When I was in college, I tried to read it twice at once, because I was fascinated by the film adapted from Fitzgerald's original work, which was directed by david fincher and starred by Brad Pitt.
At that time, he was young and full of longing for life, thinking that adult life should be impassioned.
In my opinion, Ben's narrative is too bleak. In addition to rejuvenation, the protagonist's life trajectory is not surprising. I only see the promotion of the times, but I can't see personal help. I'm a little disappointed.
On New Year's Day, I stayed up late at night and accidentally brushed this movie, even watching a frame. At the beginning, I gave up too melodramatic lines, and every sentence hit my heart.
At the beginning of the film, Daisy, the dying heroine, tells her daughter who is waiting by the bed a distant story she heard from her father:
During the First World War, Mr. Cake, the best watchmaker in the southern United States, meticulously built a beautiful clock for the newly completed railway station regardless of the fact that he was blind and had just lost his only son.
On the opening day, celebrities gathered and firecrackers exploded, but everyone was dismayed to find that the second hand was walking backwards!
The watchmaker standing on it easily explained: I did it on purpose, so that those children who died in the war could come back from the dead. Go back to your hometown to farm, work, have children and live a long and fulfilling life. Maybe my own son can go home, too ......
Beyond the sound, time went back, and his only son got up from the bullet-riddled battlefield and went backwards all the way back to the train station where he started and the arms of his parents on the platform.
Of course, this is a phantom arranged by the director. In fact, Mr. Cake never appeared again. Maybe he died of a broken heart, or he died at sea.
Mr. Cake's life went back in time, but Benjamin experienced it himself.
Born in a rich family, he became the source of tragedy. His mother died in childbirth, and his father took a look at his face, picked him up and ran away in panic. On the way to be chased by the police, he was abandoned at the stairs of the nursing home.
As God wished, Benjamin was adopted by Queenie, a kind and infertile black foster mother. She hugged him tenderly and whispered, Although you are as ugly as an old jar, you are still a child of God. Like the most beautiful angel.
Born like a dying old man in his 80 s, the doctor decided that he would not live. However, Benjamin grew up under Queenie's care, although he was trembling and struggling. The nursing home is his home, his children's paradise and a place worth growing up.
Living with other old people in this place masks his abrupt appearance and protects his occasionally lively childlike innocence.
In this place, people put aside the contradictions in their past lives and are detached from the world. Every day, they only care about the weather, the temperature of the bath water and the sunshine at the end of the day.
No matter what color of skin or size, people are lonely.
Benjamin's first childhood color was blue, which came from the beautiful eyes of five-year-old Daisy. They soon became good playmates, listening to picture books together and playing the game of telling the truth together under the table.
It's just that the color has faded before it is rendered. Daisy's grandmother regarded him as a dishonest old man, severely reprimanded Ben and interrupted his communication with Daisy.
Depressed Ben returned to his room, and his roommate grandpa seemed to see through everything and told him his experience of being struck by lightning in a plain tone. This abrupt conversation appeared several times, almost all when Ben was frustrated. Summarized into a complete version is:
"Did I tell you that I was struck by lightning seven times? One is repairing the roof, and the other is crossing the road to get the letter. I used to herd cattle in the fields. Once I was driving very well, thinking about my own business. Once, I walked my dog very well. Now I am blind in one eye and can hardly hear. Still twitching and trembling for no reason, always forgetting things. But you know what? God always reminds me how lucky I am to be alive. "
Since then, Benjamin, who is getting younger and younger, has had more life experiences: he has been to a brothel, had a drink, said goodbye to one friend and said goodbye to another friend forever.
Benjamin, aged 1936 and 17, packed up and left the nursing home and Queenie's shelter. With his old skin and young soul, he followed Captain Michael Clark, who gave him his first job, to the sea of stars.
According to the agreement, he will send a postcard to Daisy every time he arrives, and Daisy often writes to him. They are like two distant parallel lines, moving forward on their respective trajectories without intersection. Only in the gap between geese can they become observers of each other.
Benjamin's first love was given to Elizabeth, a married woman he met by chance while wandering. When she was young, she tried to swim across the English Channel first, but she always failed.
In the cold and long midnight, they met again and again in the empty hotel lobby, drinking tea, chatting and kissing, and then broke up tacitly and happily without warning.
Elizabeth taught Benjamin that many people in life are destined to be just passers-by.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out. Benjamin's Chelsea was requisitioned and defeated in a firefight.
Captain Mike, who is committed to getting rid of the shackles of his father and fate, is unwilling to waste his life on a broken ship. He loves art and even has tattoos all over his body. After all, he still fulfilled his father's prediction, born in the boat and died in the boat.
Leaving only one life feeling:
From the battlefield to the nursing home, Benjamin, who returned to a stable and plain life, once again met Daisy, whose face value was at its peak.
Time flies, the teenage girl has grown into an up-and-coming ballet dancer.
She hugged him warmly and couldn't wait to describe her colorful dance world to him. In the hazy night, a red dress will reveal a graceful dance; Bow your head and kiss him. At the same time, it's charming to be invited on a spring night.
However, Ben almost refused without hesitation: "It's not that I don't want to, but I'm afraid of disappointing you." He explained truthfully. The two men reunited after a long separation.
Ben's father, Mr. Barton, is a handsome and elegant button king. Now he is seriously ill. He found Ben with crutches. In addition to telling the story of his life, he also gave a family history by the way. Out of guilt, he left him all his inheritance.
Perhaps touched by his father's death, Ben came to new york alone, holding flowers to express his love and cherish to Daisy, who had long admired him. But it's no use coming back because you can't get into Daisy's youth circle.
It was five years in a flash, and Daisy climbed all the way in the palace of ballet art, enjoying more scenery and gaining a lot of achievements. Benjamin came to the middle of his life, lost the appearance of an old man, and was incredibly handsome.
Fate still doesn't intend to arrange for them to meet. Daisy, who suffered a car accident and ruined her dance career, cruelly refused Ben's concern and rushed to Paris.
"He won't understand. I just don't want him to see me in a mess. "
The emotional blending between Benjamin and Daisy took place in the spring of 1963. Daisy suddenly appeared in front of Ben, without the charm of adolescence, but showed the mature charm of a woman who had experienced the world.
They walked hand in hand through the dark corridor, stopped in Ben's room and stared at each other:
"Sleep with me?
-absolutely. "
So the two began a shameless and impetuous love time, on the yacht sprinkled with the afterglow of sunset, on the beach blown by Xia Feng, on the blue lake and on the mattress of their new home. ...
Two people, one is growing, the other is regressing, and finally meet at the midpoint of life. I'm too worried about running counter to each other again. I can't wait to do anything to love each other.
Benjamin, 49, and Daisy, 43, hugged each other and looked at each other in the floor mirror, praying that time would last forever.
Unfortunately, time will never stop and there is no eternity in the world.
Inevitably, one is getting smaller and the other is getting older. The birth of his daughter made Ben happy, but he was more worried. In the end, he chose to leave all his property and ride a motorcycle alone.
Story ending: Daisy continued to run dance training classes, found a responsible father for her daughter, and lived a dull and happy life. It was not until her husband died that she received another letter from Benjamin.
Daisy went back to the nursing home and met Ben, who has grown up but suffers from Alzheimer's disease. He doesn't even remember who she is.
After that, she patiently assumed the responsibility of taking care of Ben: coaxing him to have breakfast, washing his hair, tricking him out of the roof, and leading him to learn to walk … until he became a baby, closed his eyes in Daisy's arms and fell asleep forever.
"In the spring of 2003, he looked at me. At that moment, I knew he recognized me. "
Some people are born to sit leisurely by the river, some will be struck by lightning, some will listen to music, some are artists, some are good swimmers, some know buttons, some know Shakespeare, some are mothers and some are dancers. ...
People will fall in love with many people in their life, and everyone they meet is a mentor. This unreasonable and normal film reveals the taste of idealism in a touch of sadness.
The end point is both the starting point and the starting point.