news

The film directed by Hu MeiDream of Red Mansions: A Perfect MarriageAfter the release of "The Lost Tomb", it received rave reviews. The failure of both box office and word of mouth was really unbelievable for a great director with many classic masterpieces.

To be honest, the visuals, costumes, props and special effects of "A Dream of Red Mansions" are quite good, and it does have the feel of a classic blockbuster, but the film has been criticized for its plot adaptation and actor selection.

Why did the great director Hu Mei appear in "Dream of the Red Chamber》Will it fail here? Apart from the fact that remaking a classic is a high-risk move in itself, perhaps Hu Mei’s interview at the Beijing Film Festival in April 2024 may tell us the answer: I want to spread the culture of the Red Mansion to the whole world.

In the interview, Hu Mei revealed that her previous film "Entering the Capital", which tells the story of the Anhui troupe's visit to Beijing, won three awards, including Best Director of the Year at the China-US Film Festival and Best Director, Best Producer and Best Supporting Actress at the 4th China-Canada International Film Festival. The film was well received by many audiences when it was screened abroad, which made Hu Mei full of confidence in spreading China's excellent traditional culture to the world through film.

If we follow this line of thought, we can actually find some evidence from "A Dream of Red Mansions: The Golden Marriage".

1. Aesthetics

The image of Lin Daiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions Part Two: Golden Marriage" was criticized by many viewers. One viewer believed that the distance between the eyes of this version of Lin Daiyu was too wide, and that this role was chosen according to Western people's preferences.

Although this is just a complaint from netizens, if we look at the images of Oriental women that have appeared in Western aesthetic films in recent years, this complaint is not without reason.

The actress who played Lin Daiyu in this versionZhang MiaoyiShe can indeed be considered a beautiful actress, especially when she looks cute and playful in modern clothes. However, her image of Lin Daiyu is obviously different from both the original novel and Chen Xiaoxu's classic version, which inevitably leads netizens to make associations.

This isolated evidence is not enough to prove anything. Some netizens even compared the scene of Qin Keqing lying in the fantasy world in Dream of Red Mansions with the poster of American Beauty, believing that this was director Hu Mei paying tribute to American movies.

A reporter raised this question to Hu Mei during an interview, but director Hu Mei did not give a direct answer. Although art has something in common, if the two pictures are too similar in composition, artistic conception, etc., it will naturally cause netizens to question.

2. Actors

The role of Jia Mu in "Dream of Red Mansions" was chosen by Chinese-American actress Lu Yan, and this choice of role also triggered doubts on the Internet.

On the one hand, Lu Yan is too old. She was born in 1927 and the film was completed in 2018. That means Ms. Lu Yan was over 90 years old when she participated in the filming of "Dream of Red Mansions".

In the original novel, Grandmother Jia was between 70 and 80 years old, and she must have taken good care of herself. It is normal that she looks younger than her actual age.

Li Ting, who played Jia's mother in Wang Fulin's version of "Dream of Red Mansions", was 63-66 years old when she starred in the play. This age was more suitable for her to play Jia's mother, who was in her seventies. She had both the kindness and majesty of an elder and the grace of a pampered person.

Ms. Lu Yan is a performing artist with a very high reputation, but there are definitely some problems in letting an actress in her 90s play the role of Lady Jia in "Dream of Red Mansions Part One".

On the other hand, although Ms. Lu Yan grew up in China and studied opera with Mei Lanfang, she moved to the United States at the age of 20. After becoming an actress, her acting career was mainly concentrated in the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The audience will also question her understanding of the classical literature "Dream of Red Mansions".

So why did "A Dream of Red Mansions" choose an actress over 90 years old to play Jia Mu? Is there no other better choice?

We have to mention Ms. Lu Yan's other identity, she is a lifetime judge of the American Academy Awards. If "A Dream of Red Mansions" wants to impact the Oscars and the Western market, using Ms. Lu Yan to star in the film will definitely be more advantageous than using other domestic actors.

3. Theme

"A Dream of Red Mansions: Part One" has a major plot adaptation, which is to turn the hidden plot of the original novel "The Jia family wants to make Lin Daiyu's family extinct and covet Lin Ruhai's inheritance" into an obvious plot.

One of the most well-known creative styles of the original version of A Dream of Red Mansions is the extensive use of metaphors and allusions. Among them, many details are set up in the hidden line of Lin Ruhai's inheritance. The extinction of the Jia family is also a realistic and important reason for Lin Daiyu's final tragic ending.

Both the original novel and the classic version of "Dream of Red Mansions" used hidden plots in the story of Lin Ruhai's legacy, but "Dream of Red Mansions Part One" directly made this hidden plot clear.

Director Hu Mei said in an interview that we wrote the mystery (the Jia family was wiped out) openly, which was logical and made Jia Baoyu's love a victim of a conspiracy between economic interests and political forces, thus establishing the theme of "conspiracy and love."

If we talk about the film's viewing experience alone, the adaptation of "A Dream of Red Mansions" is quite good. After all, movies are different from TV series. Movies do not have that much time to lay the groundwork. Directly revealing the plot can speed up the pace and make the conflicts more intense. This is determined by the art form of film.

However, if the theme of "conspiracy and love" is made clear, it will become incompatible with the style of "False Talk Village" of the original novel of "Dream of Red Mansions". But conspiracy and love are themes often used in Western movies and have a large market in the West.

It is difficult for us to expect Western audiences and judges to have the time, energy and interest to understand the hints and metaphors in the original version of "Dream of the Red Chamber". If we want them to understand "Dream of the Red Chamber", we must simply and clearly lay out the conflicts.

To sum up, if we look at it from the three perspectives of aesthetics, actors and themes mentioned in this article, "A Dream of Red Mansions Part Two" does seem to be a movie that caters to Western aesthetics to a certain extent. If this conclusion is confirmed, then we can also find the original answer to some of the negative reviews and complaints about "A Dream of Red Mansions Part Two".

It should be said that promoting my country's classic literary works to the world through the form of movies is definitely worthy of encouragement and praise. However, if we deviate from the traditional oriental charm and deliberately cater to Western aesthetics, then it becomes a matter of going out just for the sake of going out, and its significance will be greatly reduced.