DOUBLE BILL FILM WISH LIST (ต่อ)
6. HER LIFE (Kanvara Lomthaisong)
+
BELLE DE JOUR (1967, Luis Buñuel)
+
A PREVIOUS TIME (แด่อดีต) (2011, Janenarong
Sirimaha, 10min)
+
CHUTIMA (2007, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)
+
MA-LAI (2007,
Weera Kempetch, 22min)
มาลัย (วีระ เข็มเพ็ชร)
Each of these five films presents a heroine who becomes a
prostitute with no regret. I identify myself very strongly with the heroine of
HER LIFE. She does what I really want her to do. The first part of HER LIFE,
which shows the heroine stalking her female neighbor, unintentionally reminds
me of CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974, Jacques Rivette), DESPERATELY SEEKING
SUSAN (1985, Susan Seidelman), and BIRDCAGE INN (1998, Kim Ki-duk), each of
which also presents a scene in which a woman is stalking another woman.
The first part of HER LIFE also unintentionally reminds me of
301/302 (1995, Park Cheol-su), because both films present a strange
relationship between two female neighbors living in the same building.
What I like very much in these five films is the fact that these
five films don’t condemn prostitution. The heroine of HER LIFE reminds me of
the heroine of BELLE DE JOUR, because each of them sells herself without
obvious reasons. Each of them has her own reasons, but their reasons are not as
obvious as the financial reasons which motivate the heroines of A PREVIOUS TIME
and MALAI to become prostitutes.
CHUTIMA is the most radical among these five films. I don’t
remember the details of CHUTIMA. If I remember it correctly, the heroine of
CHUTIMA has sex with many men, and she doesn't want money from them, but she treats the men as if they are the prostitutes themselves. Comparing these five heroines together, I think the heroines
of HER LIFE, A PREVIOUS TIME, and MALAI are like real human beings, while the
heroines of BELLE DE JOUR and CHUTIMA seem like symbols or representations of
some theories or concepts. The heroines of BELLE DE JOUR and CHUTIMA provoke us
to think.
Another thing I like very much in HER LIFE is that it shows that
human beings are very complicated. Some of us need something which is very
difficult to explain. What the heroine in HER LIFE does unintentionally makes
me think about what the heroine of GILLES’ WIFE (2004, Frédéric Fonteyne) does at
the end of the film. Why does the heroine of HER LIFE try to be a prostitute
when she has enough money and a boyfriend already? Why does the heroine of
GILLES’ WIFE do that thing when she has already accomplished what she seems to
want the most in her life? The heroines of HER LIFE and GILLES’ WIFE are the
kind of characters I love the most. It’s the kind of characters who seems to do
something which is against logic and reasons, but deep down inside I know I
really understand them. These are the characters I really sympathize with and
want to see more and more in films.
No comments:
Post a Comment