Naturalism from the perspective of women

Deontae 2021-12-29 08:01:46

When Sofia Coppola promoted "Under the Peony", this film is not a remake of the 1971 version of Don Siegel, but a remake of Thomas Cullinan (Thomas Cullinan). ) Another adaptation of the original novel of the same name. Coppola read the original work, and then watched the version of Sigel, and found that he had a lot of room to play. Of course, this room for play can only be understood after comparing the next two versions. Although the master of police and criminal film Hegel himself regarded this work as the best performance of his personal director career, a comparison of the two versions will reveal that the Hegel version is better than the narrative rhythm, character shaping, and image connotation. The Paula version is much rougher. Hegel's version emphasizes the perspective that the soldier is the male. Even if the protagonist Corporal McBurney is not a positive role, the female actor has been treated a bit exaggeratedly into a pornographic metamorphosis image. This is most obvious from the role of Martha Woman.

Woman of Martha 1971

Woman of Martha 1971


This is an incestuous, sexually fanatical, and vicious old woman. This may be due to the long-term shooting of genre films by Siegel, which led to the habitual typification of characters. For the performance of the female body, Higel is also a typical male peeping point, as evidenced by the sex scene between Alicia and McBurney. The film’s narrative rhythm is very slow and loose, and before the 70-minute major plot turning point, it feels drowsy (I believe this is an important reason for the film’s box office failure).

As one of the most important female directors in Hollywood today, Coppola is of course the most important thing to emphasize women's perspectives. This is of course a period drama with a strong feminist meaning, but Coppola’s feminist color is not simply to highlight the subjective desire of women, resist the male gaze, and use violence to violently. The film turned out to be a terrible venting work. In my opinion, Coppola's most successful performance this time is based on the premise of showing the atmosphere of the times in a delicate manner, with the incident of men from the outside world breaking into the women’s manor as a foothold, placing themselves on the ground and arranging the natural development of the relationship between the sexes. In order to gain insight into the limitations of the times and the emotional panic. The female characters in the film and their emotional responses are very complex and three-dimensional. In a slightly stereotyped phrase, Coppola has achieved a "sympathetic understanding" of the characters in history.

First of all, Coppola directly cut off the role of the black maid. Although this would be politically incorrect from an ethnic point of view, this is really a wonderful way to cut the complex and simplify, because Coppola wants to focus on the relationship between the sexes. As she herself said, she hasn't figured out how to grasp the existence of black characters. In addition, some plots visited by local soldiers were also cut off. On the one hand, it was related to the compactness of the plot, and on the other hand, it was related to the entire theme of the film. In terms of restoring the atmosphere of the times, Coppola's focus is on the theme of imprisonment and lock-in. The manor under the control of the Martha woman is isolated from the outside world. The soldier's never visit reinforces the sense of isolation.



The overall narrative structure and conflicts are therefore processed into a female group-like emotional response stimulated by a male external intruder. The frame of the film is very special and retro-colored 1.66:1 (the so-called European-style widescreen popular in the 1950s and 60s), this frame can more powerfully emphasize this sense of imprisonment (the Higel version is the classic American 1.85: 1). Of course, the image quality cannot be ignored. This is another wonderful candlelit movie, reminiscent of Kubrick's "Children in Troubled Times" and Hou Xiaoxian's "Flowers on the Sea". The effect is very close to impressionist painting, with human nature, human heart ups and downs, wrinkles and gloom shining in the dimness.



As mentioned earlier, the most intuitive change in the Coppola version comes from the character compared to the Higel version. All the characters in the film are three-dimensional and vivid. Hegel’s version of McBurney played the role of the famous tough guy Eastwood. At that time, the symbolized tough guy cowboy turned into a eroticist. It was a bit far-fetched, like the reaction after his leg was chopped off. The key plot, Eastwood played makes people feel very wrong. Coppola's use of Colin Farrell as McBerney is the root cause. This role was originally an Irishman, and the most famous Irish male star today could not be more correct. The most important female actor, Martha Woman, is played by Nicole Kidman. From the handling of this key role, we can see Coppola's intentions. In Hegel's version, the background of Mrs. Martha's incest with her brother was completely cut off and replaced by the absence of her husband who had obscured the reasons. Mrs. Martha in Coppola's version is by no means a vicious character, nor is it an angular and negative character, but full of the three-dimensional sense of flesh and blood in real life. What’s more important is the scene where Mrs. Martha wiped off McBurney (in the real shot, Kidman wiped Farrell’s body for two hours). The unfamiliar male’s rough and wild body teased Ma. Madame Shah’s desire in the depths of her heart, but the so-called estrus stops at courtesy, she succeeded in restraining it. In this situation, lust and cessation of desire are both natural processes. Edwina, the female teacher played by Dunst, is eager for true love, eager to leave this imprisoned manor. She has a weak personality, and when she meets McBurney, who is strongly confessed, she will definitely yearn for it. In the crucial scene of McBurney’s falling from the building, the Higel version was the result of Edwina’s strong push after she lost control of her emotions, which highlighted the character’s tendency to become violent and negative, while in Coppola’s version, Edwina fumbled and pushed McBurney to fall, and was extremely upset afterwards, of a completely different nature. Even Alicia, who took the initiative to embrace and hug, Coppola did not make absolute negative treatment, because in such a closed environment, Alicia, who is in the adolescent cardamom years, encounters such a masculine man and grows hair. Chun Meng is naturally normal.

The scene of falling from a building is also the most important turning point of the film. Coppola's method is to try to naturalize and rationalize the chain of behaviors that occurred afterwards, such as sawing legs, McBurney threatening with a gun, and poisoning at dinner parties. All these actions are the most natural choice in desperation. In particular, the scene of sawing the legs was shown in Higel's version, and even sawing the legs was symbolically given the expression of castration. Coppola decisively deleted all the scenes of sawing legs, in order to strengthen the logic of not expressing because of the last resort. Before the poisoning, Coppola also specially filmed the plot of Madame Martha's prayers, which is both hopeful of successful poisoning and confession. In the poisoned dinner scene, in the Hegel version, there is a dramatic plot in which Mrs. Martha loudly discourages Edwina from eating poisoned mushrooms, and Coppola also completely discards it. The whole process of the poisoning dinner was performed very ritual, without any sense of drama, and McBurney's death had a strong fateful implication. This is a highly ethical world that can't tolerate the dirt of desire.

Sofia Coppola's version of "Under the Peony" won her the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival. This is the second time in the history of Cannes that the Best Director Award has been awarded to a woman. Cannes, who often presents awards randomly, made me feel surprisingly accurate. The 2017 edition of "Under the Peony" is Coppola's affectionate look back at the passing era, and a naturalistic depiction of the fallen women embedded in the cracks of the era. This is truly a sensitive expression of feminism. The shouts and struggles with empty slogans will always leave the dust of history in the future.

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Extended Reading
  • Grady 2022-03-22 09:02:16

    Eight bitches cross the sea to show their magical powers. ps. Fanning looks the best. pss. Later, I looked back and checked that the original version was played by Clint Eastwood, and the anger broke through the sky.

  • Ashleigh 2022-04-22 07:01:40

    It is also a kind of ability for the erotic thriller to be able to shoot so still as still water. The characters are superficial, and the women's issues have not been made clear. I can't do it myself, but the behind-the-scenes team I invited is very good. [C]

The Beguiled quotes

  • Amy: Do you like birds?

    John McBurney: Oh, I love them. Anything wild, I love. Wild and free.

  • Martha Farnsworth: [Admiring the pin Edwina in wearing] Très jolie. Seems like the soldier being here is having an affect.