On March 24, the movie "Falling Judgment" held its Chinese premiere at Peking University. Director Justine Trier attended the post-screening exchange and discussed the female perspective in the film with Peking University scholars Dai Jinhua and Dong Qiang. The film received unanimous praise from media and audiences around the world during its screening at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Since then, it has won 280 awards and nominations around the world, winning the Best Film at the 76th Cannes Palme d'Or and the Best Film at the 96th Oscar. Best Original Screenplay Award. "Falling Judgment", which will be released on March 29, is also the Palme d'Or film that will come to mainland China again after 6 years after "Shoplifters" directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu in 2018.
"Falling Judgment" poster
"Falling Judgment" tells the story of a writer played by Sandra Wheeler who is accused of murdering her husband. At the beginning of the movie, the husband mysteriously fell to his death in the vast white snow, leaving the unsolved mystery to the shock Among the wives and children. However, due to rumors of previous discord, the wife became the biggest suspect in the case; the blind son was also implicated in his parents' marital disputes and became the only witness in the case. During the long interrogation and sharp cross-examination, many marital past events buried deep in the memory became key information to solve the mystery. The long-term lack of communication between husband and wife, different lifestyles and personality differences have become the trigger for the outbreak of conflicts. The accumulated emotions and dissatisfaction point to an irreversible tragic ending... Perhaps as the defense lawyer in the film said, "She Her only sin was being too successful where her husband failed.”
As the third female director to win the Palme d'Or in Cannes film history, Justine Trier said at the premiere that this was her first time in China. "I am very curious about how Chinese audiences will understand this film." movie." Talking about his attitude towards family and marriage, the director said that every generation has its own imagination of family and life. "I hope that all of us will not passively accept the habits of this society, but think about it and redefine our attitude towards life and the structure of organizing our lives."
"Judgment of the Fall" director Justine Trier
"This is the women's movie I'm looking forward to"
Director Justine Trier is also one of the screenwriters of the film. She said that the origin of the creation was her ten-year-old daughter. "A very important moment when writing the script was that I thought of my daughter and her thoughts on family life. What do you think of the truth? Of course, my family life and the plot of the movie are completely different stories, and I never thought about killing her father (laughs). As for the origin of the story, the husband fell to the ground from the attic, and the inspiration An animation from the opening credits of the American TV series Mad Men I watched. This scene has always been lingering in my mind, and I wanted to use this image as a source of inspiration for the film.”
"The narrative of this film seems complicated, but it is actually very simple. My main purpose is to delve into the contradictions in the couple's lives and understand them. A body fell in the real space, and at the same time the family also fell. Falling apart, dissolving and disintegrating like a falling body,” said Justin Trier.
Post-screening talk
During the post-screening talk, Professor Dai Jinhua, director of the Film and Culture Research Center of Peking University, said the movie was very charming. "This is a women's film in my mind, a women's film that I look forward to and identify with. "Judgment of the Fall" proves to us that the public nature of film still exists and realism is still possible." "The film is full of suspense , but there is no trace of artificial creation at all, the movie just happens and advances naturally. As many completely unpredictable conditions or factors emerge, the plot is pushed step by step into unexpected directions."
Professor Dong Qiang, an expert on comparative studies of Chinese and French cultures, expressed his feelings about watching the movie as "authentic and profound". He believes that the "trial" and "fall" in the film's title are two key words that cut into the cultural connotation of the film. "'anatomie' is translated as 'trial' in the Chinese translation, and its original meaning is 'analysis' in English and French. And 'chute' means 'fall', and the title of the film is translated as 'fall'. 'Fall' in Western literature It is a very traditional image. The French thinker Montaigne during the Renaissance once fell off a horse to explore his own sense of existence. The existentialist poet Henri Michaux also thought about social transformation and personal encounters after a fall. The relationship between husband and wife. This film carries out a 'surgical' analysis of various problems in the relationship between husband and wife and the relationship between parents and children when a family is going down the road."
"Falling Judgment" stills
Justin Trier said that the most important task of the film is to interrogate the way and meaning of life between husband and wife. "Indeed, we saw in the film that the heroine Sandra is a very powerful woman. At the same time, she was also attacked and questioned because of her strength. The gender structure between the couple in the film is not common. This also led to a lot of conflicts between them. I wanted to change and subvert the usual relationship between husband and wife in some traditional movies."
In this regard, Dai Jinhua said that as a feminist, she did not feel that the male and female roles in the film were completely inverted. “For thousands of years, society has encouraged women to take on the traditional role of wife, do housework, and admit that they are not as good as their partners in career. Pursuing their own career will lead to deep guilt and social condemnation, while all women’s humiliation and burden-bearing will be praised. and praise. In this movie, we see what happens when a husband is placed in the position of a wife in the traditional sense, which is particularly thought-provoking. I think it is the perspective of a female director that makes it so real and Express it accurately, patiently and delicately.”
"The truth is what the audience is concerned about, and the task of the movie is to present the complexity of life."
In "Falling Trial", the husband suddenly fell to death, and various evidences after the incident pointed to the wife's violent behavior in the marriage. The heroine Sandra was once passive during the court trial, and every aspect of the couple's life was disrupted. They were revealed one by one as evidence presented in court. Dai Jinhua believes that the court trial scenes in the film are a carnival that satisfies everyone's "voyeuristic desire". During the final trial, her son Daniel's confession became a key factor in the mother's acquittal.
In this regard, Justin Trier said that there is no clear flashback scene in the film, "In this scene (referring to the son giving evidence in court) the son begins to really help his mother, and he becomes a real activist. .The focus of my presentation is not that the son is making up stories, but his real memories. The most important thing is that at this moment, we will see that Daniel has truly grown up, he has entered the adult world, and he is using his own language to act. , to influence the development of the entire incident."
"Falling Judgment" stills
In Justine Trier's view, the truth is a matter of concern to the audience, but it is not the purpose of the heroine going to court. "Of course everyone is very obsessed with the truth of this story. Did Sandra kill her husband? What the court has to do is to keep getting closer to the truth. In this process, everyone has their own narrative. , constantly getting closer to the truth in the recollections of the events by all parties, not only the truth of the case, but also the truth of the couple's life itself."
"In my opinion, the task of movies is to approach complex life and present the complexity of life. From a certain perspective, movies are the opposite of a short tweet or Weibo, and the director's task is to go deep into the rough , barbaric, and even somewhat dirty life. The son Daniel in the film endured unbearable pressure. His family’s private life was exposed to the public and was judged. This was completely unacceptable to him. Fair. From the perspective of the defendant heroine, what she examines in court is not only the case itself, but also her lifestyle and attitude towards life. She developed her subjectivity as a woman from her own defense, and the movie She is also constantly swinging between these two perspectives. One comes from the eyes of society, pointing fingers at her, and the other comes from the testimony of the heroine Sandra herself. Through her testimony, she makes society believe what kind of person she is. She is a person who deserves to be believed. This movie oscillates between these two complex and even opposing viewpoints, and this is precisely the complexity of life itself." Justin Trier said.
Justin Trier believes that the entire film is built around the female protagonist, "The heroine Sandra in the film is a writer, and there are many descriptions of her and how she views the world. Her understanding of the world, her gaze on the world. I think it would be difficult for a male creator to write about such a character, but my status as a female director is even more important for creating this film and revealing its feminist implications. It’s natural. In the current film industry, or in existing film expressions, this very feminist issue is rare. As a female director, and the heroine in the film is also a writer and creator. Identity was very important to the creation of this film.”
The couple in the movie are French and German respectively, and they usually communicate in English in family life. In the director's opinion, language is also one of the core issues of this film. "English not only creates a neutral space for them, but when they communicate in English, it is also a filtering system. We know that when this couple discusses problems and disputes, they often fail to express their meaning, which causes their A barrier to communication between people. At the same time, language is also a barrier in our search for the truth, like a filtering device, creating a barrier between her and the truth."
"Falling Judgment" stills
"Sandra is acting in an almost documentary way"
During the media group interview session, Justin Trier previously said that after the movie was released, “Many viewers in France think the heroine is innocent, but many people in the United States think she is guilty. People are not convinced on this issue. It’s not moderate at all, everyone has their own very strong and clear position.” A reporter from The Paper asked that the French and American film markets represent different film cultures. Is this related to the past acceptance of film types by audiences in the two regions? Related to preferences?
"Audiences in different countries and regions certainly have different movie tastes, but more importantly, different societies have different moral and cultural norms, especially for women. There are many different judgment standards. This may be The main reason why people have such huge differences of opinion. Another factor is the intergenerational relationship. For example, my mother is 70 years old. She and some female friends of the same age were shocked after watching the movie. , some people say that when I was young, I also wanted to live such a free life and have an equal relationship between husband and wife, but I did not dare to make a choice like Sandra. At the same time, I also pay attention to more and more young people People don’t want to repeat the lifestyle of previous generations. In France, young men and women will think about whether they should live together and whether they should really start a family. In fact, how we look at her is actually a reflection of our own life. Reflect." Justin Trier replied.
"Falling Judgment" stills
Regarding why he chose Sandra Wheeler to play the heroine in the film, Justine Trier said that he was deeply moved by Sandra's past acting style. "Her performance is very natural. On the one hand, she seems to be acting, but on the other hand, there is no trace of acting, as if she is in real life. For this suspenseful film, the actors' performances are usually exaggerated. , but Sandra did not have this kind of exaggerated performance at all, but added some very modern expressions, interpreting this story with genre elements in a way that is almost like filming a documentary. The reason why I included the film The heroine was named Sandra because she hoped that the actor would keep a part of her life in the movie. In fact, during the filming, I had this feeling that Sandra had left a part of herself in the movie. among."
Talking about whether the stereotypes about female directors and female roles in the current film industry have changed, Justine Trier said that he is 45 years old. “In the past five years, some systemic changes have indeed taken place in the film industry. changes. When I first entered this industry, gender was not an issue, but it is now a very important issue. Maybe before, women were only a source of inspiration for men in this industry. Now we also want to have inspiration from women. Look at men, look at women, look at all people, look at life, look at the world. In recent years, there have been many movies focusing on women. Not only female directors are making them, but many male directors are also making them. It is difficult for me to summarize The overall characteristics of these movies, but we need to pay attention to the diversity of movies, and the most important female issues may not only concern women, but also concern men. For example, "" directed by American director Greta Gerwig "Barbie" is completely different in form from "Judgment of the Fall", and I think it was shot very well."
