布劳涅森林的女人们

Bresson’s second feature film, the plot is as simple as this: a woman takes revenge to her ex-lover by coaxing him into marry a young girl with an ill reputation, but the movie emanates a classical elegance through a meager four-player game.

A young socialite Hélene (Casarès), sensing that the romance between her and her lover Jean (Bernard) has plateaued out, weasels her way into the latter’s blithe confession by feigning that she wants to take a step back from their liaison, a cunning move to elicit the truth without staging a scene, in fact, she completely gains Jean’s trust and admiration by her ostensible munificence and sensibility, little does he know, the tidings is a hammer blow to her.

The best cure to overcome a broken heart is to retaliate, so Hélene plumps for a limber and comelycabaret dancer Agnès (Labourdette) as her bait to inveigle Jean into the trap, while keeping both oblivious of her true motive and the nexus is to keep a lid on Agnès’ demimonde background from Jean until the wedding day. The whole plot is trenchantly actualized by a concatenation of conversations between various parties, playing up verbal interaction as an engaging fencing contest. Bresson lays bare its psychological signification through his able players (his last film cast by professionals). An inscrutable Maria Casarès oozes a stunning sophistication well beyond her age, every line she delivers can be savored with connotations ranging from manipulation to circumspectly veiled threats (dialogue is supervised by none other than Jean Cocteau), she revels in subtle moderations of her countenance and never lets up into theatricality.

Elina Labourdette’s Agnès, by comparison, guilelessly wears her hearts on her sleeve and makes heavy weather of her resistance from Jean which belies her abject capitulation in the first place, there is no reason for a young girl balks at a suave suitor like Jean if not for her ignoble past, andPaul Bernard gaily epitomizes a man’s naiveté and predictability despite the fact that it is after all, him who has the say-so in the fallout, not these two polarized lollapaloozas from the opposite sex, orLucienne Bogaert’s Madame D., Agnès’ careworn mother. Amicrocosm of our patriarchal hierarchy is under Bresson’s sober scrutiny here.

The ending is tinged with romanticism (through the illumining light on Agnès’ impeccable visage), resuscitated by love over prejudice, the pair might indeed obtain true happiness after the event, the film sends a liberal-minded message and bears testimony of Bresson’s aptitude of grappling with something ablaze with connivance, melancholy and lachrymosity, a rather disparate frontage, but not entirely less crafted, in juxtaposition with his more distinguished and groundbreaking masterworks.

referential points: Bresson’s L’ARGENT (1983, 7.2/10), THE DEVIL, PROBABLY (1977, 7.0/10).

因为重新看了《梦想者四夜》，想到了这一部改编电影。虽然两部电影都是把场景换到了巴黎，但前者讲的是一个现代故事，而这一部是一个前现代故事，当然也是让我第一次看的时候一直搞不懂这些人纠缠的原因到底是什么，直到最后才明白原来核心是男主角娶了一个舞女。这个问题已经被说烂了，我不想废话这。

这部电影已经看得出后来布列松成熟时期的风格了，当然其实还可以简洁一些（虽然已经是86分钟的“长度”了），不过再简洁也会让台词显得不搭，多处台词像诗歌（虽然只是野生翻译都能感觉到），这里肯定有谷克多的贡献。

最后一幕新娘的独白如同一首告白诗：

你来了， 也许你以后会原谅我，

但是别着急。

很多诚实的女孩，

都变成了不诚实的女人，

也许我会证明反之也一样成立。

我不值得你靠近我，

请耐心等待。

请给我留一点希望 然后你可以

评判我的所作所为

如果你能忍受我的存在

我会非常开心

在你家里给我留一角栖息之地

我会毫无怨言地待在那

我并不邪恶

我了解我自己

我很虚弱

而且我爱你

那是我唯一的借口

我缺乏告诉你事实的勇气

记得那封你不肯读的信吗

那是封不怎么令人开心的信

你可以忘了我

我不会再烦着你了

一切都会很简单。

嗯，又有关于信的东西，又学会了一个开头。

我不是勇敢的类型 我要告诉你一些 我永远不敢当面说的话

第一部布列松的电影，这也是我特别喜欢这部电影的原因吧。

很多诚实的女孩最后都变成了不诚实的女人，也许我会证实反之也一样成立。我不值得你靠近我，但请耐心等待，请留给我一点希望，然后你可以评判我的所作所为。如果你能忍受我的存在，我会非常开心，在你家里给我留一角栖息之地，我会毫无怨言地待在那儿。我并不坏，而且我爱你，那是唯一的借口。

布列松的《布劳涅森林的女人们》根据狄德罗《宿命论者雅克和他的主人》里一个故事改编，台词和镜头都很棒，充满诗意。女主最后的这段告白非常美。

虽然一个关于复仇的故事，因为影片happy ending而有点转折过大，宿命感也因此被消解，然而这个结尾还是我看过的电影里最动人的结尾之一。特别是男主最后握着妻子的手，一声声的“Lutte！"、“Reste avec moi！”（坚持住！、留下和我在一起！）十分动人，鼓舞人心，让人不禁联想是导演和编剧在对观众们发出这样的鼓励。

虽说《布劳涅森林的女人们》不是严格意义上的一部“布列松片”，但是看完此片我们应该相信，任何阴谋和宿命都比不过真爱的伟大，这也许是导演留下的最暖心之作。