changed in the spring of 1938 in front of the Gara de Nord railroad station in Bucharest. My first experiences were described and analyzed by Prof. Roman Stanciulescu, in reports which were confiscated by the Nazis.

    [now watching a cinema newsreel of 22nd June, 1941. V.O. continues]

    Dominic: The war rages around me. I'm a fugitive in neutral Switzerland, encircled by the Axis powers. My Romanian homeland has made a pact with the devil - Adolf Hitler - and may soon be under siege... I've lost contact with my dear friend Prof. Stanciulescu, which could mean that he's been killed... I live in fear, dreading what awaits in the alleyways, eluding capture by my wits, moving from hotel to rooming house, always working on my book.

    Dominic: [V.O. continues. Dominic forges his documents] November the 30th, 1941. Zurich. Dominic Matei. I have explained in Portfolio B how I instinctively found the talent to preserve myself. Living like a secret agent, I discovered abilities to forge documents, change addresses and prepare disguises...

    [visits a bank]

    Dominic: Shortly before he disappeared, Prof. Stanciulescu arranged a bank account for me. In Geneva. Under the name of William Patterson. Now, without him, his funds will be depleted... and I will have to find other means.

    Dominic: [V.O. continues. Dominic reads newspapers in a café] February the 20th, 1942. Bern. I must face the undeniable and chilling truth... that I am a mutant. Like a character in a science fiction novel. I am a strange Superman of the future. I have access to knowledge unavailable to mankind. Powers, I don't fully understand.

    [visits a library]

    Dominic: Despite this, I try to behave as an ordinary intellectual. Working to complete my book, documenting the origin of language and human consciousness. I began to realize that with any text I have before me, if I wanted to know the content, I simply... knew it.

    Dominic: [V.O. continues. Dominic plays roulette in a casino] Lake Campione, October the 23rd, 1942. I found I could augment my income. Winning just enough not to arouse suspicion. Nothing is as it seems. I am the proof of that... I trust... no one.

  • [first lines]

    Dominic: [voice over] Sometimes... I admit to myself that it's possible... I will never be able to finish my life's work. My one and only book. And that in the end... without her... I will be nothing. And I will die alone.

    [cries]