坠入2006

在绚丽的自然风光和异国诡迷的建筑风情下，我仿佛变成了片中的那个小女孩，在蒙面侠的带领下寻求着希望和重生，当正义和友情一个个倒在恶魔宫殿的血泊之中时便再也忍不住眼泪，看着小女孩和罗伊相对为死亡和背叛争执，我也很想无理取闹一次，不要死，都好好地活着好么。

  本是一出绝妙的童话，又何尝不像复仇的五人行那般在成人的社会里厮杀出一条血路，如果《潘神的迷宫》是撒旦的眼瞳，那么《坠入》便是天使的翎羽。让女孩做主角的好处是她们更富有想象力和浪漫主义精神，不论是笑或眼泪都会在晓寒深处为你无声绽放一束暖光，让最绝望的人相信自己是历尽千辛万苦的骑士乘风破浪而来。

  当童话中的人物一点点浮出水面，我开始不愿相信现实和童话的分界，犹如《大鱼》中永远沉浸在童话梦想中的父亲那般自娱自乐。罗伊和女孩甚至彼此互不相识，可他们有一辈子的时间可以认识，幸运的是，这一辈子已经开始。

  黑白默片在被放慢了数倍后带来的故事的开始，因为戏中戏的叙述方式而让真实和虚幻愈发混淆了视听，胶片里跳跃自如的罗伊--真的很像卓别林--已经不再是那个自怨自艾一心求死的人，相反，他的每一次自杀式演戏都是在象征着重生和前进。当他在荧幕前看着自己第一次跳跃致残却被剪掉了的戏份后，还以为是“错过了什么”。过去的时光即便慢放也已经永远凝固不会改变，所以片尾放到他成名之后那一次次义无反顾的飞跃就像童话中的他一样飞快前行，珍贵如斯被奉为绝技。

  童话中的五个人物背景都很有趣，一生为奴却眼睁睁看着亲哥哥累死在农场的黑人怒火冲天放走了所有的奴隶立志要杀死恶伯爵对应着现实中送冰块的黑人，同样是奴隶，而在不久的将来也将奋起反抗得到自由和平等，这个人也同样象征着男主角事业不得志的郁郁寡欢；

  印度人的妻子被恶伯爵占领，而其妻子忠贞不二在绝望迷宫中逃脱不得跳楼而死，而印度人发誓杀死恶伯爵并且再也不会看别的女人一眼，他对应着橘子园里的场主，并象征着男主角对前妻的余情未了和期盼；

  爆炸师在一次与恶伯爵接触后却被众人孤立，所以立志要杀死恶伯爵，爆炸师是电影的制作人，他就像是男主角此刻瘫痪在床事业婚姻双失败的心境，被世界抛弃满心愤恨狂躁，是所有负面情绪的来源；

  而热爱动物的达尔文憎恨恶伯爵是因为自己一生追逐美洲蝴蝶，而恶伯爵知道后却亲自赠送给了他一只死去的蝴蝶标本，即便现实中的“达尔文”只是一个默默无闻的小护理，可在片中却象征着对梦想的坚持、自信的来源以及希望之光的闪耀；

  神秘人像老马一样带领着众人找到恶伯爵的宫殿，他强大无比可以以一敌百，而他的神秘咒语更可以帮助众人走出绝望和困境，这是那个善良可爱的老头的化身，在现实中的老人死去后连童话中的神秘人也放弃了前行的希望向敌人投降而受尽凌辱，老人在小女孩和罗伊第一次面对死亡时为他们编写了强大的希望咒语，虽然出场不多便撒手人寰却绝对是不可或缺的人物，他是黑暗中的火光、是阴霾中的避风港，人们依靠他逐渐强大，可要真正的强大，却是要靠这最终的分离；

  罗伊在故事中时一个羞涩而怯弱的蒙面侠，为了给同伴报仇而成为众人的首领一步步走向恶伯爵的宫殿，从强势、坚定到泄露了内心的软弱和绝望，最终在女孩的鼓励下一鼓作气报仇雪恨；而恶伯爵--即现实中将他的护士妻子夺走的医生--也因为作孽太多被自己的利剑所消灭。

  片中的主角女孩并不美，被摔断了的一条胳膊时时刻刻挂在脖子上，门口豁了两颗门牙，虽然说是遗传可不能不令人联想到那次暴民叛乱，她不懂死亡和亲吻的意义，却因为过早的接触了太多本不属于这花一样年纪的事情而能模模糊糊明白它们的重要性；她不知道在罗伊身上究竟发生了什么，却愿意撒谎让罗伊相信他猜对了脚趾。直到她笑着奔跑在橘子园中，我几乎认定，自己看见了天使。

  在童话的背景下女孩一家的惨状也以回忆和木偶剧的方式展现在观众面前，减少了现实的残酷，在成人世界几乎不可饶恕的种族歧视和暴民肆行政府无能等等问题换做了孩童眼中，却不过是一些无意义的符号和愚蠢无意义的斗争。流血、厮杀、死亡、火焰皆是抹不去的恐惧，悲哀的是这人间地狱的惨状被无辜孩童眼观殆尽，而幸运的是，她不知道她都看到了什么。

  在导演的镜头下那十八个国家的二十六个外景地完全像是特效或油画走下来的美丽超脱异观赏，不似人间寻常物，橘黄色的沙漠像被哪个随心的花匠浓浓一笔勾勒在朗朗晴空下，这大自然的盛景下遥观站在白色沙地上的所谓人间强者也不过如蝼蚁一般弱小；大象在蓝色冰洋中自由穿梭在逃亡之人和鱼群之中，庞大和渺小都在生命的执着下闪耀着相同的光辉；原始丛林中半裸的族人为生命和道路的祈祷之舞更是让我联想到了《天地玄黄》所带来的震撼之美；当勇士和美人彼此表白之时远景和近景的互叠将情绪的渲染和风景的秀丽融为一体，是许多人毕生连幻想也见得不到的美景；他们的婚礼在梦游般的旋转中开始，而这开始却象征着欺骗和背叛的真实，舞蹈背后是黑衣骑士的追杀和肆虐，是否因为如此，那伴舞的牧师们皆是闭眼不见这梦幻的破碎。

  而那无边的想象力更是在视觉的盛宴锦上添花，闭上眼睛你什么也看不见，但你用手揉一揉眼睛却能看见漫天的繁星；美丽的美洲蝴蝶在人们的关注下逐渐用自己的晶莹化作了蝴蝶礁的奇观，更神奇的是被小女孩所厌恶的神父在童话中背叛了誓约后那张面无表情的脸变作了山脚下五人的死刑场。

  不仅仅是女孩坠入了一个美妙的童话，也是成人坠入了她们的天真美好中。因为相信爱、相信正义、相信感情、相信阳光，所以感动的无处躲藏，唯有挺身而出热泪盈眶。讲故事的人和听故事的最终都坠入了这个故事之中不分你我，但愿现实也可以如童话一般永远有一个美好而快乐的结局。

这是一篇写literary design方面的film theory课的论文，本来是渣英文的，附在后面。



The Fall 中的"坠落"意象



作为一部幻想影片，The Fall 中有许多隐喻。除了现实和电影中杜撰的故事的联系，坠落的意象从影片开始一直到结束重复出现。在The Fall不同的情节发展阶段运用坠落的意象，对影片的连续性；观众对影片主题的理解，也就是Roy(Lee Pace) 头脑里对人生选择的纠结以及致敬电影特技演员；以重复来强调主题；都有贡献。



基本上，影片中坠落的意象有四层，每一层都与情节发展紧紧相连，而观众的感情也被情节牵动。

第一个坠落场景是一张纸的坠落，这很有趣，因为这就是Alexandria(Cantinca Untaru)怎么认识Roy的。第个他们事实上提起“坠落”这个词的场景是Roy问Alexandria为何住院。她解释说她摘桔子的时候跌落了，Roy回应说我也是。在第一阶段，坠落只是实际的物理过程。两个主角因为纸条坠落和现实的相同坠落经历建立起了联系。而且，观众会想知道为什么Roy坠落以及它和主题的关系。这个悬念引领观众寻求答案。

随着情节发展，Roy开始给Alexandria讲那个故事。第一个有人坠落的场景是在Roy的故事里，印度人的老婆从领导者那里逃跑的场景。作为故事讲述者，Roy评价说：“这是唯一的出路。”然后蓝侠也通过跳桥逃脱了。两次逃跑，两个不同结局：死或者活。尽管坠落能引向死亡，这个女人和蓝侠，或者说Roy自己，认为这是个通向自由的方法。对于Roy故事里的女人来说，自由只是物理层面上的；对于Roy来说，自由是心理层面上的。在第二阶段，坠落代表追求自由的方式，并且暗示了Roy的自杀倾向因为他想从残酷现实中逃脱。这个时刻电影的主题最终被揭示：这是关于Roy心中的选择和挣扎。尽管我们仍然不知道他的自杀念头从何而来，我们可能更加渴望发现最后会怎么结束。

转折点发生在Alexandria从椅子上跌落的时候。这个画面和Roy跌落摔断腿的画面、Alexandria的父亲从马上跌落的画面交叉播放。这些场景的相同点是他们都没能做成一些事情：Alexandria没能给Roy拿到药片，Roy作为演员没能做到特技，Alexandria的父亲没能保护他们的家。他们的失败都建立在坠落的基础上。所以在第三阶段，坠落指的是失败。从之前的场景里我们也知道了Roy的过去，意识到他想要自杀，是因为他跌落，也就是他失败了，作为特技演员在事业上失败，和女友的关系也失败了。现在观众更加好奇Roy最后的选择以及他对Alexandria的跌落如何反应。

最后，影片的高潮在结尾附近到来。Roy杀掉了他故事里面的每个人，给了故事一个悲伤的结局。每个角色坠落着死亡的时候有许多坠落镜头：达尔文坠落的中景镜头，印度人坠落的远景镜头，红侠坠落的近景尽头。坠落的场景很美但充满残忍。特别是当主角红侠坠入水中，以慢镜头的方式展示他的极度绝望。在这一阶段，坠落暗示着死亡。

同时，一些与坠落相反的意象出现。例如，向上爬的动作暗示着挣扎求生。另一个例子是Alexandria一直在喊“起来”，这代表着求生的愿望。Roy那句“我起不来”的台词不仅指的是他身体上不能站起来，也指的是他心理上不能面对失败。这两种矛盾的意象，起与落，一直都以潜在戏剧冲突存在，但第一次正式出现在观众面前是作为高潮的标志。然后就迎来了突变，Alexandria请求Roy不要死，红侠也从水里站起来。Roy的选择最终做出。他不会以坠落的方式放弃生命。

影片结尾有一些特技演员坠落的黑白片段。坠落的含义在此时回归到物理意义上的坠落，和开头呼应。观众也意识到影片的隐藏主题是对特技演员的致敬。



通过回顾情节发展过程，我们可以看到三个主要的在影片中使用坠落意象的原因。

第一个原因是，作为线索，这个意象保持了影片的连贯性。第一眼看上去，The Fall似乎是主题结构，因为坠落的主题出现了这么多次。实际上，导演用了一种相当传统的方式来推进故事。更像是线性结构，按照时间顺序。这部影片不同寻常的是它有故事里的故事。我并不觉得这两个故事是平行的因为他们被意象联系在一起，而非各自独立。在现实和想象世界里来回跳跃也许会令观众迷惑。所以我们需要一些不变的东西让影片的主题集中。坠落的意象就是这个固定点。它作为线索出现在情节发展的每一个阶段，使观众能通过集中注意力在坠落上面来跟上情节。

第二个原因是，坠落的意象能让观众更好地理解影片主题：Roy的内心挣扎。如之前分析，坠落代表着不同的意义：物理意义上，自由，失败和死亡。每一个都在影片不同阶段被强调，以便让观众一步步踏入Roy的思想。最开始我们发现他的自杀倾向是因为在他的幻想世界里，坠落的动作，可能会引向死亡，却对他意味着自由和解脱。然后我们发现他想自杀的原因是事业爱情双重失败，因为在他心中，坠落本身就是失败的象征。最后，在故事中坠落的时候，他改变了主意。我们能感受到当面对坠落的过程（死亡），是Alexandria的爱给了他活着的希望。如上所言，通过弄清楚坠落意象的含义，我们能更好地理解主角的想法、动机和选择。而且，物理过程的坠落也和向特技演员致敬的主题有关。这就是为什么影片标题也是坠落。这善意地提醒你关注坠落的意象。

第三个原因是，通过重复坠落的意象，观众对影片主题有了更深的印象。比如，在Roy故事的悲剧结尾，重复的大量坠落镜头为观众制造出一种震惊效果。似乎死亡是每个人无可避免的结束，我们也能感受到Roy当时相同的绝望。所以当突变到来，我们很开心，庆祝Roy并没有自杀的决定。而且，影片结尾还有许多片段展示特技演员做特技的画面，向他们对电影的贡献致敬。我们能看到他们一直从马上，火车上，桥上坠落。这些重复的画面令我们意识到忽略这些演员的努力是多么容易的事情，而他们在数不清的电影里做出了多大的贡献。



总结说来，The Fall中坠落的意象和情节发展紧密联系，引发了观众对于探索影片主题的兴趣。导演聪明地在整部电影中都用它作为线索，也引向了主题，这让它对观众来说更容易跟随影片节奏，让它看起来更加令人深刻。




The symbolism of “falling” in The Fall



As a fantasy movie, there are a lot of symbols and metaphors in The Fall (2006). Except for the correlations between the reality and the made-up story in the movie, the idea of “falling” keeps showing up from the movie’s beginning to the end. Using the symbolism of “falling” at different stages of plot development in The Fall makes great contribution to the continuity of this movie, the audience’s better understanding of the movie’s main theme, which are the struggle of life choices in Roy’s (Lee Pace) mind as well as a salute to all stuntmen in motion pictures, and emphasis on the theme by repetition.



Basically, there are four layers in the symbolism of “falling” in this movie and each of them is closely related to the development of plot in which the audience is emotionally involved.

The first scene of falling is the fall of a piece of paper, which is interesting because that’s how Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) meets Roy. The first scene in which they actually mention the word “fall” is when Roy asks why Alexandria is in hospital. She explains that she falls while picking oranges and Roy replies as “me too”. At the first stage, “falling” only means the actual physical process. The two main characters establish a relationship because of paper “falling” and the same experience of real falling. Besides, audience may start to wonder why Roy falls and its relation to the theme. That’s a suspense leading audience to seek for the answer.

As the plot develops, Roy begins to tell Alexandria that story. The first scene of a person falling is the scene of the Indian’s wife escaping from the governor in Roy’s story. As a narrator of this story, Roy comments: “It’s the only way out.” Later, Blue Bandit (Emil Hostina) also escapes by jumping from a bridge. Two escapes with two different endings: death or live. Although falling can lead to death, the woman and Blue Bandit, or Roy himself, consider it as a way to freedom. For the woman in Roy’s story, the freedom is on physical basis; for Roy, the freedom is in psychological sense. At the second stage, the “falling” represents the way of pursuing freedom and indicates Roy’s trend of suicide because he wants to escape from the cruel reality. This is the moment when the theme of this movie finally reveals: it is about choices and struggle in Roy’s mind. Although we still don’t know about where his suicidal thoughts come from, we may become eager to find out how it will end at last.

The turning point comes as Alexandria falls from the chair. And this frame cross-dissolves with the scene in which Roy falls and breaks his leg as well as the scene in which Alexandria’s father (Emil Hostina) falls from a horse. The identical idea behind these three scenes is that they all fail to do something: Alexandria fails to get pills for Roy; Roy fails to do the tricks as an actor; Alexandria’s father fails to protect their home. Their failures are all based on falling. Thus at the third stage, “falling” refers to failure. From the earlier scene, we also know about Roy’s past and realize that he wants to suicide because he falls, which means he fails, both in career as a stuntman and in relationship with his girlfriend. Now audience gets more curious about Roy’s choice at the end and how he will react to the fall of Alexandria.

Finally, the climax of this movie occurs near the end. Roy gives a tragic ending to his story by killing every character in it. There are plenty of falling shots as every character falls to death: the medium shot of Darwin’s (Leo Bill) fall; the long shot of the Indian’s (Jeetu Verma) fall; the close-up of Red Bandit’s (Lee Pace) fall. The falling scenes are beautiful but full of cruelty, especially the scene of the main character Red Bandit falling into water, presenting in slow motion to show his extreme desperation. At this stage, “falling” suggests death. Meanwhile, some opposing symbols of “falling” appear. For instance, the action of “climbing” indicates struggling for living. Another example is that Alexandria keeps crying out “get up”, which represents the will to live. Roy’s line of “I can’t get up” not only refers to his physical incapacity of standing up but also his psychological incapacity of facing his failure. These two contradictory symbols, rise and fall, exist there for the whole time as potential dramatic conflict but first officially appears in front of the audience as a sign of climax. Then here comes peripeteia in this movie when Alexandria asks Roy not to die and Red Bandit stands up from the water. Roy’s choice is eventually made. He will not give up his life by “falling”.

At the end of this movie, there are some clips in black and white showing stuntmen’s falling. The meaning of “falling” returns to be physical falling at this point, echoing with the beginning. And the audience figures out there is a hidden theme of this movie, which is a salute to all the efforts of stunt actors.



By reviewing the process of plot development, we can clearly see three main reasons of using symbolism of “falling” in this movie.

The first reason is that it contributes to the continuity of this movie by serving as a clue. At the first sight, The Fall seems to follow a thematic structure because the theme “fall” appears so many times. In fact, the director uses a quite traditional way to push the story forward. It’s more like a linear structure and follows a chronological sequence. What’s usual about it is that this movie has a story within a story. I don’t think that the two stories are parallel because they are connected by symbols instead of being independent. Jumping between reality and imaginative worlds frequently might make the audience confused. Therefore we need something unchangeable to make the theme of the movie focused. The symbolism of “falling” is the fixed point. It appears in every stage of plot development as a clue to make sure that the audience can easily follow up the plot by focusing on the idea of “falling”.

The second reason is that the symbolism of “falling” can help the audience understand the main theme of this movie, which is the consistent struggle in Roy’s mind. As analyzed before, “falling” represents different ideas as “physical falling”,“freedom”, “failure” and “death”. Each of them is emphasized at different stages of plot in order to let the audience step deeper and deeper in the main character Roy’s thoughts. At first, we discover his suicidal thoughts because in his imagined world, the action of “falling”, which possibly leads to death, means freedom and liberation to him. Later on, we find out the reason that he wants to suicide is his double failure in love and career because in his mind, “falling” itself is a representation of failure. At last, he changes his mind during the “falling” in his story and we can feel that when facing the process of “falling”(death) , it is Alexandria’s love that gives him the desire to live. As is above, by making clear of the symbolic meanings of “falling”, we can have a better understanding of the main character’s thoughts, motives and choices. In addition, the physical process of falling is also related to the theme of saluting to stunt actors. That’s why the title of this movie is The Fall, too. It serves as a kind reminder to let you pay attention to the symbolism of “falling”.

The third reason is that by repeating the symbolism of “falling”, audience can have a comparatively deep impression on the movie’s theme. For instance, at the sad ending of Roy’s story, the repetition of intensive falling shots produce an astonishing effect for the audience. It seems that death is an inevitable ending for everyone and we can feel the same desperation as Roy does at that time. Thus we are more delighted when the peripeteia occurs and celebrate for Roy’s decision of not conducting suicide. Also, at the end of the movie, there are many video clips showing the way in which stunt actors do tricks, as a salute to their contribution to motion pictures. We can see that they keep falling from the horse, the train and the bridge. These repetitive actions make us realize how easy it is to overlook these actors’ effort and how much contribution that they have made in countless movies.



In conclusion, the symbolism of “falling” in The Fall has an intimate relationship with the plot development and triggers the audience’s interests in exploring the movie’s theme. The director cleverly use it as a clue through the whole movie and as a lead to the theme, which makes it easy for audience to follow and impressive to watch.

每隔一段时间就要重看坠入，这片子差一点就能进入我的最爱榜单，但是它实在太美太美，美的看多了会审美疲劳。

这片子让我认识了很多人，首先是lee pace，太美了，美得让人不能移开目光，但当我查他的履历时，赫然出现了《soldier’s girl》！这部除了“女”主没给我留下太大印象的电视电影，原来他就是那高大甜美的女主(误！）这种后知后觉发现真相的心情真是百般纠结，只差以头垦地了，当时我甚至没怀疑过女主的性别。于是对佩佩这张脸更加膜拜，为什么一个一米九的男人会有一张如此精巧的脸？在这张脸上想做性别的转换，唯一需要动的就是眉毛。。。

还有tarsem，这个广告导演起家的印度男人把三哥骨子里那种对色彩的执着发挥到了极致，去官网看了他导的广告和mv，整个一个视觉风暴和慢镜洗礼，有兴趣可以找来看看。提到tarsem不能不说石冈瑛子，也是从这部片子开始了解这位大师级人物，相比惊情四百年，她和tarsem合作的两部片子在造型上显然更出位，我猜这来自于导演的给予的自由度，或者说个性相投。坠入的造型和服装，绝对是馆藏级别的精美。

再说回电影，如果这只是一部美的不行的片子，当然不会获得如此高的评分。我印象中，这是唯一一部促使我对替身演员产生敬意的影片，结尾处的黑白片段剪辑一下子把人拉回现实，在那个年代有多少人为仅仅一个无声的镜头失去健全的人生，只有当这些镜头被拼接到一起，才足见力度。。。所以当小姑娘不停地说thank you,thank you时，留下的泪绝不只是为roy这一个人物。

还有对于移民的歧视，或者说种族歧视更恰当。小胖妞一家人工作勤恳。但人们对待他们如贱民，甚至roy第一次见小孩都在问她是不是偷了东西。讽刺的是，后来我们知道，他们被偷了马，被烧了房子，甚至被杀害。

片子的小细节也十分讨巧，比如那句咒语：googly googly googly go away。GOOGLY乃是影片制作公司的名字，这个公司基本就是tarsem的专用。还有片子中间有一段，一行人出现在各国名胜，每一处停留连一秒都不到，短短数十秒的一段，摄制组竟然亲赴了每一个地方拍摄。。。于是我想，不会把演员也接了去吧毕竟是远景，结果片尾的staff表里，某一个地名下，出现了“lee pace’s driver"字样。。。

洋洋洒洒写了这些，星星眼的希望lee能多接好戏，让更多的人认识这个魔性美男！

我又没出息的哭了
从Roy最后一次给Alexandra讲故事那场戏开始，我跟着他俩哭得稀里哗啦一塌糊涂

Alexandra: Roy, why are you killing everybody? Why you make everybody die?
Roy: It's my story.
Alexandra: It's also mine.

It's also mine, 这句话真让我揪心
——我们的人生，我们的悲欢，不仅仅只属于我们自己，如果分享，就不会孤独

罗曼罗兰说：
只要还有一双忠实的眼睛陪我流泪，就值得我为生命受苦