Chapter 52: Layer Upon Layer

Mikhalkov and the people from MK2 also felt they needed to watch it again; there were many metaphors they hadn't grasped the first time. For a director who considers himself an artist, finding and understanding metaphors is a very interesting thing.

So, they screened it again.

This time, Mikhalkov was the first to ask: "Mr. Cao, I noticed a scene where the female lead's photo is pieced back together, but the positions of the hands and shoulders are reversed. I didn't quite understand why."

Heh, these old European lechers; sure enough, their eyes were focused more on the photos where the subject was wearing very little.

"The hand is an important organ for us to interact with the world. Placing the hand of the photo at the shoulder position carries a sense of rejecting everything and defending oneself," Cao Yang explained.

"It also serves to show that at this moment, the female lead has not yet let down her guard, and the male lead has not yet fully succeeded in saving her."

"Oh, a very clever design. If not for this picture, it would be hard to show the female lead's inner world through performance alone. With this reassembled yet slightly flawed picture, everything suddenly becomes clear. Good!"

Mikhalkov praised with a smile and even gave Cao Yang a thumbs-up.

The person from MK2 was named Chabrol—that might be a surname; Cao Yang didn't remember the specific name and just addressed him as Mr. Chabrol. He seemed to be a producer.

At this moment, he suddenly had an expression of sudden realization, gesturing and talking with his hands—one has to admit, these Europeans have truly rich body language.

"Before this, the female lead cuts the photo into small squares and then pieces them together randomly. Is this like her tearing apart her past, completely shattering her history, and then starting her life over to be reborn? Is that it?"

Cao Yang gave Chabrol a thumbs-up, smiling and praising him heartily: "My dear Mr. Chabrol, you are absolutely right. Because there is no dialogue, the female lead uses these small actions to depict her determination to start over."

"Truly clever. I counted: the male lead has no lines in the entire film, and the female lead has only one line, yet the two actors perfectly interpreted the various emotions of the characters. It's incredible; the acting is fantastic."

Chabrol expressed his view, "I really like this movie; it's just too cool."

Xie Fei whispered to Xie Xiaojing: "Did you notice that every time the male and female leads break into an empty room, the photos inside always present a very warm surface, but in reality, they all contain family conflicts?"

He thought for a moment and gave an example: "A family of three going out to play seems like a happy time, but upon returning home, the woman complains to her husband, and the husband treats her with impatience."

"The boxer's home seems like a sweet, newlywed couple, but later the woman quarrels with the man because he doesn't answer the phone, leading her to suspect him."

"In the female lead's home, it goes without saying: behind the sweet wedding photo lies endless domestic violence."

"Using warm photos to create a sharp contrast reflects the hypocrisy of the appearance and the ugliness of the reality. The contrast montage technique used here is simply textbook-level."

Xie Xiaojing nodded and sighed: "Cao Yang has improved so much. Before, some people said his films were crude and his shots were straightforward. Once this film comes out, it will firmly shut their mouths."

Xie Fei looked at Old Situ, who was sitting there looking calm and collected, seemingly resting with his eyes closed but actually pricking up his big ears to eavesdrop, and couldn't help but spit in his heart.

The old guy is so lucky. A documentary filmmaker who doesn't know a damn thing about cinema, yet he just happened to get lucky and bring out the signature Class of '78 from the Beijing Film Academy. Now, any scrap he picks up turns out to be a great director in the making.

No, it's not just "in the making" anymore; he's already formed, needing only a little fine carving to be complete.

Seeing that Xie Fei was slightly shocked, Old Tian decided to add a little more shock to him.

"Old Xie, did you notice the changes in the statue in the female lead's home?"

Mikhalkov had heard from the introduction that the speaker was the film's art director and cinematographer, so he quickly asked the translator to relay it to him. Chabrol also leaned in to listen to the translation.

Xie Fei thought about it, but he hadn't noticed this. Unless one breaks down the film or watches it frame by frame, who would notice such small details?

Old Tian chuckled and said quite proudly: "At the beginning, the female lead's home has a statue of a woman with a broken arm, but later in the film, it changes to a statue of three women embracing. If you don't observe carefully, you definitely won't notice."

In fact, when filming, Old Tian was also shocked by Cao Yang's arrangement.

Xie Fei thought about it; there indeed seemed to be a female statue, but he had only assumed it was to highlight the style of a wealthy home. Now it seems there must be another intention.

"The initial woman with the broken arm expresses that the female lead is being abused, isolated, and helpless, bearing it alone. The change to the three embracing women later indicates that the group of abused women has begun to warm and help each other, which also represents the female lead beginning to resist."

Seeing Xie Fei nod thoughtfully, Old Tian continued: "We can see in the film that the abuser, the female lead's husband, plays golf in the direction of the sculpture. This is a satire on the group of people who commit domestic violence."

Xie Fei nodded again.

Old Tian asked with a grin: "Old Xie, do you guess this statue has any other meanings?"

Xie Fei began to think, and Mikhalkov and Chabrol couldn't help but think as well. What other metaphors could there be?

The three of them shook their heads one after another; they couldn't think of any other metaphors.

Just these metaphors alone were surprising enough; could there really be other meanings?

Old Tian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, thank goodness, he wasn't a fool.

!

Even Old Xie and Mikhalkov, who have won Golden Bears and Golden Lions, couldn't think of it; it was normal that he hadn't thought of it at the time.

Old Tian regained his confidence.

"Don't you think the image of this sculpture is very similar to the famous scene later in the film where the male lead kisses her forehead and strokes her head with his other hand, with the female lead's husband in between?"

Mikhalkov's eyes lit up, and he interjected: "Echoing the beginning and the end."

Old Tian nodded and smiled mysteriously, "There is one more layer of meaning."

"There's more?"

The few people looked at each other. How many layers of meaning were there already? How could there be more?

"This also reflects the relationship between the male and female leads, which is blocked by the abuser in the middle, the female lead's husband."

"Oh, my God, there is actually this layer of meaning too. I racked my brains and couldn't think of it. It's truly magical. Cao is truly amazing. A simple change in a statue can have so many interpretations and so many metaphors. It's incredible..."

Chabrol, like a bumpkin who had never seen the world, shouted and praised Cao Yang incessantly.

Xie Fei felt even more unbalanced. How could such a good student be snatched away by that old guy Situ first? What a pity, what a huge pity!

It wasn't just the three of them; in this small screening room, everyone was in a state of shock.

A small change in a statue had been played with such brilliance.

What is a genius?

This, goddamn it, is a genius!

(End of chapter)