Sophie Marceau, who is no longer young, began to hold a guide tube in the past two years, and the response was not surprising, far less than her attention as an actress. Monica bellucci made frequent appearances in American and French film circles, and tried to break through the vase pattern, and made several drama films to test his acting skills, but the effect was not satisfactory. European actresses are considered the best. Borrow a movie title, that is, "only blame you for being beautiful." Among actresses of the same age, beauty is better than acting, and they always yearn for the word "great" to cross the ocean. Opposite the vase is a talented woman. Interestingly, Marina Dewan, the director of Don't Look Back, is a "talented girl" who has made great achievements in the French film circle in recent years. Devan is not very old, but he was born in Femis, and his image is also plastic. She often writes and performs in the films of other disciples such as Francois Ozon. She is a cutting-edge female filmmaker with talent, guidance, editing and acting skills. Never Looking Back is just Devan's second feature film. The final debut of "In My Skin" won wide acclaim from the circle and the audience. Make persistent efforts this time, as a newcomer, I was directly selected into the screening unit of Cannes Film Festival, bringing together two top beauties and sharing the stage with the master. The future is quite promising.
The idea of "Never Looking Back" can really be summarized by the name of Devan's previous works: two middle-aged women with completely different looks and identities, French Jenny, are "hidden" in the "skin" of Marina, Italy, from deep sleep to awakening. Jenny, a woman writer with a happy life and a happy family, suddenly experienced great changes in her body when she was faced with creative difficulties. Not only his appearance and body, but also the relatives and environment around him have been erased, which is strange to unknown so. The heroine had to trace her memory and lead the audience to find the reason together. It all started with her memoirs, and what was lost in her memory was her childhood. The chaos in the film turned into a strange suspense, and the relationship between time and space was completely disordered. Sophie Marceau was caught in a surreal fog, and the audience followed in circles. Finally, I found the director's intention, just like watching a face-changing magic show.
The deliberate confusion in the narrative of the film is not complicated if it is told in a normal way, but Defan obviously doesn't want to be so conservative and brief. Don't Look Back simulates every stage of Sophie Marceau's gradual transformation into monica bellucci with advanced computer special effects. And this change should be accompanied by the plot, not a shot every few seconds. In the film, in more than ten minutes, Jenny's face is half Sophie and half Monica. The facial features of two beautiful women are rigidly attached to one face and become weird and ugly. This completely unreasonable modeling is not surprising to outsiders. The repeated changes of characters and environment have blurred the boundary between reality and imagination. In the film, Devan actually quoted the way of "psychological representation". Like many successful thrillers, the audience is likely to see only the illusion of the heroine. Including her own appearance, the appearance of her mother, husband and children, family background, etc. Jeanne must look for herself from the cradle of her childhood, just like the hypnosis of psychologists, and find herself from the depths of memory. What "Never Looking Back" does is to film this process, confusing the subjective and objective, the coexistence of truth and illusion, and the overlapping and separation of soul and body.
This is a good script, but it's a pity that Defan's handling is too magical and shows off his skills, confusing montage with narration. Sometimes the audience needs to ponder the causal logic and fill in the loopholes themselves, which is a good thing. The result is a little circuitous, and the first half of the story is confusing and cumbersome. This idea of searching for family history secrets is very similar to that of the early Amodova, especially the part where Tina recognized her biological mother from the photo and resolutely went to southern Italy, which became the real turning point of this suspense story. The audience who are familiar with this kind of subject matter can already guess the origin of the matter, gradually accept the director's handling method, and then state it from the girl's point of view, which will be much easier. In contrast, Amodova's suspense is clear and neat, and she can create magical effects through dramatic techniques without magic stunts. Devan's "Never Look Back" is "mechanized".
As a commercial film, the biggest selling point of the film is the "confrontation" between two top European beauties. Because there is only one female change in the film, there are actually not many opponents. Half the story is equally divided, Sophie plays the first half, Monica plays the second half, and there is only one eye contact at the end, which is regarded as the "handover ceremony" of the soul to the body. As for who is better in acting, fans have their own judgment. Personally, I think Sophie has more doubts and fears, more and heavier scenes to perform, and the audience's emotions are mobilized with her psychological performance. After Monica went back to Italy to look for it, the story was smooth and clear, supplemented by flashbacks of childhood memories, leaving almost no room for performance. The most talked about is the process of her changing face. Through the reconstruction of facial features by 3D technology and the exquisite makeup of eyes and nose bridge, the audience can see the most complete and meticulous "face-changing magic" in the history of movies. It turns out that beauty is also a "true lie".
Regrettably, the relatively conservative French film critics did not agree with the painstaking efforts of the director Marina Dewan, and did not give face to the two female stars at all. After the release of The Road of No Return, the evaluation was not high. It should be said that the audience is still very curious about such suspense themes. This is not a boring story for no reason. The alienation of the actor's body even smacks of a cult, which is a rare attempt. However, this is the problem. People regard Don't Look Back as an art film, and think that the director and screenwriter are mystifying and showing off stunts. But the audience can see that the film is a commercial type, but they can't fully accept its expression and lack simple narrative logic. Perhaps the expectations were a little high, and finally the box office was not as ideal as expected. But it is too early to give an evaluation to these two actresses. After all, for the first cooperation, both of them worked hard. In the years when charm still exists, it takes courage to leave traces on the screen with this "disfigured" confrontation, which is worthy of fans' pursuit and infatuation for many years.
Luc, Paris, France, June 2009.
In July, it was published in the column "Letters from France" in "Watching Movies" (I reprinted it from other places and forgot LZ liked it).