45周年

宋云峰

影片簡介

就在凱特（Kate）忙于籌備45周年結婚紀念日派對之時，其丈夫杰夫（Geoff）突然接到了一封國外來信，告知他50年前在瑞士阿爾卑斯山因意外而喪生的女友的遺體被找到了。盡管是老夫老妻，凱特和杰夫的內心仍然受到了極大震撼，但卻無法交流彼此深藏的不安。杰夫把自己封閉在回憶的世界里，而凱特則一邊壓抑著自己的嫉妒和焦慮，一邊繼續為聚會做細節準備，安排音樂、菜單以及其他諸如此類的東西。表面看來，一切如常，但電影鏡頭卻冷靜地展示著這對老年夫婦的婚姻由原本和諧的共存逐漸走向失衡甚至崩潰的過程。隨著杰夫前女友的細節被逐步披露，不論是和杰夫共進早餐還是在鎮子上獨自漫步，凱特都感覺自己越來越像是一個陌生人。夫婦二人被意想不到的情緒所影響，被迫面對自己不熟悉的感覺，在這個過程中，他們曾經共度的好時光仿佛一去不復返。當五天后的結婚紀念日來臨時，45年來凱特對杰夫的愛情與親情已蕩然無存，在派對上麻木地與形同路人的杰夫機械地跳著舞，眼睛空洞而茫然地注視著遠方。

這就是英國70后導演安德魯·海格（Andrew Haigh）執導、湯姆·考特奈（Tom Courtenay）和夏洛特·蘭普林（Charlotte Rampling）主演的電影《45周年》（45 Years）的故事情節。該片2015年在歐美上映后，因其涉及老年人婚姻生活的主題以及兩位英國演員自然細膩的出色表演而引起廣泛關注和正面評論。蘭普林和考特奈因此分別獲得柏林電影節最佳女主角和最佳男主角銀熊獎；蘭普林獲得第88屆奧斯卡獎最佳女主角獎提名。現年42歲的海格曾為HBO執導電視連續劇《尋》（Looking）以及獨立電影《周末》（Weekend， 2011），講述一對男同性戀在一個周末的萍水相逢以及這對情侶對其心路歷程的審視與思考。

反響評論

《45周年》上映后獲得了廣泛好評。基于155篇網上評論，爛番茄網站給予該片10分制8.7分的好成績以及97%好評率， 對影片的思想性和兩位演員的表演總體評價很高：“45 Years offers richly thought-provoking（引人深思） rewards for fans of adult cinema—and a mesmerizing（令人著迷的）acting showcase（展示）for leads Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay.”另一家重要影評網站Metacritic基于36篇評論給予該片百分制94分的超高評價。

美聯社影評人杰克·考爾勒（Jake Coyle）認為《45周年》是部精彩的電影，開頭幾分鐘就抓住了觀眾的注意力和好奇心：膝下無子女、結婚近45年的一對相濡以沫的老夫妻凱特與杰夫多年來和諧平靜的婚姻生活被一封國外來信所攪亂。[In minutes， we can already feel jealousy welling in us from snapshots（生活小照）of their peaceful， harmonious lives in rural England： dog walks， drinking tea and taking leisurely trips into town.] 這正是該片暗示的顛覆性主題之一，即生活中類似平靜的老年生活的表象之下是過去與現在激情澎湃的暗潮涌動和復雜的情感關系。（That such appearances of elderly tranquility are not what they seem is one of the notions upended by 45 Years.）隨后影片一步步揭開了杰夫年輕時“生死”戀情的秘密，以及凱特在逐漸了解真相后不同階段的情感變化與反應。對導演海格來說，戀情關系是剎那間鑄就和升華的；人老了，但其情感仍然基于其年輕時的難忘經歷。（For Haigh， relationships are forged in a moment， crystalized in the circumstances of their beginnings. Kate and Geoff may be in their 70s， but their marriage is still built upon—and haunted by—whatever brought them together in their 20s. Old age has done far less to change them than most would think.）

考爾勒除了高度評價影片的主題與敘事，還對飾演杰夫和凱特的英國老演員考特奈和蘭普林贊揚有加，認為兩人細膩而有區別的精彩表演成就了這部電影：But its Haighs tremendous（極好的）lead actors that make the movie. Theyre a convincing couple： Courtenay is absent-minded and untidy； Rampling is cool and controlled. As Kate sees a new rival to her husband rise from the dead， the anxieties and confusions flicker（閃現，掠過）across Ramplings face. Turmoil（混亂）stirs beneath her chilly（冷淡的）stillness. 考爾勒在談到《45周年》可能會對觀眾產生的負面影響（即懷疑另一半隱藏的秘密）時，建議慎重選擇一起去看該片的伴侶：If going to see 45 Years （and you should）， choose your date wisely. After the films haunting final shot， youre likely to be exiting the theater wondering just how well you really know the companion next to you.

澳大利亞《悉尼先驅報》影評人桑德拉·霍爾（Sandra Hall）從老年人的情感、隱私、懷舊等角度分析了《45周年》。杰夫婚前戀情的細節從未向妻子凱特坦露過，像任何一對新婚夫婦一樣，對方婚前的私情不宜追究，重要的是結束過去，面向未來。然而，國外的來信以及杰夫忐忑不安的變化使得凱特不得不細究杰夫婚前的這段情史。但了解這段隱情的細節對凱特來說不啻于遭受情感上的巨大打擊（原來丈夫日思夜想的人是早已死去的婚前戀人，而不是40多年來相濡以沫的自己）。杰夫用來隱藏婚前戀人所有照片和日記資料的閣樓也有了“家丑不可外揚”（skeleton in the cupboard）的象征意義。For Kate， who knew nothing of the affair， its akin to（類似于）the discovery of a secret room in a house where youve lived for most of your life. Indeed， the Mercers attic（閣樓）becomes that room. Its here that she finds diaries and photos which reveal exactly what her husband has neglected to tell her. 對杰夫來說，這封國外來信使他再度沉溺于早已逝去的青春年華和浪漫戀情，與重復而單調的婚姻生活形成了強烈的對比：The camera catches all the intimacies of a long-distance marriage which has reached the stage when sexual desire and physical performance dont match up any more and passion has been transformed into a fond and shared self-deprecation（自嘲）. In mourning her（杰夫的婚前戀人）， hes not only toying with（玩味）tantalising（誘人的）possibilities forever unrealized， hes grieving for his youth.

霍爾還認為，盡管人老了理應變得睿智而平和，接受老去的事實并不再渴望失去的東西或者妒忌一個早已死去的情敵，但是作為具有七情六欲的人，我們很難超越并邁過這道坎：We hope that age puts us beyond desire for the things we can no longer have—that we can grow to accept the evidence of the mirror， difficult as it is. This story， which grows richer the more you think about it， is a rueful（可悲的）acknowledgment of the fact that few of us can. For Kate， its even worse. You cant fight a ghost， so theres no one to blame for the irrational fits（陣陣發作） of jealousy undermining（暗中破壞）the state of wisdom she thought she had achieved. As well as frustrated， she feels diminished（無助的，無力的）.

《奧蘭多周報》（Orlando Weekly）影評人丹·胡達克（Dan Hudak）則對主演與導演的功力稱贊不已，認為這部慢節奏平鋪直敘的小眾影片之所以能吸引觀眾，全仗著兩位主演自然而細膩的演繹，尤其是蘭普林的表演，幾乎全靠自己的表情說話：The narrative plays out in plain， pensive（憂郁的）ways， and because the performances are so good， the movie is superb（極好的，杰出的）. Rampling deserved her Oscar nomination（提名）for Best Actress. She emotes（表現情感）with her body and face， not just her words. Every time Kate asks questions she doesnt really want the answer to， and then receives the answer she didnt want to hear， you can see the hurt in her eyes. Her performance as a woman who learns that shes not the love of her husbands life is heartbreaking. Courtenay plays Geoff as relatively oblivious（不注意的）to the impact his actions have on his wife， which makes the viewers heart ache even more for her.

胡達克高度評價導演海格采用的自然白描手法（幾近觀察式記錄電影手法），令觀眾通過客觀的鏡頭觀察這對老夫妻情感的細微變化，就像墻上不被人注意的蒼蠅一樣偷窺真實的生活：Haigh provides a naturalistic feel thats echoed by the quiet serenity（寧靜，風和日麗）of the English countryside where Geoff and Kate live. His camera is observational， not intrusive（介入的）； most of the time Geoff and Kate are framed together on screen， or one is just off-screen（在鏡頭畫面之外）and talking to the other. By allowing the viewer to be a voyeur（偷窺者）as the relationship dissipates（瓦解）and not using excessive close-ups（特寫鏡頭）or other visual tricks to accentuate（突出）the hardship， Haigh deeply immerses（使沉湎于）us in the story. It feels like the audience is a fly on the wall watching it all happen. Its the right approach to take.

新西蘭Flicks.co.nz網站影評人麥特·格拉斯比（Matt Glasby）則對此類情感隱私的處理提出了自己的建議，請觀眾參照英國著名導演大衛·里恩（David Lean）1945年經典影片《相見恨晚》（Noel Cowards Brief Encounter）的故事結尾處理。影片主人公勞拉在車站邂逅了一位善解人意的醫生后發生了婚外情，但她最終選擇了結束這種關系，并對其不知情的丈夫自言自語道：“Even if I waited until we were old， old people and told you then， youd be bound to look back over the years and be hurt. And my dear， I dont want you to be hurt.”

故事情節

The film takes place across six days， marked by intertitles（插卡字幕）.

Five years after retirees Kate and Geoff Mercer had to cancel their 40th wedding anniversary because of his heart bypass surgery（心臟搭橋手術）， the comfortably-off（生活富裕的）， childless， Norfolk（諾福克，英國地區名）couple are now planning to celebrate their 45th anniversary with dozens of friends at the Assembly House in Norwich（諾里奇，英國東部城市）.

A week before the party， Geoff receives a letter from Switzerland telling him that the body of Katya， his lover in the early 1960s， has become visible in a melting glacier（冰川）where she fell into a crevasse（裂縫）on their hike with a guide over five decades ago. Memories rush back to him and he realizes he has forgotten much of what little German he used to know and that he would need a dictionary to fully understand all that the letter says.

Kate has known about Katya since the time Geoff and Kate met later in the 1960s and is initially unconcerned by Geoffs controlled disquiet（不安）. “I can hardly be cross（生氣）about something that happened before we even existed...” she says， but after a pause adds “Still...”

The next day Kate helps Geoff find his old German-English dictionary. Soon， Geoffs conduct begins to show that there is more on his mind than he says. Among other things， he tries to keep from Kate that he is beginning to take steps to fly to Switzerland without her to see Katyas body， which he imagines preserved in the now-transparent ice， still looking youthful.

Prodded（督促）by Kate， Geoff talks about his relationship with Katya and thoughts evoked（誘發）by the discovery of her body. He tells Kate that he and Katya had pretended to be married in order to be able to share a room in the more puritanical（清教徒的，保守的）early 1960s. Because of this， the Swiss authorities consider him to be Katyas next of kin（親屬）. Kate is troubled by the revelation.

As the days pass and preparations for the party continue， Geoff continues to be moody（喜怒無常的，郁郁寡歡的）and takes up smoking， which both had given up in the past. One night， Geoff climbs into the attic to look at his memorabilia（紀念物，收藏品）of Katya and only reluctantly shows Kate a picture of Katya when she insists. Kate starts to ponder（琢磨）all of her life with Geoff， even begins “to smell Katyas perfume” in every room.

While Geoff is attending a reunion luncheon（午宴）at the plant from which he retired， Kate， neglecting their dogs jittery（神經過敏的）barking at the ladder， climbs up into the attic to see what things her husband may be keeping there. She finds Geoffs scrapbook（剪貼簿）filled with memorabilia from his life with Katya， including pressed flowers from their last hike. And then she finds a carousel slide projector（輪播式幻燈放映機）， loaded with images of Switzerland and Katya， next to a makeshift（臨時的）screen to view them. One slide shows Katya with her hand on top of her protruding abdomen（隆起的腹部）， indicating Katya was pregnant at the time of her death.

Kate takes up smoking again， too， and confronts Geoff about his feelings for Katya without revealing what she saw in the attic. Geoff promises that their marriage will “start again，” which he begins by bringing her tea to bed and making breakfast for her the next morning.

Then， they attend their anniversary party in the historical Grand Hall. Kate is constrained， distracted， and remains impassive（冷漠的）during Geoffs speech in which he professes（公開表達）his love for Kate， while saying “the choices we make in our youth are most important” and bringing himself to tears， just as Kates friend Lena has predicted men always do at weddings and anniversaries. Geoff and Kate dance， but she moves rigidly in his embrace. As the dance ends， Geoff raises their hands together in the air. Kate yanks（猛拉）her arm down after a few seconds， and the final close-up isolates her amid the crush（擁擠的人群）of people on the dance floor and a multitude of emotions play across her face.LL