雏菊1966

整个电影像一场梦。

叙事如梦一般，场景忽近忽出，没有明显逻辑，颜色时而黑白时而彩色。主人公完全是由直觉来引领行动，思考和逻辑是被直接跳过的。脑中涌出的想法会直接变成行动。

两个女主的行动像两个不愿被束缚，疯狂的两个意识，在物质世界的显化。也像是两个内心中小我的自娱自乐和讨论，想象和意识即现实。

梦，直觉和逻辑，一直是两个吸引我且让我好奇的的课题，人为什么推崇理智和逻辑？为什么要压抑感性呢？人为什么要符合条条框框的社会标准？在世界存在的意义是什么？我的行动会带来什么？看雏菊的时候好像又体会了做梦的感觉。

随意的一个想法，用直觉和第六感行动异常迷人。不得不说，我也很想靠直觉生活。以上原因让这部电影给我留下了深刻的印象，也让我更偏爱。

此电影已列入我的favorite，对我影响很大。见识到了电影还可以这么拍，艺术的表达形式多种多样。Vera Chytilova导演的名字很好的背下来了，实在很欣赏。

Destruction and Reflection in Objectification: Feminist Allegory in Daisies/ Sedmirkrásky [1] and The Girls/ Flickorna [2]In the male-dominated film industry, it is rare to see films made from the perspective of women. Thornburg complains that traditionally most media have provided limited role models for women and that most films objectify women and define them in terms of their relationship to men.[3] With the onset of second-wave feminism in the early 1960s in the west, more women got involved in the film industry as filmmakers and more films were produced from a feminist point of view. Examples of such films include Daisies and The Girls, which are both directed by and use women as protagonists. These films successfully broke down stereotypical portrayals of women in film and have presented women’s reflection on their condition under patriarchal society. Daisies is directed by Věra Chytilová, a preeminent member of the Czech New Wave film movement. This film can be interpreted in a number of ways and can also be considered as a feminist allegory which reconstructs the doll metaphor as the celebration of the female recalcitrance rather than the apparent condemnation of its heroines.[4] The Girls, which is more recognisable of its director - Mai Zetterling’s political commitment, inserts an ancient Greek comedy - Lysistrata as a feminist allegory to reveal the heroines’ reflection on their own lives. Focusing on the central notion in feminism - objectification, this study will explore the feminist values presented to the viewer in Daisies and The Girls. This will be achieved by carefully comparing and analysing filmic elements and techniques used in both of these films. Before we begin to analyse their respective film works, it is valuable to look at these female filmmakers’ authorship approaches first. Although Chytilová and Zetterling are both from Europe, they came from opposing parts of Europe divided by the so called “Iron Curtain” for much of the 20th century, leading to distinct cultural differences in their work. As one of the most innovative filmmakers in 1960s, Chytilová’s work is characterised by surrealism, grotesque satire and absurdism. She is very creative in her methods through which she utilises avant-garde and experimental techniques to establish her own unique film style. For a brief period the work she produced was critical of communism, due to the de-Stalinization policy of the Czech government in the early 1960s, a short-lived period of artistic freedom in the country. Her early career as a fashion model may also have influenced Daisies. Zetterling is perhaps better known in the west for her acting than for her directing, yet she has created a new image of women in film which has embodied the potential of filmmaking by women[5]. Her filmmaking style is deeply influenced by the Swedish Ingmar Bergman, who has achieved worldwide notoriety as a director. He has directed several films and TV series that focus on women and marriage such as Persona[6] and Scenes from a Marriage/Scener ur ett äktenskap [7] which are in the same vein as The Girls. Some of the actors from The Girls also star in some Bergman’s other films. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the influence of Bergman when analysing The Girls by Zetterling.Differences in film elements and techniques set apart the contrasting styles of Daisies and The Girls. When analysing the respective films’ cinematography, it is apparent that the change of colour in Daisies and The Girls sets essential differences in their film’s tone. The differences are not just confined to the fact that Daisies is cine-colour and The Girls is in black and white. Daisies has manifest colour change from filters change and colour effect. The heavy use of colour effect in this film does not follow any specific rules, setting a tone that resembles a disordered game. Hames remarks that Daisies does not take itself seriously as most experimental films do.[8] This is contrast to The Girls, which follows a clear rule of the change of colour contrast. To some extent, The Girls is a combination of acting, reality, imagination and reminiscence. However, it is notable that only the reality and acting on the timeline are presented in a normal contrast, whereas imagination and flashback are both in high black and white contrast. This indicates a strong tendency of gender opposition. A clear and firm tone has been stated from the manifest colour change.

Fig. 1 The dynamic colour effect of rail in Daisies.

As evidenced by the soundtrack differences in Daisies and The Girls, the feminist allegory is told in a subtle way and a direct way respectively in each film. Much like its visual style, Daisies’ soundtrack is an experimental mixture of dialogue, sound effects and music. The soundtrack is more independent in Daisies, it includes pop music and mechanical sounds such as the tik tok of a clock and creaking sounds. The creative use of contrapuntal sound effectively defines the attributes of the two heroines from the opening scene of Daisies: the movement of the two Maries’ bodies makes a mechanical sound. From the beginning of the film Chytilová has made it clear that two heroines are puppet-like, as evidenced from their stiff and unnatural movements. In contrast, the sound source used in The Girls is diegetic for the most part. The movie uses dialogue directly copied from the play Lysistrata for dramatic effect. The memories and imagination aroused by the theatre that three heroines perform in are juxtaposed with lines from Lysistrata, to show their understanding of the drama and reflection of their real lives. The psychological description of an old couple who Liz has treated like friends is shown as monologues which reveal the status quo of women under the male gaze. Compared to Daisies, the dialogue in The Girls is more revealing in terms of its political overtones. This is in contrast to the dialogue of Daisies, which is far more banal and mundane, therefore its subtext as a feminist allegory is presented in a far more subtle way. Another element that differentiates the style of Daisies and The Girls is the performance style. The performance in Daisies is mostly acted out by the two women, and they are both amateur actors. Their performance style is unique and unnatural, and is in keeping with the style of the film. Their body language and speech are also stilted, and these traits combined with their negative and selfish behaviour are superficially attractive. [9] This performance style helps to establish the image of the girls as being doll like, Hames argues that they ‘act out a puppet-like spectacle.’[10] In The Girls, the acting performances are more natural and professional. The characters’ behaviour noticeably diverges under different conditions. In the real world and in memory sequences, the heroines are obedient and weak. However in the scenes from the theatre and from their imagination, they are radical and strong. These inconsistencies in their behaviour show their strong desire to have these traits in the real world. For instance, Liz gives three speeches which are after the show, in the real world in front of the journalists and in her imagination. Her confidence level varies in each of her speeches, at the start of her after-show speech she is reasonably self-assured, but in her real world speech she is irresolute, lastly in her imagination she is fearless and intrepid, reflecting her ‘desire for power’.[11]

Fig.2 Liz’s three speeches in The Girls: after the play, in front of the journalists and in her fantasy.

To some extent, Daisies is about the consequences of poor decision making whereas The Girls is a reflection on the feminist allegory. Daisies and The Girls both criticise consumerism with food but in differing ways. In The Girls, Gunila has an unpleasant flashback where she goes shopping and buys a cake. She is treated disrespectfully by a male clerk in shop and then children start to chase her, leaving her feeling helpless. She drops the cake she bought and runs away. Gunila does not push back against the clerk’s behaviour and fears the kids even as a mother of four children herself. In Daisies, the two girls eat, cut and spoil food, and burn things with joy. There behaviours show the girls’ liberation from consumerism using hyperbolic imagery. Lim describes them as being ‘awaken to revolt’[12]against the worn out cliche that women are powerless and flimsy.The relationship between the heroines and men in these two films are portrayed using different techniques. In Daisies, the two Maries belong to no-one, and they enjoy the game of manipulating men because of their inability to love. In other words, they also belong to everyone. They are portrayed as both consumers and destroyers of food, but in reality they represent the typical woman who has been objectified to the point where they are no different to a product that is consumed in the patriarchal society. Chytilová further highlights this from other details in the film such as when the two Maries soak themselves in the milk bath and when they get into the food elevator. In Daisies, the two Maries use destruction to justify their existence. Nobody cares them so they decide to destroy. The Girls is for the most part about the struggle of three heroines against the men in their lives. They are deeply bothered by the reality that people are indifferent towards them even though they are successful actresses. The girls in Daisies parallel the mistresses of Liz’s husband in her fantasy scene in The Girls. Liz’s husband takes his mistresses out from his case and undresses them on the bed as though they are dolls, whilst persuading Liz to sacrifice her career to support him. Thornburg points out that Liz’s husband wants to objectify Liz in the same manner as his mistresses: to achieve an ‘expansion of his own ego’.[13]Clouzot states that the dominant trait of Daisies is its objective vision[14], which explains why Chytilová and Zetterling present the two Maries and the mistresses of Liz’s husband in a similar manner.

Fig. 3 Analogous characters in The Girls and Daisies: The mistresses of Liz’s husband and the two Maries are all like dolls.

The difference can also be seen from different character settings. In The Girls, the heroines’ conflict with the men in their lives is partly due to their successful jobs. However, in Daisies, the two girls never work but exist under an ‘economical parasitism’ [15]. The three heroines in The Girls are middle-class white women who can be related to by the audience from their different conditions: Mariamne is a mistress, Liz has a cheating husband and Gunila is a mother who has a boring and irresponsible husband. In Daisies, the young and beautiful Maries are an extreme representation of every woman who has been objectified in their life. Daisies and The Girls both operate within a double world structure but it presented to the viewer in different ways. The two worlds in Daisies, which are the realistic orderly world and the world of the two Maries’ abnormal behaviours, exist independently. The majority of Daisies is dominated by the second world. There are several parts of the film in which the two Maries encounter the real world. For example, in the nightclub scene, a female dancer becomes frozen with surprise upon viewing the two Maries’ farcical behaviour. One can assume that her reaction shows how she has become enlightened by the two Maries’ defiance against docility. In the countryside scene, the two Maries are passed by a group of workers who totally ignore them, which sparks Maries’ self-criticism about their decision to engage in this behaviour. Moreover, the dual protagonists are symbolic of the double world. The repeated use of symmetrical composition from the beginning correlates with the concept of double world. Daisies starts with the dual protagonists sitting on the ground and ends with them lying on the table after their punishment. Their rebellion is destined to fail because they are still stuck in the cage of patriarchal society. At the end of the film, their behaviour reverts to that of the stereotypical female, happy to be subservient in society. Their destruction can be interpreted as Chytilová’s criticism on objectifying women.

Fig. 4 The double world in Daisies: the female dancer is closely awakened by the two Maries’ unruly behaviour which shows an intrusion of th

In The Girls, the double world becomes mixed up together as the three heroines’ theatre acting, real life and fantasy combine. The nightclub scene in The Girls is a fantasy in which Liz leads the women to use their initiative to put themselves under the male gaze by taking off their clothes in front of male onlookers. Only in the imaginary scenes do the women rebel bravely, which is similar to the behaviour of the girls in Daisies. Apart from this, the heroines are passive and oppressed in the real world. Their fantasies are more like daydreams, compared to the practical revolt that occurs in Daisies. The Girls ends in an ambiguous manner. Liz’s decision to get divorced is not shown explicitly but is replaced by the imagery of distorted figures dancing in the mirror, which may indicate an acknowledgement by Zitterling that the challenges faced by women in the real world are still difficult to conquer. As Zitterling admits that ‘a woman is emotionally formed by men and never quite breaks free from them, even if she would like to.’[16]

Fig. 5 The colour contrast change in the last scene of The Girls when Liz declares she is getting a divorce, which calls into question wheth

Thanks to the efforts of generations of feminists, women have made great progress in the pursuit of gender equality in the west. However, today’s world is still dominated by men, and women in developing countries are still facing similar problems to what were experienced by women in the developed world in the 1960s. Winkler describes the three main actresses in The Girls as having a real ‘sense of frustration with balancing or combining work and family’ in 1995[17]. Women in the movie industry are still facing these same problems today. Chytilová has become renowned for her talent, skills and unique style. However, Zetterling cannot avoid being overshadowed by the more acclaimed Bergman as a director. Therefore, films like Daisies and The Girls are still hugely relevant as feminist allegories, not only because they show how women have awakened to reflect on their condition, but also to act as a benchmark when it comes to the representation of women in film today. Daisies and The Girls both have distinctive styles in presenting colours, sound and performance on screen. Chytilová tells the story of how women can be destroyed by objectification through an experimental comedy. Zetterling contrasts the reality and the political appeal of women who have become inspired by the play Lysistrata. They both reflect on the manner in which women have become objectified and go on to explore the real world demands of women. Although the five heroines in two films all fail in practicing, the double world in Daisies already interacts with each other and the three actresses in The Girls are awaken on the ideological level. These proclaimed feminist films will always inspire people to reflect and behave just as the female filmmakers had wished. Winkler highlights that Liz’s speech after her performance likely serves as Zetterling’s own views in regard to her film[18]. These films shot from the woman’s perspective in 1960s deserve more notoriety as they are invaluable in showing the potential of women as independent human beings. As Winkler argues that ‘in spite of Bergman’s influence, The Girls is Zetterling’s own.’[19]

Filmography

Bergman, Ingmar, Persona, 1966. Film. Swe: AB Svensk Filmindustri

Bergman, Ingmar, Scene from a Marriage/ Scener ur ett äktenskap, 1973. TV series. Swe: Sveriges Radio

Chytilová, Věra, Daisies/Sedmirkrásky. 1966. Film.

Zetterling, Mai. The Girls/Flickorna. 1968. Film. Swe: Sandrew Film & Teater

Bibliography

Anděl, Jaroslav, Alexandr Hackenschmied (Prague: Torst, 2000)Clouzot, Claire, ‘Daisies by Věra Chytilová’ Film Quartly, Vol.21, No.3, 1968, pp. 35-37.

Hames, Peter, Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition (Traditions in World Cinema) (Edinburgh University Press, 2010)

Lim, Bliss Cua, ‘Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as Feminist Allegory’ Camera Obscura, Vol.16, No.2, 2001, pp. 1-77.

Sloan, Jane, ‘Making the Scene Together: Mai Zetterling’s Flikorna/The Girls(1968) and Aristophanes’s Lysistrata’, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Vol.25, No.2, 2008, pp. 97-106

Thornburg, Linda, ‘Mai Zetterling: The Creation of a New Mythology’ Journal of the University Film Association, Vol. 26, No. 1/2, 1974, pp. 13-15.

Winkler, Martin M, Classical Literature on Screen: Affinities of Imagination (Cambridge Press, 2017)

[1] Chytilová, Věra, Daisies/Sedmirkrásky. 1966. Film. [2] Zetterling, Mai. The Girls/Flickorna. 1968. Film. Swe: Sandrew Film & Teater [3] Thornburg, Linda, ‘Mai Zetterling: The Creation of a New Mythology’ Journal of the University Film Association, Vol. 26, No. 1/2, 1974, p. 13. [4] Lim, Bliss Cua, ‘Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as Feminist Allegory’ Camera Obscura, Vol.16, No.2, 2001, p. 38. [5] Thornburg, ‘Mai Zetterling: The Creation of a New Mythology’, p. 13. [6] Bergman, Ingmar, Persona, 1966. Film. Swe: AB Svensk Filmindustri [7] Bergman, Ingmar, Scene from a Marriage/ Scener ur ett äktenskap, 1973. TV series. Swe: Sveriges Radio [8] Hames, Peter, Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition (Traditions in World Cinema) (Edinburgh University Press, 2010), p. 152. [9] Anděl, Jaroslav, Alexandr Hackenschmied (Prague: Torst, 2000), p. 8. [10] Hames, Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition (Traditions in World Cinema), p. 154. [11] Sloan, Jane, ‘Making the Scene Together: Mai Zetterling’s Flikorna/The Girls(1968) and Aristophanes’s Lysistrata’, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 25:2, 2008, p. 102. [12] Lim, Bliss Cua, ‘Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as Feminist Allegory’, p. 60. [13] Thornburg, ‘Mai Zetterling: The Creation of a New Mythology’, p. 15. [14] Clouzot, Claire, ‘Daisies by Věra Chytilová’ Film Quartly, Vol.21, No.3, 1968, p. 35. [15] Lim, Bliss Cua, ‘Dolls in Fragments: Daisies as Feminist Allegory’, p. 57. [16] Thornburg, quoted in Rosen, Marjorie, ‘Women, Their films and Their Festival’ Saturday Review (ed) ‘Mai Zetterling: The Creation of a New Mythology’, p. 15. [17] Winkler, Martin M, Classical Literature on Screen:Affinities of Imagination ( Cambridge Press, 2017), p.149. [18] Ibid. p.144. [19] Ibid. p.148.

我猜每一个有暴食倾向的人看到此片都会打心底拍手称好，因为这两姐妹简直神复原了我们这些人的日常状态：疯狂贪婪食物，而后又在堕落后感到无限的懊悔和空虚，接着下定决心好好做人，勤奋工作，周而复始地在这个过程中一遍遍循环……

有暴食倾向，很大程度上来源于正常的心理需求未得到满足，而内心巨大空虚又需要填补，这时食物就成了填补者。正如影片中这两个混乱姐妹，她们不断询问自己是否存在，一切是否存在，当肯定世界已经走向堕落时，她们也选择以堕落回答堕落，她们戏弄男人们的感情，偷别人钱包，大毁宴席，在舞会上搞破坏，每一件事与每一件事之间你找不到任何逻辑和理性，而食物在这里，本质上已经超出生理需求或者美味享受的需求了，食物成为堕落本源的象征，是人内心虚无的体现。

同时，配合着导演的各种滤镜和蒙太奇、超现实镜头，更将这种混乱推到一种令人称叹的地步，我们跟着两姐妹一会儿在泳池，一会儿在卧室，一会儿在餐厅，一会儿在草地，一个多小时的片，完全不知道她们在干什么，只看到她们不停地吃，在吃的空隙间来几句摸不着头脑的对白。整部影片如同夜间做的梦，超现实的画面却实实在在表达了我们所处现实的空洞和荒谬，尽管此片是60年代的片字，但放在当下看依旧能引起共鸣，互联网让世界互联，却让个体和社会越来越原子化，价值观看似包容却实际越发单一，各种综艺网剧段子八卦持续轰炸我们的眼镜和耳朵。我们对信息暴食，对娱乐暴食，对资本暴食，但依旧无法解决自我的存在问题和虚无感受。

回到影片结尾，疯狂姐妹躺在收拾完残局的长桌上，一遍一遍地说着“我们很高兴”，似乎将一切打扫清理完毕后，明天就是新的开始，她们真的可以勤奋工作并感到快乐吗？真是这样吗？

#二刷 #01032023 #BFI #Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2022 长评 - 女人的内心世界。 距离一刷已经过了一年，与最近看的《赛琳和朱莉出航记》和同场的《午后的迷惘》对应着看效果是非常不错，还是坚持两个女孩是一个女人的两个意识体。开场与结尾的更多的是对于男性引发战争的批判，这次改变食物是欲望的表达的想法，感觉不光是欲望，更像是一种权力的表达，不论是戏耍老男人，暴饮暴食，还有最后的破坏，像是在展现身体权力一样，于此对照的则是男性创造的战争，剥夺他人的生命。视觉上还是感叹实验性较强的几次展现，剪纸身体，颜色切换，加速五彩多曝的火车，还有绚丽的角色多曝处理都太过惊人。也是头几天跟友邻线下聊起才得知里维特承认他的《赛琳和朱莉出航记》受到了《雏菊》的影响。

#一刷 #10032022 #BFIPlayer 女性主义超现实题材，摒弃了叙事的连贯性，重点放在视听上。开场就是共产主义齿轮、战斗机射击、爆炸等超现实画面剪辑，配乐则带有强烈的军事行动感。影片的几次转场都非常的有创意，黑白和彩色影像转场，利用机位的动作转场。还有几场非常先锋的声音视觉化表达，钢琴课上那伴随着钢琴曲音符的快速剪辑、电话铃和门铃响起的数字号码快速剪辑和剪刀那部分的画面碎片化处理可真强。片中桃子、苹果、香蕉都是带有强烈象征的水果。

我认为黑白少女似乎象征着一个女人的两个意识体。生活区域内的彩色画面更像是独自一人时女性的一种放松的状态（当向窗外扔桃核时响起了阅兵感觉的音乐，父权的外部环境？）。而黑白化妆间更像是意识输出前（包装）的缓冲地点。两种意识在后期着装出现了改变，从纯黑白变成了白底黑斑和黑底白斑。再在亲吻男子后，斑点瞬间变大，也是两个意识体有方向变化的一种表现。后期又回归纯“黑白”（我此时陷入了一种模糊的状态），但最后当玻璃杯被碰碎，画面“褪去”黑白变成彩色，并伴随着大量抽帧画面，展现现实二女的衣服颜色却是水泥色和深红色（完整意义的转变），像胜利者宣言般的配乐响起，二人开始一场饕餮盛宴（这一幕让我仿佛穿越到了《发条橙》的三人行的那段儿，配乐可以对照罗西尼的《威廉退尔序曲》，食物可对照Alex，果真是食色性也。这么一看，这段儿也能解读成一个女性在自慰）。当然…结尾被报纸包裹的二人，就比较明显了。感觉电影更像是讲述一个被"压抑"的女人的内心世界。

这个世界上的一切都堕落了

你说的一切是什么

就是一切

我们堕落了不是吗

而且我有工作，做个傻瓜哈哈哈哈哈哈哈

有五秒转的时光列车太酷炫太惊喜了！

鬼马的太有趣了（两个人一黑一白，一个墨绿一个薄荷绿，一个格纹一个波点，一个短发花环一个双马尾，一起烧房子，泡牛奶浴，在草地上打滚儿，剪衣服，互相丢蛋糕）把蝴蝶标本与女性身体的私密敏感部位相结合

你不属于这个世纪

我一定是爱上你了