Zhang Dachun once said in "City-State Violence Group" that my reading is connected. Every time I read a book at random in the bookstore, the next book I want to read is the book mentioned in this book, just like a treasure hunt. Same. Such reading is easy to follow the map and discover the possible life trajectory of the first author, of course, it is only speculation. Therefore, the bookstore is an important existence. Today, people visit bookstores less and less, and libraries may be a supplement to such a place. Only in the library can you see many books with your own eyes and read them with your own hands, and the breath of the books is a whisper left for every reader. Therefore, the library is the place where the most encounters occur in the world, but it is the encounter with those who have passed away, or the authors who are far away.
"The Elegance of Hedgehogs" was a book I found in the library during the summer vacation one year. Because it was a newly added book in the library, I used it almost without hesitation. But what I want to talk about today is the film of the same name in this book. Twelve-year-old Barama is a girl from an upper-class French family, but she wants to commit suicide on her 12th birthday. The concierge wife of their apartment is a widowed, grumpy fat woman Honey, who has an equally fat lazy cat, all in line with everyone's role as a concierge wife. For most people, the moment they are born, the society has assigned them a role, as long as they perform as required, life is a play, there is no script for lines, but there is no way to escape the preset role.
Barama hopes to make a movie before she dies, proving that even if she was born into a wealthy family, life is just like a fish in a fish tank, full of food all day long, but nothing to think about. In order to avoid becoming a goldfish like my mother and unwilling to become like my sister, I regard life as a competition, strive for every victory, and finally get a loneliness of betrayal and separation. So she always carried the DV player her father gave her to film these ordinary lives, proving that life like a goldfish is not worth living.
One day, a Japanese man, Mr. Ozu, who was in his fifties, moved into the apartment. He was courteous to everyone, including the concierge wife. A chat in the elevator shifts the story line to the porter's wife: Honey is certainly no ordinary porter. She can tell: Happy families are all alike. Her cat is named Lev. Mr. Ozu found out that she was a truly elegant person, although she seemed fierce and irritable. The little girl also finds a reason to exist again in her interactions with Mr. Ozu and the wife of the concierge.
Just when everything was getting better and better, Mr. Ozu opened Honey's frozen heart, and when love came quietly, Honey was suddenly killed by a car, right in front of the house. In the whole building, all the people witnessed this: the death of the people that this life comes into contact with every day. But only Ozu and Barama shed tears. The death of a gentleman tends to arouse more sympathy, while a concierge hardly cares. Life really has the so-called noble and inferior, even in a so-called civilized society where everyone is equal, your identity is your everything.
The little girl Barama said that what matters is not death, but what are we doing when we die?
The porter's wife told us: Everyone is a hedgehog in life, but most people are not very elegant.
And Mr. Ozu's grief proves: If death means never seeing the person you love, and the person who loves you, then death is really a tragedy.
Any reading of a novel or film is one-sided and personal. Even if you see this, you only see my translated story. A good story is one that tells us a lot, yet seems to have said nothing. These stories of sudden intrusion into life are the only evidence that can prove our existence when life comes to an end.
A friend replied: The value of finding yourself is not in how much you know, but in knowing your true identity and being satisfied with this identity! But I think this kind of life is no different from a goldfish in a fish tank, living a pre-set life. The difference between us and goldfish is: this identity (or role) is pre-set by ourselves or by others. A man is a man because he can understand some things, accept some things, and make some changes. Make things happen, or make a difference is the meaning of existence.
View more about The Hedgehog reviews
