Hiding the Truth Out of Love

Good Bye Lenin was a film with a plot that revolves around a son’s love for his mother. It was evident that Alex was very concerned about his mother. I thought his efforts to keep his mother from a heart attack were admirable which is what really kept the movie going. Somehow, there was also a thrill whether or not Alex’s mom will find out the truth, which was that the Berlin Wall no longer existed. I believe it was what made me kept watching the film, as Alex thinks of creative ways to hide it. One of the scenes that exhibit this is when the mom sees a Coca-cola banner outside their home. This generated doubts. As a result, Alex and his friend start to make broadcast films that would help the mother understand its presence.

Another way Alex tried to keep up the lie was how he transfers modern food products into the packaging that his mother is used to. I thought it requires a lot of effort to do that, given that he is also working throughout the day and has to keep on doing it at least once a week. Furthermore, the supply of food products that his mom desired were already scarce by that time.

Aside from the thrill, I believe the movie also gave a comedic feel, given that the idea of Alex altogether seems unfeasible. Furthermore, the lengths of Alex and his friends they would go through in order to convince the mother that nothing has changed. An example of this was how Alex and his friend requested Sigmund Jahn to report in the library which disturbed everyone studying. Another was how Alex’s friend Denis enjoyed making broadcast films for the mother which allowed him to showcase his passion and talent.

I really thought the movie also developed a lot of characters. Despite the daunting effort of preserving his mother’s life, Alex showed a lot of character and willingness to keep his mother alive even if it meant facing the past or to live a schizophrenic lifestyle, meaning that outside of home he is modern however inside, he is back in the past. On the other hand, I also liked how the movie also gave us an idea of other characters such as Alex’s sister, Ariane. It seems that her biggest problem is her desire to meet her father. Given that their father left them when they were kids, both siblings never really got to bond with him. It also did not help when Ariane saw her father with a new family. The tensions between the parents were also given a glimpse, as the couple eventually reunited in the hospital when Christiane, the mother received her second heart attack as it was her last wish to see him once more. Of course, this was achieved because of Alex.

Overall, the movie had a great plot and storyline. Almost every scene developed the characters while also entertaining the audience about the main conflict of the story which was whether Christiane would find out about the truth.

Creative Derivations of the Perfect

The movie, The Five Obstructions, was a great comedic movie that showed a competitive challenge offered by Lars von Trier and taken by Jorgen. Here, there were lots of instances of creative shots, where it allows the audience to appreciate forms of art and beauty. When it showed the original version of The Perfect Human, it was evident that the focus is meant to be placed on various human body parts such as eyes, lips, face, legs, and many more for both male and female. This was the case when the characters in the film are eating, shaving, smoking, or even as simple as lying down. It was simply a movie of the ideal person in different cultures and contexts, while maintaining the message of what it means to be ideal.

In other cases, when Jorgen was doing the variations, there were different backgrounds for each The Perfect Human version. It included Brussels, Bombay, Cuba, Denmark, and even a cartoon version. The notable one for me was the one in Bombay, where he chose to shave and to eat with a real background of kids and residents there watching him film the specific scene. For me at first, I thought it was out of place and inappropriate. It seemed like it was in a public market and he starts to jump as the public looks on. Afterwards, he shaves and then later on start to eat a fine dining. The dining scene struck me the most because it shows how much the people wanted to be in his position, having an abundance of delicious food while living a comfortable life. For them, it was the ideal life which shows how for the people of Bombay, it is the perfect human. On the other hand, in the cartoon version, I really appreciated the animated form of the characters. I thought the drawings were really excellent as the facial expressions truly captured the scenes. Furthermore, I noticed the nudity was more explicit as compared to the one with real characters. It was bold in terms of showing the private parts of both male and female. The bodies were really well-crafted, as there were details such as the defined abs, attractive breasts, and other beautiful body parts. It was certainly an animated version of manifesting on what a perfect human is like. In the Cuba version, the dancing was compromised to be more in-line with its culture. Another act that they changed for the culture was the smoking scene and how the Cuban actor plays around with the cigarette. I believe this was a way of conveying a perfect man in the eyes of Cuba.

When deriving the original version of The Perfect Human, Jorgen took into consideration the context, challenge of Lars, and culture of his audience while maintaining its message. I believe this was very creative and credit to Jorgen for being well-versed with different cultures and knowing what kind of person is ideal in their perspective in the form of lifestyle, clothing, food, and etc.

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The Impact of Loneliness

Image taken from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326901082_Soundscape_and_Environmental_Design_Towards_Defining_a_Method/figures?lo=1

L’avventura was a film that I felt tried to paint a picture of the impact of loneliness and the tragedy that comes with it. Ever since the disappearance of Anna, the two lead characters that were mostly affected was her best friend Claudia and her lover Sandro, were placed in a vulnerable position that had no closure. After disappearing without a trace, both seemed to be confused, guilty, and lonely especially when here was no closure to Anna’s disappearance that was quite sudden. I believe that Anna saw no future with her lover, Sandro, so she decides to make an escape.

Loneliness was key in the film’s storyline, especially when Sandro could not be at peace as he travels all around different cities and asking various people that can help him find Anna. However, it is in this process Sandro starts to fall for Anna’s best friend, Claudia. At first, she is reluctant to saying no but eventually admits she reciprocates Sandro’s feelings for her. I believe that Anna was also feeling this sense of loneliness and grievance towards losing her best friend, given that she really had no one else to run to.

One of the things I noticed was the position loneliness puts the characters into. In the case of Claudia, she seemed to be very conflicted. It is also worth noting on how she suspected Sandro as one of the strongest factors for Anna to disappear. She cherished her best friend in Anna and grieves her loss. However now that she is gone, she gains a new lover but in the form of Sandro who is Anna’s former lover. When she finally gives in to Sandro, she still thinks about how Sandro still has feelings for Anna instead of loving her. In fact, she loses her bearings when she thought Sandro got back with Anna as she ran to the paint store. Furthermore at the near end of the movie, she actually becomes paranoid. She would want to see Anna again and reunite with her, but then again she would have to give up Sandro as he obviously still has unfinished business with her. On the other hand in the case of Sandro, he misses Anna but this feeling of loneliness actually leads him to have feelings for Claudia. I believe this was really just a matter of her being there as loneliness placed him in such a vulnerable position. This could be seen in how in the party, he was checking out other women as Claudia excused herself since she was already too sleepy. At the end of the movie, Claudia catches Sandro being intimate with Gloria Perkins, who was famous, as Sandro met her while pursuing the missing case of Anna. Claudia runs and Sandro follows her. The movie ends with Sandro crying and Claudia rubbing his head. This is a scene that shows how their actions were influenced by this loneliness and it resulted into nothing but regret and tragedy. Their relationship may have have provided comfort and safe haven from Anna’s disappearance but in the end it was not really the love that marriages were built upon.

I believe the movie built the relationships sufficiently and it shows how Claudia and Sandro were left to cope with the loss of Anna, prompting them to be in a relationship together as they faced this loss without any form of closure. L’avventura showed how loneliness can disrupt peace and breed regret.

A Suspicious Identical Twist

Persona was a movie that seemed to revolve around two different characters with identical and parallel experiences. I believe these two people resonate with one another, which is why Alma developed an attachment towards Elizabeth. On the other hand, Elizabeth would claim to “enjoy” studying her. Some of the scenes that show their similarities is through their history. Alma was in love with a man named Karl-Henrik, however despite this, she still joined the sexual activity by her friend Katarina with two other men. In effect to this, Alma became pregnant and decided to abort the baby. This was somehow parallel to the experience of Elizabeth. The latter was an actress who became unintentionally pregnant. In order to continue acting, she decided to abort the baby. However, she was unsuccessful as she shows hatred for her son. This could be seen how she saw a picture of a boy and tore it apart. This was all exposed when Alma confronted Elizabeth, which was a scene that repeated twice. I thought this was a way to place emphasis on this dramatic scene.

Another way their lives were similar was in relation to the sexual experience. In a particular scene, a man appears out of nowhere and it seemed to be the husband of Elizabeth. However in a surprising way, which caught me off-guard, the husband addresses Alma as Elizabeth. Afterwards, they started to make out and even decide to make love to each other. The unusual part in this scene is the reaction of Elizabeth. She doesn’t seem to do anything rash about it and just acts as a spectator in this scene.

It also caught my attention on how there are various scenes where Elizabeth and Alma would usually be together in mirrors, as if they are a part of one another. In fact, Elizabeth caresses the hair of Alma and in the concluding scene, Alma stares in the mirror without Elizabeth but caresses her hair in the same manner. I really think that both characters seem to have a lot of regrets, and can’t seem to forgive their past. Because of this, they can’t seem to move forward and face life with loneliness and anger. This could be seen on how Alma easily confesses to Elizabeth her personal stories, which I believe was ironic. Alma was playing the role of the nurse and yet, it became Elizabeth who served as the one comforting her troubled past. On the other hand, Elizabeth can’t seem to move herself forward. At the start of the movie, she didn’t even move and chose to not speak in almost the entirety of the movie. In fact, in order to cure her, she was forced to live near the ocean with Alma watching over her as the nurse. It was like she did not even want to exert any more effort, a manifestation of this is how she never responds to Alma’s anger with exception to the part she almost throws a pot of boiling water at the actress. When Elizabeth was confronted with a picture of a boy, she expressed a great amount of rage. Both characters are greatly identical but I believe it’s anger, one-sided love, and troubled past that sets the tension between their relationship.

Not Your Typical Love Story

The film, A Woman is a woman, was not the typical love story of a movie for me. It was centered around Angela, who worked as a dancer and performer in a bar. I believe she was quite determined to get a baby. It first started when she read in her horoscope from a newspaper with her friend that something romantic will happen to her in the near future. This then led her to have two admirers which were Emile and Alfred. She would choose Emile and live with him despite the persistence of Alfred. Later on, she would desire for a baby. One of the ways she showed this was when she placed a pillow inside her clothes to see how she would look if she was pregnant. What caught my attention was how committed her partner, Emile, was to not have a child with her. A manifestation of this was how he invited Alfred, who was his best friend and admirer of Angela, to his house and even allowed him to spend time with Angela in the bathroom to have a baby however the deed did not push through. In fact, he even explicitly told Alfred to impregnate her. The second manifestation was ridiculous for me, as Emile literally asked random strangers in the sidewalk if any of them wanted to impregnate a woman, which was Angela. Later on, Angela would eventually give in to Alfred. Alfred was pursuing Angela right from the beginning of the film and he would readily agree to impregnate her. In fact, he even tried to persuade Angela to choose him instead, as they were talking in a restaurant. Because of this, Angela would sleep with Alfred. It puzzled me when Emile found out about it, as he wasn’t furious about it. At first, he showed signs of disappointment but if your partner sleeps with someone else, you would expect a more aggressive reaction. However, this wasn’t the case. In fact, it would then become one of the factors that would encourage Emile to give in to the wishes of Angela. Emile had a change of heart and decided that he wanted to be the father of Angela’s baby. At the end of the movie, he did the deed with her.

I would say that this is not a typical love story because couples usually say and do things that are sweet to one another or abide by each other’s wishes at least. However in this movie, Angela and Emile are constantly arguing with one another and calling each other insulting names. In fact at night, they would end the night by telling each other how they don’t want to speak to one another. Then, they would wake up and gather books, as the title of these books frame the message that Emile or Angela want to convey to one another, in order to continue their argument. I am quite surprised that they even wanted to stay together. Overall, it was a movie that had humor that revolves around Angela’s desire for a baby.