(The title of the previous chapter was wrong. It should be Chapter 232. It cannot be changed.)
The lights dimmed and the screen lit up. The scene from last year's filming was still vivid in his mind, and He Xin was as excited as the excited Nakamura Hiroshi next to him.
The beginning of the film is in Northeast China in 1928. Japanese student Nakamura Hiroshi and his Chinese classmate Zhang Ziyi fell in love. Soon Nakamura Hiroshi was recalled to Japan, and when he returned to China, he was already a spy for the Japanese military organization.
When the two "encountered" each other by chance in Shanghai, Zhang Ziyi also became a member of the anti-Japanese assassination organization "Purple Butterfly" after witnessing her brother being killed by Japanese militarists.
After witnessing his lover Li Bingbing being accidentally killed by Zhang Ziyi, He Xin also started his revenge activities.
At the end of the film, Zhong Cunheng, Zhang Ziyi, and He Xin died together.
When the subtitles started to scroll on the screen, He Xin sat there dumbfounded and couldn't say a word. He didn't expect that the final film would turn out like this!
The whole film is always shrouded in a fatalistic and melancholy atmosphere, life is as light as a feather, personal helplessness in turbulent times, and the doomed failure of personal small desires to be realized...
But He Xin still couldn't get what the director wanted to express. Various overlapping images, repetitions, multiple jump cuts, and difficult scene scheduling made it dazzling. The whole film was not so much telling a story, but
It’s not that the director is showing off his skills, it’s as if he is imitating the complexity and magnificence of Visconti and Bertolucci’s films.
Obviously he was not the only one who felt this way. Although some audience members left the show from time to time during the screening, they still stayed 80% until the end. However, when the lights came on, there was only sparse applause, full of perfunctory and superficial applause.
polite.
At this time, Zhongcun Heng also said to him softly with a confused look on his face: "He Jun, I don't understand it at all, what about you?"
He Xin sighed secretly in his heart and said helplessly: "Me too!"
Fortunately, it was almost one o'clock in the morning when the movie screening ended. Due to time constraints, no on-site reporters were arranged to interview. The group of people drove to the Baby e Villa more than ten kilometers away from Cannes city to attend the overseas release of "Purple Butterfly"
Business reception.
Most of the people attending the reception were film producers from all over the world, as well as some related friends. Wang Xiaoshuai and Duan Yihong, who came especially to support the reception, were also dragged along by Lou Ye.
Compared with the director's excitement, He Xin was somewhat disappointed because many of the scenes in which he thought he was very good during the filming were missing from the finished film. The Situ shown in the film even felt strange to him.
, even though he acted every scene by himself.
"What are you thinking about?"
Just when He Xin was hiding in a corner and thinking wildly, Wang Xiaoshuai came over at some point with a wine glass in hand.
"Well, I was thinking about the movie I just watched. To tell you the truth, today is the first time I saw the finished film, and I was quite emotional," He Xin said.
"You did a good job. You can compete with Yuan Zheng. You are much better than the Japanese." Wang Xiaoshuai said with a smile.
He Xin forced a smile, still feeling a little regretful and helpless about the cut scene, and couldn't help but ask: "Director, what do you think of this film?"
"I think it's okay."
Wang Xiaoshuai pushed up his glasses and mused: "There are many scenes in the film, such as explosions, escapes, gun battles, and people on the train platform and on the moving tram. They are all very difficult to shoot.
, I think Lao Lou handled it very well. Moreover, the difficult scene scheduling in the film added a lot of texture to the film, which is closer to the style of "Infernal Affairs", but compared with other Hong Kong films, this film is obviously more
It’s close to the sensibility of European movies, with the aesthetic style of deep exploration!”
"..."
Well, He Xin admitted that he asked the wrong person. Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye were already on the same page, so asking him was actually similar to asking Lou Ye.
…
After the release of "Purple Butterfly", the outside world received mixed reviews. Many media believed that the theme of the "Battlefield Love" movie was too old and could not visually impact the judges. In addition, the competition this year is fierce, and there is little hope of winning the award.
However, Borde, a famous film critic of "Le Figaro", a newspaper with great influence in France, wrote an article and gave great praise to "Purple Butterfly", calling it "one of the most successful films depicting the background story of the Anti-Japanese War."
, even likened to "the Asian version of "Gone with the Wind"".
"Boulder believes that the characters in the movie have gone through many vicissitudes, and their love for each other has also suffered setbacks due to the changing times. The conflict between mission and love makes the plot more twists and turns..."
While dining together at the hotel restaurant at noon, He Xin, who was yawning profusely, heard Zhang Ziyi's agent Lingling reading the newly released newspaper vividly. I have to say that this girl's French level is really good, and she can translate it into Chinese skillfully.
Use idioms.
This film review report from "Le Figaro" also mentioned the various jumping scenes in the movie that were very criticized. Boulder, a close friend of Lou Ye, believed that although the plot development failed to harmonize with time,
The combination makes the audience lose the concept of time in the coherent storyline, but this is precisely the eternal portrayal of China's experience of the tragedy of this war.
Hearing this, He Xin couldn't help but blink his eyes, looked at Lou Ye with a slight smile on his face, and asked: "Director, did you really think so when you were editing?"
"Uh..." Lou Ye, who was still nodding frequently, now had his mouth half open and didn't know how to answer.
"Oh, Xiao He, don't interrupt, there's more coming later."
Lingling, who was reading the newspaper, saw this and helped the director out. Then she said in a lyrical tone: ""Purple Butterfly" has too many sighing plots. The sighs from the audience's mouths can merge into a gust of wind and blow away history."
The clouds and smoke!”
"Wow! Mr. Bould spoke so highly of him! I'm a little embarrassed to say that." Zhang Ziyi said with a smile.
Because Boulder's film review also specifically mentioned her, and even compared her to the "Vivien Leigh of the East", believing that her superb and expressive acting skills are a strong contender for the best actress in this film festival.
He also publicly announced that the most popular actress at this film festival, the heroine of the American film "Dogville", Nicole Kidman: "Zhang Ziyi is here, Nicole, are you ready?"
These words made Empress Zhang very happy.
However, the Boulder family is not optimistic about Zhang Niangniang. Today's "Nice Morning News" published a photo of her on a quarter of the page, with the title "Cannes Best Actress?"
In fact, He Xin felt a little disdainful. Although Zhang Ziyi's performance in "Purple Butterfly" was very exciting, in his opinion, it was just a normal performance.
At the film festival, he watched the three-hour movie "Dogville". Although he couldn't understand the dialogue in it, he had to say that the movie's visuals alone gave him a great shock.
Presented in the style of a stage play! A testing ground for good and evil! A true horror film!
In particular, Nicole Kidman's performance was so precise that it was hard for him to imagine that such a graceful and luxurious Oscar-winning actress would play such an unspeakable role.
This alone is enough to deserve the title of Cannes Best Actress.
Even with the help of Boulder, the response from the local media was still more negative than positive, so that before attending the afternoon press conference, both He Xin and Zhang Ziyi felt a little nervous, especially He Xin. In fact, in his
Deep down, he disagrees with this film. If he encounters a sharp question, he feels very conflicted about whether he should speak up or not.
What was unexpected was that when I arrived at the press conference, I found that most of the people who came were reporters from Chinese-language media, and the questions they asked were extremely friendly.
Director Lou Ye was asked all the "difficult" questions about the film's plot structure, creative concepts, etc., while most of the questions asked to Zhang Ziyi and He Xin were about their feelings during filming.
The two naturally complimented each other.
On the other hand, Lou Ye always behaved calmly when faced with those "difficult" problems.
When a reporter expressed concern about the domestic box office, Lou Ye said with a relaxed face: "The producers and investors have considered this issue long before giving me money to make this movie. It is really unpredictable whether the movie will be good at the box office."
, for example, this time I came to Cannes, I have sold the copyrights of more than 30 countries so far, and the investment has long been recovered."
As soon as he finished speaking, another girl with glasses raised her hand and asked: "So, Mr. Lou, are you confident that "Purple Butterfly" will win this time?"
Lou Ye glanced at the girl and said in a very pretentious manner: "It really doesn't matter to me whether I win the prize or not. If I can win the prize, it's just a little more money for selling!"
After the press conference ended, when He Xin and Zhang Ziyi went upstairs together, Zhang Ziyi quietly asked him: "Xiao He, do you think we have hope this time?"
He Xin knew very well that with Zhang's usual ambition, the one she coveted most was the Best Actress in Cannes. It was difficult for him to answer for a while, so he came up with a bad idea: "It's actually very difficult to know whether there is any hope of winning the award.
Simple……"
"How?" Zhang Ziyi asked impatiently.
"I asked for leave from the organizing committee. I said that I couldn't attend the award ceremony because of something else. If there is hope of winning the award, the organizer will definitely keep it. If there is no hope, then it doesn't matter. It's up to you to participate or not."
Originally, he just said this casually, but Zhang Ziyi seemed to be really tempted. While thoughtful, he murmured: "But this year's award ceremony will be broadcast in full on CCTV Movie Channel!"
In the past, the Chinese-language films shortlisted by the three major European film festivals would always be underground films that were considered obscure by the authorities, but this time it was different. After the shortlist of "Purple Butterfly" was announced, the relevant departments immediately took the initiative to express that this
This work by the famous "banned film" director Lou Ye was shortlisted through due process.
So Yang Ma bought the broadcasting rights for the awards ceremony early, hoping that Chinese-language films would shine again at the Cannes Film Festival.