Wednesday 28 May 2008

老電影 1:相見恨晚

前陣子有網友夫子自道,寫了關於外遇的文章,馬上想起這齣只看過片段卻未窺全豹的英語殘片《相見恨晚》(Brief Encounter, 1945)。難得星期天家中沒人,把買了幾年尚未開封的 DVD(Criterion Collection 版)拿出來看。86 分鐘的片子,劇情一氣呵成、對白單刀直入,以倒敘與插敘有條不紊地將兩個已婚中年人的一段婚外情、複雜的感情掙扎刻劃入微,難怪不少人說,這電影是同類題材的經典作。本片導演並非吳下阿蒙,而是後來執導桂河橋 (The Bridge on the River Kwai)、沙漠梟雄 (Lawrence of Arabia)、齊瓦哥醫生 (Doctor Zhivago) 等名片的大衛連 (David Lean)。

故事說 Laura 有一個幸福家庭,逢星期四乘火車從倫敦郊區到 Milford 購物、消遣。某個星期四傍晚,一粒煤屑讓她邂逅正在等另一班火車回家的男醫生 Alec。第二個星期四,兩人在 Milford 街頭巧遇,禮貌地打個招呼便離開,但奇妙的感覺悄悄湧上 Laura 心頭。一個星期後,兩人再次巧遇,一起吃午飯、看電影,Alec 像個小孩般跟 Laura 談理想,更相約一個星期後再見。然而,Laura 回家,知道孩子發生了一起小意外,就自責非常。一星期後,Laura 還是赴了約,Alec 卻沒有出現。Laura 以為一切就要回到原點,Alec 卻在最後一刻趕到車站,約定下星期四再見,Laura 心情由悲轉喜。

再見面,因為一樁小意外兩人開口確認了彼此間的愛意。Laura 明知兩人沒有發展可能,卻又禁不住浮想聯翩,更設計讓友人 Maria 必要時幫自己對丈夫撒謊。相識的第六個星期四,Alec 跟 Laura 吃了一頓精緻的午餐,飯後卻遇上 Maria。Alec 開朋友的車載 Laura 去郊外踏青。遊畢,他稱當晚住友人公寓,要 Laura 陪他還車鑰匙。Laura 不願意,後來卻在車站小餐廳觸景生情,於最後關後淋雨趕回公寓。然而,「好事」多磨,Laura 離開,感覺兩人關係終期不遠。Alec 趕至,告訴 Laura 兩星期後要去南非行醫,約定 Laura 下一個星期務必來見最後一面。Laura 答應了。第七個星期四,與前一個星期一樣驅車往郊外踏青,但兩人無語。回到車站小餐廳話別,雙方甚為感傷。Laura 友人突然出現,她跟 Alec 最後的時光就這樣給徹底毀掉了。Alec 離開,Laura 想尋死……

男女主角 Celia JohnsonTrevor Howard 並不俊美,參演本片時都是影圈新人,但都演技優異,尤其是 Celia,成功詮釋有外遇的婦女複雜的心理行為。片中一些甘草角色,則製造趣味笑料,讓片子悲中帶喜,不致單調沉悶。

劇本方面,本片談的不僅是外遇,還有人性。兩名主角生活一成不變,難免對新奇的人事好奇,外遇是其中之一罷了。女主角對不忠行為猶豫不決,受道德約束卻又想掙脫。舉例說,Laura 心裏默默接受了這段婚外情,曾經產生一些幻想片段;Laura 雖曾哭着說要及早分手,卻又遲疑不決。有外遇,自然很容易因為周圍發生的事情而產生罪惡感,像 Laura 在火車上看見一位牧師,就覺得對方似看透她的心事。又例如孩子受傷,Laura 認為那是上天對她的懲罰、警告。還有,就是為隱藏事實而說謊,為圓謊而說更多謊話,連帶人也變得敏感起來,例如丈夫一句平常的體己話,卻教 Laura 感情缺堤,失聲痛哭;Laura 跟 Alec 看電影時中途離場,Laura 卻為女帶位員看似鄙視的眼光而耿耿於懷。

另一點讓我難忘的,是配樂採用電影上映時已作故的俄羅斯古典作曲家兼鋼琴演奏家拉赫曼尼諾夫 (Sergei Rachmaninov 1873-1943) 著名的《第二鋼琴協奏曲》(Piano Concerto No. 2)。拉氏樂風浪漫、憂鬱並長,用來搭配本片,影像與音樂相輔相成,相得益彰。

導演 David Lean 拍攝本片時年僅 37 歲,卻手法老練,又富詩意,像 Laura 鮮會化妝,卻想以化妝掩蓋自己的感情。丈夫問她當天做過什麼,導演就讓 Laura 背對鏡頭,以鏡子裏的臉面對鏡頭,暗示她不敢誠實以對。

看《相見恨晚》,又記起了 David Lean 在 10 年後(1955 年)讓 Katherine Hepburn 主演、在威尼斯實地拍攝的彩色電影《艷陽天》(Summertime)。那是講某年盛夏,一個去威尼斯度假的美國白領老處女和一個跟妻子分居卻無法離婚的意大利男子一段不可能的短暫異國戀情。改天再寫一下。

整齣電影,有兩幕教我特別難忘:不知情卻喋喋不休的 Dolly 打斷了 Alec 與 Laura 的訣別會談,令他們不能盡情話別。Laura 提醒 Alec 火車到了,Alec 用手在 Laura 肩上按了一下,頭也不回便出門坐車,是那麼的深情卻無奈的道別動作。另一幕是 Laura 從回想七個星期的婚外情後回到現實,丈夫見她神情恍惚,問她是否在想不愉快的事,末了,他說:「你準是經歷了很多,謝謝你回到我的身邊。」彷彿,丈夫早已知道這一切。

一齣 60 多年前的電影,在今天看來,故事、拍攝手法仍是不落俗套。而我,也在裏面看到了自己的很多很多。

9 comments:

  1. 你講完之後我好想睇,但應該唔容易搵到有關影音產品啦....

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  2. 請恕小弟中文水平差勁, 甚麼是夫子自道? 既然我帶給你寫這篇文章的靈感, 或許你可以用夫子自道作主題, 好讓小弟大開"字"界.

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  3. Karvitz:
    有些賣大陸、台灣「進口」影碟的地方可能有,怎說也是經典。當然也可以「豪」一番,買一張 Criterion Collection。

    Artman:
    想不到兩個留言,恰是本篇的靈感來源。你那篇不是夫子自道,是自我剖白。另一篇模模糊糊的就難說了。

    「夫子自道」指本意說別人,事實上卻正說着了自己。但不少人以為解「自我剖白」之意。類似的廣泛誤用還有「曾幾何時」「尋開心」等,不勝枚舉。

    嚴格來說,全香港跟我同行的不超過 15 人,暫未有表明身份的打算哪 :p

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  4. hi

    i have been visiting this blog for about a month
    first time leave u a note

    u also aware of this British one about affiars starring Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore?
    The End of the Affair (1999)

    Michael Nyman did the score
    i think this is one of Julianne's best performances
    and Ralph is excellent as he could be

    later
    Hof :>

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  5. The film is based on Coward's one-act play Still Life, which I read a long time ago. It belongs to a group of ten short plays entitled Tonight at 8:30, designed for Gertrude Lawrence and Coward himself to be performed in various combinations as triple bills. If people have no luck with dvds, try the TCM channel.

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  6. ho man,
    Nice to meet u. I like Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore, too!

    I got the VCD of The End of the Affair(激情妒火線)but haven't watched it. I watched Unfaithful couple years ago, though.


    Matt,
    Thanks for the additional information. The opening credit also mentioned about Coward. How's Your Memorial day week, anyways?

    ReplyDelete
  7. 下次見面可否借我?
    有共鳴的不只你呢

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  8. //故事說 Laura 有一個幸福家庭 ...//

    It really depends on how we understand what 幸福 really is ...
    well, a film, a mere film -- a short one like this in particular -- will never show us the whole life of Laura and her husband; I just find that Laura's husband had always been an absentee father and absentee husband ...

    I don't see that Laura's husband had much involvement in the family ... he didn't care much about the kids -- in one scene when Laura came back late and the kids still hadn't gone to bed, he was just reading newspaper downstairs ... the little boy then called Laura upstairs in quite an impolite manner ... if the father had been a father playing his proper role in the family helping the kids to grow up as decent persons, I don't think this scene should have happened at all ...

    Laura and her husband didn't share much of a talk in the film ... they even had different tastes of entertainment -- if you can call reading newspapers and doing crossword puzzles entertainment ...

    maybe i am too harsh -- in any event, the film was set on a family in the 60's -- but merely having a big house, getting the family under one roof, and putting bread on the table, I suppose in today's society, the husband can hardly be said to have fulfilled his role in providing for a 幸福家庭 ...

    //「你準是經歷了很多,謝謝你回到我的身邊。」//

    what strikes me most is not what Laura's husband said : Thank you for coming back to me; it is : whatever you have experienced, it is not nice (I watched the film couple mths ago and I don't have the DVD with me right now ... so, the exact wording, I may not get it right ... but the meaning, yes ...)

    I am not an English major but to me the word "whatever" has an air of lack of specificity, a mood of doesn't-care indifference ... if he had really been a caring husband,
    it would have a totally different effect were the line changed to : i know what you have experienced is not nice ...

    Maybe I over-read the film ... well, another critic did once say that "Forget what you've heard. "Brief Encounter" is an extremely violent film. In fact, it is a violence that no Tarantino or Guy Ritchie could ever come close to."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/03/02/brief_encounter_1946_review.shtml

    Just some personal thoughts on the film ...

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  9. V:
    好,也願聞其詳。


    匿名先生/女士:
    為免本人的蹩腳英語讓任何讀者產生誤解,我以中文回應。

    本片於 1945 年推出。我以「幸福」形容 Laura 的生活,是從電影佈景和客觀標準去衡量:傭人幫忙照顧子女、丈夫 Fred 予她個人生活空間(到鎮上購物、上圖書館、看電影消遣)等。

    編導沒有刻意把 Fred 寫成好丈夫,可在我看來他也不壞。舉例說,兒子撞傷頭部,Fred 首先安撫了晚歸的 Laura;Laura 數次晚歸,Fred 沒有因此發脾氣;不管到最後 Fred 是否曉得妻子曾經/幾乎紅杏出牆,他還是採取包容/息事寧人的態度。我想,Fred 算是容易相處的人。

    孩子禮貌的問題,也許是您看電影太投入,想多了吧。誠然,夫婦兩人興趣不同,有可能是感情轉淡的原因。然而,如果容許我也把個人觀點摻進去,倒覺得這未必是壞事──我認為一對情人/夫婦各有一些不同興趣,才能讓彼此之間保持新鮮感,保留一點個人空間,是健康的做法呢。

    重看了最後一場,該段對白跟拙譯如下:
    F: Whatever your dream was, it wasn't a very happy one, was it?
    (是什麼也好,準是些不愉快的事吧?)
    L: No.
    (確是)
    F: Is there anything I can do to help?
    (我能幫上什麼嗎?)
    L: Yes, Fred. You always help.
    (能夠,有你就行)
    F: You've been a long way away.
    (你準是經歷了很多事情)
    L: Yes.
    (是)
    F: Thank you for coming back to me.
    (謝謝你回到我身邊)

    我不知道到底 Fred 是否看穿了 Laura 的心事,但覺得他是真心安撫妻子。Laura 或被逼或自願放棄了 Alec,回到自己的家,丈夫卻「不計前嫌」,願意繼續站在自己身邊,所以在 Fred 說完最後一句話,她就倒在丈夫懷中哭了起來。

    電影跟所有藝術形式一樣,沒有絕對的詮釋方法,人言人殊也就是其過癮之處,所以很感謝您在這裏分享了您的觀點。

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