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看电影《巴比伦》

已有 4133 次阅读 2023-2-5 22:57 |个人分类:休闲阅读|系统分类:生活其它

看《巴比伦(Babylon, 2022)》其实是出自误会。受片名及其标签“剧情、喜剧、历史”误导，我以为是讲巴比伦王国的古装故事片。该片在4部电影的选片投票中只排第二。女儿知道我不喜欢投票排第一的台湾的悬疑惊悚犯罪片，同意改为这部电影。没有想到是讲Hollywood历史的时装片。

除了最后的32年结果交待和52年尾声，故事主要发生在1926年到1929年。正是在这个时期，无声电影变成有声电影。出场时已经是大明星的Jack Conard(Brad Pitt饰演)，虽然酗酒，但仍大受欢迎成为票房保证；但未能完成向有声电影的转型，被观众抛弃，最后绝望自杀。出场时自信会成为大明星但还没有进过片场的Nellie LaRoy，因某电影素人女主演在疯狂派对上意外身亡而救场出演，一片走红；也是由于有声电影兴起暴露她台词和口音方面的劣势而失去观众，终究没有东山再起，吸毒赌博， 34岁时吸毒过量死亡。出场时还没有进过片场的墨西哥移民Manny Torres，进了片场成为小助理，后来利用有声电影的契机，成为制片人，自称来自西班牙；他是Nellie LaRoy的爱慕者，后帮助因赌债被黑帮追杀的Nellie LaRoy而逃亡，逃亡途中与Nellie LaRoy结婚，不过她随后自行离去；1952年Manny Torres从东海岸带着妻子孩子重回Hollywood；在电影院看电影时浮想联翩感怀旧事泪流满面。

片名比较费解，我推测Babylon或许是种象征，在荒废已久的古巴比伦王国遗址，新巴比伦王国孕育了早期文明的繁华，建有世界奇观空中花园，最终还是重又荒芜。有些像Hollywood的沉沦与再生，再生又沉沦。后来看到有人说，片名来自记述好莱坞八卦传闻尤其是明星丑闻的书Hollywood Babylon，上世纪五六时年代以法文出版，译为英文，一度被查禁。我的猜测或许也可以用于小说的标题。

《巴比伦》虽然写了明星的不堪与毁灭，但仍颂扬了电影的伟大。Manny Torres想去片场，参与电影大业。I just want to be part of something bigger, I guess. …Bigger than my life. …Bigger. Better. Important. Something important. To bo part of something important. Something that lasts, that means something. 电影就是Bigger, Better, Important，永恒而且有意义。他还说，And nothing happened, for real, but at the same time, it’s something even more important than life. You can feel it. Like, I don’t know. Movies are sad sometimes. Movies are fucking happy. 这就是所谓“高于生活”。大明星Jack Conard反驳他第三(？)任妻子认为电影是低级艺术(与戏剧比较)时说，There’s so much more to be done. We’ve got to innovate. We’ve got to inspire. We got to dream beyond these pesky shells of flesh and bone. Map those dreams onto celluloid and print them into history. Turn today into tomorrow, so that tomorrow’s lonely many may look up at that flickering scree, and say for the very first time, “Eureka! I am not alone!” 顺便一提，作为Archimedes所开创学科的从业者，听到Eureka真有些激动。

《巴比伦》反映了电影史中的一个片段。前面提到的主要人物如Jack Conard, Nellie LaRoy和Manny Torres等以及次要人物都有原型。我对电影史不熟悉，所以看不出来，正像我也看不出影片中有许多向历史电影致敬的镜头。原型只知道一位，剧中的歌手和字幕制作人Fay Zhu(李丽君饰演)原型为Anna May Wong(黄柳霜)，新版美国硬币quarter上有她的头像和名字。Wong后来离开Hollywood，在中国、欧洲生活和工作。电影发生在“爵士时代(Jazz age)”，即一战结束(1918年)到华尔街股灾而大萧条(1929年)期间，或近似为“咆哮的二十年代(Roaring Twenties)”。整个社会纸醉金迷灯红酒绿，同时随着女子有选举权，女性主义开始兴起。在那个时代，无声电影取得空前成就，出作品，出人才。如Jack Conard所称，Don’t we have a higher calling? We got a lot of great stuff. We’re really excited about our new discovery, Nellie LaRoy. Nellie LaRoy真是老天赏饭的演员，开场就自信满满地说，You don’t become a star. You either are one, or you ain’t. I am. 当然，她也有自己的生活经验基础，这样解释在片场她眼泪说来就来，All I have to do is think of home. 可惜在最后对生活绝望，It’s the end of the road for me. This is it for me. 还有随后的有声电影兴起，为电影发展带来全新的契机。正如Manny Torres敏锐地意识到，Everything is about to change. 当然，从历史片的角度，《巴比伦》没有充分反映“爵士时代”结束后社会风气的变化，虽然也有暗示如Nellie LaRoy需要淑女人设，但总体上关注电影的“内部史”而不是“外部史”。

我个人感慨尤深的是时代变化的难以预测和不可抗拒。电影固然很大很重要，时代却更大更重要。进入有声片时代，Nellie LaRoy的陨落有其自暴自弃的因素，但老一辈明星Jack Conard还是努力调整和适应。他并没有留恋默片时代，意识到We shouldn’t stand in the way of progress. 也认识到过去太容易，现在需要学习新东西。There were things I’d taken for granted that maybe I shouldn’t have….I’m still learning this new language. 他一度请戏剧演员的妻子帮他准备台词，还戒了酒。但这些努力都无力回天。影评和明星八卦作家Elinor St. John给Jack Conard分析得很透彻：

Elinor St. John: There is no why. It wasn’t your voice. It wasn’t a conspiracy. And it certainly wasn’t anything I wrote.There’s nothing you could have done differently. There’s nothing you can do. Your time has run out. There is no why. Stop questioning it.

Jack Conard: I’m on a dry spell.

Elinor St. John: No. It’s over. It’s been over for a while. I’m sorry.

Jack Conard: Elinor, you peddle gossip. You don’t make anything. You don’t know what it is to put yourself out there. You’re just a cockroach. I’ve been counted out before. This isn’t new to me.

Elinor St. John: Have you ever stopped to think why, when there’s a house fire, the people die and the cockroaches all survive?

Jack Conard: Jesus Christ.

Elinor St. John: What happened was you thought the house needed you. It doesn’t need you any more than it needs the roaches. And the roaches, knowing this, crawl back into the dark, lay low, and make it through. See, but you held the spotlight. It’s those of us in the dark, the one who just watch, who survive.

Jack Conard: A house fire?

Elinor St. John: And there’ll be hundreds more like it, too. An earthquake could wipe this town off the map and wouldn’t make a difference. It’s the idea that sticks. There’ll be a hundred more Jack Conrads. Hundred more me’s. Hundred more conversations just like this one, over and over again, until God knows when. Because it’s bigger than you. I know it hurts. No one asks to be left behind. But in a hundred years, when you and I are both long gone, any time someone threads a frame of yours throught a sprocket, you will be alive again. You see what that means? One day, every person on every file shot this year will be dead. And one day, all those films will be pulled from the vaults, and all their ghosts will dine together, and adventure together, go to the jungle, to way together. A child born in 50 years will stumble across your image flickering on a screen and feel he knows you, like- like a friend, though you breathed your last before he breathed his first. You’re been given a gift. Be grateful. Your time today is through, but you’ll spend eternity with angels and ghosts.

最后的长篇演说再次强调了电影或者更广义的文艺的价值。艺术家会过气，但艺术永恒，因此艺术家要有感恩之心，不论得意失意。对Jack Conard既是判决也有藉慰，他无言以对，只能致谢离开。活过七十岁的Elinor St. John以文化人自诩，在片场看拍摄写影评时，突然感慨，Oh why do I bother? Look at these idiots! I knew Proust, you know. 确实，一般人没有耐心通读Proust的鸿篇巨制In Search of Lost Time，跟不上其中飘忽不定的stream of consciousness。不管怎样，评论家感受到时代的变化，以及个人在这剧变时代中的无可奈何，“运去英雄不自由”。大势不利时的生存策略也有参考价值，crawl back into the dark, lay low, and make it through。这暗合老子所谓“弱者道之动”“柔弱胜刚强”。

除了影片所渲染的电影赞歌和我个人感慨的时代变迁，还有些耐人寻味的细节。例如，为了突出Hollywood的多样性，要捧红位非洲裔号手，居然让他用碳粉画脸，以便黑得更显著。这是对所谓political correctness的讥讽。又例如，Jack Conard讲他与Elinor St. John的关系，I’ve never had any illusions about us. I’ve never pretended we’re friends. We are friendly. I scratch yours you scratch mine. That’s our work. 不仅是演员与评论家的关系，也是职场关系的总结。

我喜欢喜剧，但不喜欢《巴比伦》这种类型的喜剧。喜剧效果不是通过幽默语言或滑稽动作取得，而是靠令人尴尬甚至不适的动作。西方电影典型的“喜剧”场面是一帮人用蛋糕往别人身上脸上扣。《巴比伦》中往人身上脸上糊的比蛋糕还糟糕，是大象的屎尿，人的小便和呕吐物。还有个生吞大老鼠的镜头，很恶心。另外，有三、四场疯狂派对，时间都挺长，看着有些烦。

尽管有上述不适，《巴比伦》还是不错的电影，特别是对Hollywood历史比较无知也不介意历史真实性的观众。在当下这个“百年未有之大变局”中，历史或许又到巨变处，举一反三的观众未免“心有戚戚焉”。

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