SHOOTING THE SELF自「道」自演
Fiction mirrors fact in Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film. By AMANDA SHEPPARD Pedro Almodóvar執導的新作充分反映戲如人生。撰文： Amanda Sheppard
ART IMITATING LIFE is hardly a new phenomenon in cinema; you’d be hardpressed to come across a film that isn’t inspired by real life one way or another. But in Pedro Almodóvar’s 21st feature film Pain and Glory, the lines between art and life blur together as the Spanish auteur turns the camera towards himself. And in doing so, he earned a Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe nomination (and a Best Actor nomination for Antonio Banderas).
This is hardly the first time Almodóvar has looked inwards: the movie is his third to centre around a gay film director. But it also feels more personal than ever before. It’s no coincidence that Pain and Glory’s protagonist Salvador Mallo’s name contains all the letters of Almodóvar’s own. Nor that long-term collaborator Banderas was cast in the role. Nor that several artworks adorning the walls of Salvador’s home are Almodóvar’s own.
Pain and Glory follows Salvador (Banderas), a onceprolific filmmaker with a driedup mind. He lives comfortably off his legacy but is plagued by countless physical and emotional ailments that render him a recluse. But a chance encounter soon changes that: he reconnects with Alberto (Asier Etxeandia), the star of his most notable film, with whom he has feuded for decades. All is soon forgiven as the pair share stories and vices, and Alberto persuades Salvador to let him perform a previously unseen screenplay, Addiction, all about the affliction that cost Salvador the great love of his life. Scenes of the present day are interwoven with flashbacks from Salvador’s formative years, showing how his relationships with others – most notably his mother (played by Penélope Cruz) – shaped him into the man he is today.
With its more minimalist aesthetic Pain and Glory is something of a departure from Almodóvar’s melodramaheavier earlier work. There’s less dialogue and grandiosity than his typical style – but like his 2016 drama Julieta, all the hallmarks are there. The love of vibrant colour is clear, especially the vivid reds the director employs to represent identity and emotion. In Pain and Glory, desire, pain and memory all take their place. We’re left trying to detect that blurry line which separates the director on the screen from the director behind the camera.
戲如人生早已是老生常談，大部分電影某程度上都是現實的寫照。但在 Pedro Almodóvar 執導的第21部劇情長片《萬千痛愛在一身》中，這位西班牙名導演夫子自道，拍出真假難分的電影世界，好戲連場，難怪獲提名金球獎最佳外語片，參演的
Antonio Banderas 亦獲提名最佳男主角。
這絕非 Almodóvar 首部自傳體電影，在此之前他已兩度透過同志電影導演的角色現身說法；但《萬千痛愛在一身》來得比兩部前作更貼身，主角 Salvador Mallo 的名字以
Almodóvar全名字母拼湊而成，而男主角則由導演御用的名演員 Antonio Banderas 飾演（他亦憑此片獲提名金球獎最佳男主角），加上其房子懸掛的正是
Almodóvar 的畫作，導演的用心也就昭然若揭了。
《萬千痛愛在一身》的故事圍繞曾經多產的過氣導演
Salvador（Banderas 飾演）。靈感枯竭的他靠「食老本」依然可生活無憂，無奈身體和情緒上的種種折磨，令他不得不淡出影壇。但一次偶遇，讓他跟曾經
主演自己首本名作的 Alberto （ Asier Etxeandia飾）冰釋前嫌。累積了幾十年的私怨，竟然在二人互吐苦水之際瞬間消弭。Alberto 想到說服 Salvador 讓他演繹從未曝光的電影劇本《Addiction》，道出 Salvador
失去一生摯愛的沉痛經歷。鏡頭在過去與現在之間穿梭， Salvador的成長回憶交替呈現，刻劃他跟母親（ Penélope Cruz
飾演）及其他人的關係如何塑造今天的自己。
《萬千痛愛在一身》的美學風格簡約，有別於 Almodóvar
早年較煽情的作品，他拿手的對白和大場面不再連珠炮發，但一如他在 2016 年發表的《胡莉糊濤》，各種「經典特色」仍有跡可尋，畫面依然色彩鮮艷，紅色仍舊是身份和情感的象徵，慾望、痛苦和回憶等元素也各安其位。完場後，觀眾仍在摸索區分著鏡頭前後兩位導演的模糊界線。