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Monday, April 13, 2009

Disgrace 屈辱

電影"Disgrace"(澳洲/南非)改編諾貝爾獎南非作家J.M. Coetzee的名著"Disgrace"(the book), 故事背景是種族隔離政策廢除後的南非. 名著一直被視為不容易改編, 而作家卻對劇本(Anna Maria Monticelli/兼任監製, 來自摩洛哥)非常滿意.

男主角Professor David Lurie(John Malkovich)的對白及用詞, 一看便知道出自名家的筆下.

導演Steve Jacobs原來第二次執導, 之前都是演戲多, 有這樣的成績, 實在令人刮目相看.

電影首段以開普敦作背景, 講述大學教授David Lurie和學生有染, 結果被迫辭去教職, 跑到在農場生活的女兒Lucy(Jessica Haines)處. 女兒被三個黑人強姦, David雖然身在該處, 卻什麼也做不到.

在別人眼中看來是屈辱, 當局者或許並不覺得如此? 教授明白自己和學生有染不對, 不過也不打算有什麼申辯的行動. 女兒被黑人輪姦, 住處及土地又受黑人(Petrus)控制, 父親覺得是羞辱, 就如狗一樣. 女兒卻寧願默默承受, 也不願意離開這個地方, 這種生活方式.眼見女兒被人迫害得如斯田地, David終於跑回開普敦, 上學生的家和她的家人跪地道歉.

電影描寫父女情令人細味. 自己遇到低谷也安然面對, 悲劇發生在女兒身上才真的令David哭個死去活來. 女兒又堅決要過自己選擇的生活方式, 作為父親的, 唯有支持.

人不如狗? 人吃人, 狗吃狗. 不公平的現實其實沒有分時代, 地點.
John Malkovich演技無容至疑. 飾演女兒Lucy的Jessica Haines也中規中矩. 原來那個飾演Petrus的Eriq Ebouaney也有參與法國導演Claire Denis的"35 Shots of Rum"(35 rhums), 都是今屆電影節的佳作.

戲味十足, 要看.

導演認為, 此片主題包括: 恩典、復仇、果報、性、權力、勢力

IMDB連結

多倫多國際電影節連結

ThReviews

Review on J.M. Coetzee's book

5 comments:

Snowdrops said...

I read the novel when it was out a good few years ago. And it seems that the film has changed a lot from the original plot in the book? Basically the emphasis in the book wasn't trained on the father-daughter relationship as much (in fact, I could hardly remember that the protagonist even had a daughter of his own). There was a lot more written about how the character denies that he was doing anything wrong, that he perpetuated this idea in his head that the female student who was the target of his obsession was not in any way exploited by him, that he in fact was the one who was used...

Perhaps I need to go back to the book again and re-read it again. Thanks so much for the write-up on the film, I like John Malkovich, and given your review, this is certainly one to watch.

And gosh, you've really earned your film buff rep given the huge amount of films you've managed to see in such a short space of time! Dublin had a film festival earlier in the year too (around Feb), I booked ten and only managed to turn up for 7 (yes I wasted good money... and good opportunities!)

mad dog said...

snowdrops: but then i read the booking folder, saying that the writer was actually quite pleased w/ the script. john malkovich did a good job. yeah, i seldom missed films that i bought :)

Snowdrops said...

Oh I'm not disputing that JM Coetzee likes the screenplay, perhaps he liked having a different angle explored in the movie even if that particular angle wasn't exploited to the same extent in the novel. That's the great things about adaptations, the freedom to further explore premises/plotlines that were "hidden" or under-exploited in the original story, and it's great to know that the screenplay got the blessing of JM Coetzee.

mad dog said...

snowdrops: i am sure i shouldn't miss the novel, but am too lazy to read books... lazy lazy... :) maybe the film will disappoint you.

mrls said...

這片非常棒!~