Take "My Father and Mother" as an example to interpret the charm of Zhang Yimou's Chinese romantic love

"My Father and Mother" is based on Bao Shi's novel "Remembrance" adapted from . The film tells that Luo Yusheng (played by Sun Honglei) returns to his hometown to go to the funeral after learning the news of his father's death. He touches the scene in his father's study and recalls his mother. Zhaodi (played by Zhang Ziyi) and his father Luo Changyu (played by Zheng Hao) know, fall in love, separate, and finally stay together for a lifetime of pure and beautiful love story.

"My Father and Mother" is a Chinese-style implicit romance film directed by Zhang Yimou. It was released in October 1999. Although it only lasted 89 minutes, it was well received at the time and won many honors: The 50th Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear Award, the 20th Golden Rooster Award, the 23rd Baihua Award, and the 06th Huabiao Award. It has been 20 years since the filming of

, ​​and now it has received a high score of 8.1 points on Douban, which shows its charm. Of course, the touching love story, the beautiful pictures, and the superb and impeccable performances of the actors all constitute the splendor of this film.

Today I will further interpret the unique charm of this film from the three aspects of "narrative structure, background music, and related details." In the fourth part of the article, I will combine my own understanding of movies and share three common ways of expressing emotions in movies.

01. Time and space cross-type narrative structure: the sorrow of reality and sweet memories are intertwined, which cleverly expands the amount of information in the film and makes the plot more moving.

"My Father and Mother" is the most surprising thing about the director's reality The stories of sadness and sweet memories are intertwined, showing the accidental death of the father and recalling the love story of the father and mother. Such a cross-temporal narrative structure guides viewers to find the sweet love journey of father and mother together while curious about the development of the movie plot.

film uses a big narrative. This narrative structure is different from direct narrative and flashback. It is difficult to adopt the narrative structure because it not only needs to echo the story of the film, but also cannot make the viewer feel messy when watching. . The perfect combination of reality sadness and sweet memories makes the plot presentation more complete and attractive.

So how does "My Father and Mother" distinguish the sadness of reality from the sweet memories, show the completeness of the plot, and sublimate the theme of the film?

①Realistic sadness: the father died unexpectedly, a realistic way of telling the mother’s handling of the father’s funeral

In the real life of the film, it described the father’s accidental death in the county because he went out to raise money to build a school, and his son Luo Yusheng On a cold snowy day, he returned to his hometown to comfort his mother, and discussed with his mother how to pick up his father's body and deal with funeral matters.

opened with a fixed lens at the beginning of the film. What you saw was the back of a car driving by in the snow. It was the car in which his son Luo Yusheng drove home. When I returned to the village, I saw my elderly mother sitting in front of the classroom where my father used to attend classes, unwilling to leave for a long time in the wind and snow, and felt extremely sad. When

returned home, her mother, who was already awkward, insisted on staying up all night, weaving a coffin for her father herself, and insisted on bringing her father back from the county.

In the reality of grief, the director adopts a shooting style similar to that of a documentary, using storytelling, like a cup of bitter coffee, so that the viewers unknowingly follow their mother with desolation and grief.

's mother's insistence made her son Luo Yusheng fail to understand, why can't he buy a coffin and agree to use a car to bring his father's body back? The son walked into his father's study with a puzzled mind. In the study he watched his father's uncompleted homework and the photos of his father and mother when he was young, and his mind was involuntarily lost in memories.

In my opinion, with such a narrative structure, the director bid farewell to the colorful and brilliant techniques. Only black and white colors are used to impress the viewers with the simplest and clean images, and touch everyone's deepest softness. Everyone at can deeply realize that the mother who lost her wife is sad at this time and her life is gloomy. I think this is the greatness of this movie. Realistic sad stories are clearly presented, making the plot more touching,Attract people's curiosity to find the sweet past.

② Sweet memories: the love story of father and mother when they were young

In the past memories of the film, it describes the love journey between father and mother. The two people went from acquaintance to silently paying attention to their secret love, to boldly confessing their love, to being forced to separate, and finally returning to love each other for 40 years. In the form of expression of past memories, the director used colorful images, using red and yellow as the main style, to show the love history of mother and father to the audience, allowing the audience to experience the ordinary love so sweet and precious.

In the second half of the movie, his son Luo Yusheng finally understands the meaning of his mother's persistence. He knew that the road at the entrance of the village was a testimony of the love between his father and mother at that time. More than forty years ago, father and mother met and loved each other on this road; on that winter day when the snow covered the mountains, mother also risked her life on the road to find her father; on the days when father was in prison, mother I waited a long time for my father at that intersection. Now that the father is dead, the mother's only willingness is to accompany the father to walk the road again.

At this time, a touch of sadness lingers in the reality and sweet past, and the mother's persistence, the suspense set in the movie is finally solved. mother is doing the last thing she can do for her father with the most sincere heart. Love is great, love, it takes a lifetime to wait and wait.

In my opinion, the lens is constantly switching between the black and white realistic picture and the colorful reminiscence picture. Black and white and color respectively symbolize the loneliness of the old and the passion and hope for love in the young. The contrast of

tones strongly reflects the enthusiasm of a young age and the mother’s beautiful memories and deep love for his father. immerses the viewers in the story created by the director, and their emotions can not help being brought to a climax. Maybe this is why this movie is so touching. The melodious and sensational background music of

02, injects another kind of vitality into the movie, giving this unremarkable movie a new life

In "My Father and Mother", there are 18 background music in the whole film, all of them The background music is all variations and melody of the same phrase, but they all fit perfectly with the film. Every piece of music in can be perfectly integrated with the picture, just right to care for the plot, and metaphorically express people's emotions and psychology, and serve the theme of the entire film.

①The perfect unity of music and picture

The film story takes place in a rural area on a grassland in Hebei Province. Therefore, the music produced by this film is of a typical Chinese national style. The musical instruments used in the main melody of the music are: panpipes, flutes, erhu and other traditional Chinese national instruments. The timbre is melodious, poignant and tactful in Chinese style.

uses Chinese traditional national musical instruments to play background music with national characteristics, which makes the soundtrack and the time and background of the film story a seamless combination.

②Perfect fit for the development of music and plot

When the mother first met her father at the beginning of the film, the music background was bright, crisp and long flute sound, loose version of the beat, melodious and reverberating, coupled with beautiful harmony and flute The sound echoes, which symbolizes the mother's sprouting heart slowly moving towards the father's heart step by step.

's father was criticized as a rightist, and he was going to go back to the county for interrogation. The father and mother were forced to separate. At this time, the music became slow and heavy, mixed with the sadness of parting, and then the melody became lower and lower, with a downward trend, highlighting the mother’s perseverance and sadness due to the long-term separation from her father. She was painful and tortured inside.

's father's death, mother lost her closest lover. At this time, the background music becomes different. Only the flute is playing solo and echo processing is performed. There is no other string music to cater to it. It is so desolate, sad, and lonely. . The loud cry of is not enough to express the pain in the mother's heart for his father's departure. Only the lonely flute speaks of the loyal love to his father that will never change in this lifetime.

③The beautiful blend of music and emotion

Russian composer and music critic Serov said: "If everything that happens in the human heart can be expressed in words, there will be no music in the world." can say that music is A special language is the self-report of the thoughts deep in the human heart and an emotional monologue.

In the film, the music with the same main melody slowly sounds in several key points of the film. It fluctuates up and down with the changes in the mood of the characters at that time, lingering and beautiful. Sometimes high-pitched and powerful, sometimes light and soft, sometimes poignant and full...The background music and the characters' feelings always have a beautiful and wonderful fusion, which enhances the appeal of the film.

In my opinion, it is precisely because of these background music that the plot of the film is greatly rendered and has a sensational meaning. It has a powerful appeal, giving viewers an opportunity to burst out emotionally, better integrate into the film, experience the joys and sorrows of the time, and enjoy a feast of visual and auditory contrast.

03. What is moving in the movie is not the plot, but the warm and direct moments and deliberate details

Rohm once said in "Film and Literature": "Film is a detail art."

There is a kind of movie that shocks the audience by intense conflicts and bizarre plots; there is also a kind of movie that has a plain plot, but the details are exquisitely used, and it is equally exciting.

In my opinion, in the film "My Father and Mother", the audience already knows the love story between father and mother. It can be said that what touches people in this film is not the whole plot, but every bit of detail.

04, as a movie lover, I will combine my own understanding of movies and share three common ways of expressing emotions in three movies:

a movie no matter what value meaning, life philosophy, or life philosophy the director wants to convey to the audience The perception of life needs to induce the thinking of the viewer from the visual and auditory sense. Most of what can touch people is not the logic of the movie, but the emotion. Therefore, the emotional expression of movies has become particularly important.

So, for those of us who have not studied film processing systematically, how should we discover the director’s emotional expression when watching movies, so as to reduce the miss of valuable content in the film?

The following will combine my many years of movie-watching experience, combined with the plots in "My Father and Mother", and share the commonly used emotional expressions in the three movies, which will help us to watch movies better and have a deeper understanding of what the movies contain Deep meaning.

①The object metaphor in the movie, implicitly expresses emotions

In order to lead the theme to the discussion of father and mother love, the narration of the story by one-way viewers will make the structure of the movie appear slightly thin. Therefore, through the hidden objects in the development of the plot, enriches the structure of the story through metaphors and embodies the emotions of the characters, which helps the viewers to deeply understand the content of the film.

Maejing

Maejing is the emotional bond between the father and mother. In order to see his father, the mother always chooses to go to the far Qianjing to get water; the father is buried next to the Maejing.

Maejing carries the feelings of his parents for forty years, forty years of staying together, forty years of true love, and forty years of sincerity.

When the mother lost the red-haired card, her heart was anxious and disappointed; when she retrieved the red-haired card, her mother was excited and happy; when she took the red-haired card and thought of her father, her heart became Full of worry and loss.

In a movie, in addition to characters and events, the director is good at using some objects to express the emotion of the story. Being good at discovering the metaphors in the film, you may find the warm friendship between people, and you will better understand the feelings and thoughts that this film wants to convey.

②The dissolving of the film lens highlights the burst of emotion

A closer look will find that when the character's emotions are strong, many movies use the lens dissolving effect, switching between different time and space scenes, guiding the viewer to substitute themselves In the plot, emotions burst out all at once.

In "My Father and Mother", mother and father stand side by side on the road leading to the county seat. Black and white tones and color tones are slowly separated and separated. The same space is transformed and overlapped in several realities and memories. The picture of the road after stacking leads to the explosion of emotions. It symbolizes the passion and love between the parents after decades of ups and downs. It tells the mother’s persistence and waiting for his father in the wind, rain, snow and frost. The desire for love.

discovering the dissolving of the lens in a movie may be able to find the emotional catharsis of the movie characters, and will better understand the director's elaborate design and the emotional truth behind the characters' emotions.

③The story turns and enhances the emotional impact

For a movie, the smooth plot development alone cannot show all the emotional entanglements and inner fluctuations between the characters. Therefore, at this time, it is necessary to pass the turning point of the story, causing a huge gap in the character's psychology, so as to burst out more impactful emotions. The emotional expression of will help the viewer understand the inner world of the protagonist at multiple levels.

In the film, the father and mother met and fell in love, and their relationship seemed to develop smoothly. Suddenly, the story took a big turn. His father was labeled as a rightist and he wanted to return to the city for investigation. Returning to the city means separation, which is a heavy blow to the two who have just fallen in love.

huge psychological gap,Their mood changed from sweetness and joy to helplessness, reluctance, and sadness. Through this way of expression, the emotions of the viewers can be mobilized, up and down with the turning of the story, deepening the understanding of the theme of the film. A seemingly inadvertent story turn in

may be the suspense carefully set by the director. Not only to enrich the content of the entire story, but also to allow viewers to follow the changes in the plot and be extremely emotional, and to better experience the inner world of the characters within the limited movie time.

To sum up:

"My Father and Mother" is a high-quality Chinese romantic love story. It uses the simplest language and expresses the most sincere feelings. It doesn't have the kind of love that is vigorous at a glance, only pure and implicit love.

If you want to really understand "My Father and Mother", you can't just analyze the storyline. Analyzing the emotional expression techniques used by the director in the film will allow us to discover more of the ingenuity and ingenuity of this film, and unearth more unique charms of this award-winning film.