Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 271 Tell Your Fear
It was the beginning of spring, the beginning of a new year, the ice had just melted, and the willow trees were slightly opening their eyes.

Beijing entered early spring in April, but the domestic entertainment industry was in turmoil.

In the literary and artistic circles, Professor Tian Qinxin, who later became the president of the National Theatre of China, raised the issue of the development of digital literary and artistic works;
There are also the standards for the entry of rural folk performances in Northeast China, such as Errenzhuan, proposed by the comedian Wang Benshan.
There is also a society-wide discussion on the "over-entertainmentization of domestic entertainment auditions" that has been hotly discussed in major forums and websites.

This discussion is very strange. The instigator and the person being criticized are the same person, a washing machine!
Last year's popular "Super Girl" attracted the attention of the whole society.

Compared with the first "Super Girl" in later generations, it had the support of the country's first public opinion distribution center, Blog.com, and Focus Media.

With the addition of the top-tier young actress Liu Yifei and other final judges such as Jay Chou and Anita Mui, the impact is completely incomparable.

Just like the data that Wang Dajun and Xiangtai obtained through research by business consulting agencies, the multiplier effect has brought billions of GDP growth to the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

But for the initiator behind this great debate, Wenjie, this is just a tool program that has been overdrawn and drained of its potential.

The 2004 edition of "Super Girl" on Travel Channel dug up some of the most classic contestants in history, including Li Yuchun, Zhang Jingying, and Zhou Bichang, and brought the atmosphere of SMS voting and blog rankings to the extreme.

While it is making a lot of money, it naturally also causes certain negative effects.

That is, at a meeting a few days ago, Lu Kuan finished his own meal and started smashing other people's bowls.

The initiator of the debate was Liu Zhongde. (Note 1)

The next person to respond was the famous rock singer Zheng Jun, who blasted the contestants of the talent show as music parasites who knew nothing about music, saying it was an insult.

However, Zheng Jun later served as a judge for the "Super Boy" Jinan competition in 2007, which was a boomerang.

The person who cursed the most harshly was Han Han, the official writer of Blog.com.

He started to cultivate the internet platform of Blog.net in 2002 and became a literary genius with the publication of Triple Door.

2002年的《像少年啦飞驰》荣登畅销榜第一，紧接着是去年9月的《长安乱》畅销300多万册，线上累积了4亿多的点击人气，受到80、90后的喜爱。

Han Han didn't need any mobilization at all. He later wrote many articles criticizing domestic entertainment auditions.

He published an article titled "Children of Supermen" on his blog, jokingly combining "Super Girls" and "Come on! Good Men", saying that if the champions of the two activities were combined, they would become "Children of Supermen".

This time, they were extremely critical, criticizing the programs of Hunan TV, Dragon TV and other TV stations that followed suit this year, saying they were worthless.

It is claimed that Hunan and Taiwan's attitude of knowingly making mistakes but still committing them is poisoning young people and unlimitedly raising the banner of ugliness.

Hunan and Taiwan are watching with great anxiety, but even if they voice their opinions on Xinlang, the public attention is too low, and when they try to rectify their names on blogs, there is an invisible hand controlling them...

It’s so frustrating!
In view of the complaints made by parents, schools and youth protection organizations across the country through telephone and letters.

On April 4, April Fool's Day, the relevant departments posted on the blog that they have paid attention to this matter and will respond as soon as possible and plan market behavior.

It has to be said that Travel Satellite TV did not hesitate to give up the money-making tool "Super Girl" brand and used a combination of measures to create public opinion, which brought great pressure to its competitor Hunan TV.

The situation was getting more and more serious. Ouyang Changqing, who was keenly aware of the change in attitude, had to rush to Beijing again overnight to seek mediation and help from all parties.

Huayi Headquarters Building, Xinyuan South Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Ouyang Changqing and Yao Jia walked into the office and were confronted by Wang Xiaolei's angry behavior.

"Did this Wu Dun get his brain damaged in the Pig Federation?"

"He doesn't even like the investment in Red Cliff? Why is he still hesitating about the cast he's already confirmed? Idiot!"

Wang Dajun smiled and said, "You just want to put forward some more conditions. I'll go and negotiate."

"Old Director, Director Yao, please come in." Zhou Jun looked up and saw the guests coming in. He nodded at Wang Xiaolei, reminding him to control his temper.

He has always been good at cultivating his energy and knows that venting his anger will not help.

However, the tearful look of Han Xing on the bed yesterday made him feel unwilling, and his male chauvinism felt hurt.

It’s not that Zhang Nara’s tearful eyes made him feel much pity for her, but that he was never able to gain much advantage in the confrontation with Lu Kuan.

Apart from those few days of happiness thanks to the foul-mouthed Song Zude, they were ultimately defeated.

If she wants to do the same thing again, firstly, her face will be controlled, and secondly, she has developed "resistance".

Such low-level rumors will no longer become a spreading craze.

Let’s see how we can work together with Hunan and Taiwan to overcome the crisis facing Super Girl first.

Jang Nara also hopes to replicate Liu Yifei's actions last year, and achieve mutual success with this program to improve her national popularity.

Ouyang Changqing clearly expressed his demands.

"Master, you go ahead and do the activities first, I'll coordinate with you."

In fact, Zhou Jun was not sure about it. After all, his base was not on this line, and he was quite constrained in doing some things.

The last time the two sides finally stopped fighting, the two Huayi brothers brought out the big Buddha behind them to do the coordination work.

His home advantage lies in policy, as the duck knows when the river water warms in spring. For example, the last time Warner and the mainland film company jointly operated.

It was because he was close to the water and got the moon first, so he pulled Huayi to take up this position.

Of course, the rent-seeking and exchange formed on this basis is also an important reason for investigating Blog.com and Travel Channel on issues such as taxation.

"Also, we have to use the Xinlang platform. We saw some improvement after the last matchup, but the follow-up was weak."

"Master, what I mean is that the three of us should form a closer alliance."

Wang Dajun smiled and said, "That's as it should be, Director Ouyang."

"Xiangtai's Tianyu, Huayi and Xinlang can form a closer cooperative relationship."

"Artists from Tianyu and Huayi become popular through Huayi's film and television works, which then feed back to Xiangtai and Xinlang, who provide the publicity."

Yao Jia sighed inwardly, after all you guys are talking about, aren't you still using the same old trick of making the road wider?

In addition to coveting Hunan TV's publicity resources, which are currently superior to Travel Channel's, Zhou Jun and others also want to offset the crisis that may be brought about by Wang Jinhua's departure to a certain extent.

Now only Bingbing has made it clear that he will stay, while Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Xun are still in contact.

It is true that they want to get rid of the burden of Wang Jinhua, the nanny-like patriarch, but that does not mean they want famous artists such as Li Binbin and Chen Daoming to leave with them.

If Hunan TV could be brought into our camp in a closer manner, it would obviously be more beneficial for the artist competition after the breakup between Huayi and Wang Jinhua.

After all, Base Camp is still the first window for celebrity variety shows and film and television promotions among domestic satellite TV programs.

The two sides reached a preliminary agreement and will each look for opportunities to break through in their respective networks.

After meeting with Ouyang Changqing, Mr. Zhou returned to Morgan Stanley to handle some investment banking matters. In the evening, after a busy day, he returned home.

"I'm home?"

Zhou Jun’s wife is five years older than him, but she comes from a good background, so her marriage to him is considered a “marriage of inferiority”.

The couple are rare role models in the circle. Zhou Jun does a very good job at work and has almost no scandals.

"Wife, I want to ask my father-in-law for a favor."

"Ok?"

"So, there's a colleague at CICC who used to have some connections with Morgan Stanley."

"His predecessor was an investment bank manager named Zhuang Xu. He must have had some shady dealings. When he was providing guidance for Baosteel's IPO in 2000, some of the accounts were not in order."

Zhou's wife asked doubtfully, "Just investigate as you see fit. It won't get to the point of looking for my dad, right?"

"No, this Zhuang Xu is now the chairman of Blog.com and has deep connections with all sorts of people, so..."

"He's in Europe for an inspection. Wait until he comes back and let the Economic Investigation Department figure out a solution."

Zhou Jun was very satisfied and diligently fulfilled his husband's duties in the evening, which made his wife smile.

"I'm warning you, even though you've invested in Huayi, those female celebrities aren't clean people. Don't make a mistake."

"Oh! What are you talking about? I don't smoke or drink, and I go home on time every day. Have I ever made any mistakes in all these years?"

"Hmph, just warning you...Ah!"

Late at night, Zhou Jun, who was suffering from back pain, came to the study to look through some materials.

Previously, the tax inspections on Blog.com and Wenjie were sometimes urgent and sometimes slow. Even if you do something bad, you have to be relaxed and tense at the same time. You have to keep an eye on them all the time, and they won't reveal any flaws even if they don't take a nap.

Moreover, in order to prove that Lu Kuan was the actual controller of both companies, he found a new breakthrough: Zhuang Xu.

He asked a former colleague who worked at CICC to forge documents, and then asked his father-in-law to give instructions and pry the truth out of him.

Boss Lu took the initiative this time and directly targeted Xiangtai, Zhou Jun and his Korean mistress;

However, Zhou Jun chose to find another way when he was temporarily unable to break through the dense defense of Blog.com and Wenjie.

Undercurrents were surging underwater, but the surface was calm. In early April, it was soon time for Lu Kuan to set off for Cannes.

As the chairman of the review committee, he has to review films in advance and participate in various activities;

I also need to take about a week to finish shooting the short film "Paris, I Love You".

Of course, because of the difficulties he encountered on the set of "Aftershock", he asked Martin Scorsese to contact Bergman on Faroe Island.

The latter will decide whether to accept the meeting request after watching his "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

At the Capital International Airport, in Air China's business class lounge, Lu Kuan was processing the OA process for Wenjie Holdings.

At the end of March, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was officially taken off the screen.

The domestic box office closed at 2.28 million RMB, and the box office in other Asian regions including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea reached 2.3 million RMB.

The total box office in North America was 8500 million US dollars. Except for the first week when the box office soared thanks to the bonus of winning the Berlin Golden Bear, the trend slowed down in the later period.

What was more surprising was that, riding on the momentum of the Golden Bear Award, the film continued to soar at the European box office, mainly in France, Germany, the UK and other countries, and finally closed at 3400 million US dollars.

However, this figure is still quite far from the $9000 million earned by the later film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", mainly due to cultural barriers.

Excluding peripheral and DVD copyrights, the film's net profit in Asia and Europe was nearly 2.2 million yuan, far higher than the returns of other film investors.

This is mainly because the distribution and advertising marketing are all affiliated companies of Wenjie Holdings, and the costs in the middle links are greatly reduced.

The $8500 million in North America may seem like a lot, but after deducting the commissions from exhibitors and distributors and marketing expenses, the actual net profit was less than $2000 million.

Big Head will have to wait for the DVD release in 6 months.

Big awards and big marketing have made it possible for Boss Lu to produce a money-making blockbuster every year, but with the current market capacity, that's the maximum he can produce.

After getting off the plane in Paris, he continued to transfer to Cannes. The conference organizing committee had already prepared to pick him up and took him to the hotel.

The Bosnian and Herzegovina chairman of the film festival, Kusturica, knocked on the door and came in, giving Boss Lu a warm hug.

"Lu, I heard that you had some accidents some time ago?"

"It's just a minor car accident, nothing serious."

Kusturica took out a list from his bag and said, "This is the jury members we are about to announce. Please see if there is anything wrong with them."

The president of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival is usually determined about three months in advance, but the jury members are not announced until about a month before the opening.

Because the members are basically directors, actors, writers, photographers, etc., it is difficult to determine their schedules in advance.

Boss Lu saw John Woo at the end of the list.

Isn’t this Wu Yusen?
Thinking about the "Red Cliff" that Huayi just launched a few days ago, if this old guy comes to be a judge, it will inevitably need a lot of publicity, and we can't give him this opportunity.

"Wu Yusen is not suitable, right?"

"It would be better if the jury members were composed of experts from different countries, regions, cultural backgrounds and professions."

"Dr. Wu and I are both Chinese-language filmmakers. This is unfair to films from other regions."

Kusturica has great respect for Boss Lu's noble character!
Generally speaking, in an odd-numbered jury, people from the same nationality and language family tend to stick together for warmth. I didn’t expect that the young director in front of me would have such a noble character!

However, he was also a little embarrassed: "The selection of Wu Yusen was decided by another vice chairman. I will go and discuss it."

Kusturica changed the subject: "Tonight I'll take you to meet some local French artists and film companies. Perhaps you'll need them for your films in the future."

Just as Lu Kuan was about to agree, his cell phone started buzzing.

"Lu, prepare to come to Faroe Island."

"Bergman agreed?"

Boss Lu was somewhat overjoyed, but was also worried that such a "vulgar" subject as "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" would not appeal to him.

Martin Scorsese laughed on the other end of the phone: "He called you the next generation of Kurosawa in Asia and asked me for your first few films."

"The route to the Faroe Islands is more complicated. You fly from Paris to Stockholm, and Bergman's butler will be waiting for you at Arlanda Airport."

Cannes is located on the Mediterranean coast in southeastern France, while the Faroe Islands are located in the Baltic Sea and are Swedish territory. The straight-line distance between the two places is 1800 kilometers.

After hanging up the phone, the chairman of the film festival on the other end was stunned.

"Were you talking about Bergman?"

"Bergman wants to see you!?"

Kusturica grabbed Boss Lu's sleeve tightly and said, "Please give him my regards. I..."

He stamped his foot fiercely: "It's a pity that I don't have the disc with me, so I can't ask you to bring the movie to him for me!"

The festival chairman's face was filled with ecstasy, but then he muttered in frustration, "Hey, even if you take him there, he might not watch my 'Underground'."

Boss Lu looked at Kusturica with a mixture of laughter and tears, as if he was looking at a second Ang Lee.

If I call Ang Lee now and tell him this news, he will probably go crazy with envy and jealousy, right?

The next day, Kusturica personally drove Lu Kuan to Cannes Airport, as there happened to be a direct flight to Stockholm that day.

"Lu, I really hate that I'm not you."

Looking at Boss Lu's back as he walked up the gangway, the 50-year-old Bosnian director muttered to himself like countless fans of Liu Yifei on the Internet.

Kusturica thought of what Martin Scorsese mentioned on the other end of the phone yesterday. Bergman called this oriental director the new generation of Asian Kurosawa.

He pulled out his phone and said, "Evan, I don't think Hong Kong's Wu Yusen is a good candidate for the judges..."

At the exit of Arlanda International Airport, Lu Kuan saw an old man holding a "China Lu" sign with a blonde beauty standing next to him.

"Hello, Lu. I'm Marini, a director at Swedish Television."

She gestured to Fenway, the butler beside her: "He doesn't speak English, Bergman asked me to help."

Boss Lu smiled and shook hands with them. The old butler Fenway looked at the oriental director curiously. He was really too young.

Bergman is 87 years old this year. He has accompanied Bergman on the island for 40 years and is almost 70 years old. The handsome and unruly young man in front of him should be less than 30 years old, right?
Lu Kuan knew about this Marini from news reports in later generations.

She became obsessed with Bergman at the age of 17. After winning his trust, she was invited to the island and spent a year shooting "Bergman's Island", allowing the audience to see a more real Bergman.

The blonde beauty has Bergman's trust.

Later, when Ang Lee came here to pay homage to his idol, she was the one who introduced him. There was also Tang Wei, who had an extreme admiration for Bergman because of Ang Lee's influence.

In 2014, she and South Korean director Kim Tae-yong came to a farm here and held a private wedding.

Marine was familiar with this oriental director, as his films from "Alien" to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" were all hits in Europe.

But she was still surprised that Lu Kuan's commercial-style films were favored by Bergman. Perhaps she is the person who knows Bergman best in the world now.

"Let's go. The weather is bad today. We need to fly to Gotland first and then take a boat to Faroe Island."

Lu Kuan happily agreed and followed the two men into a small helicopter.

Sitting in the slightly cramped cabin and looking down, the unique red wooden houses of Gotland Island not far away are bright in color, standing out without being abrupt under the extremely contrasting blue sky and white clouds.

Surrounded by the vast universe, Boss Lu's mood gradually calmed down.

As the ship bound for Faroe Islands gradually left the dock, the young director closed his eyes and quietly felt the vastness of the world as he looked at the vastness of the sea and sky merging into one and the shimmering waves.

"Be careful."

The deck was erected to the shore, and Boss Lu carefully stepped onto this land that countless directors and artists longed for.

The vast grasslands, the unknown colorful wild flowers, and the low farm houses in the distance that come into view, everything is so simple and natural.

The Faroe Islands have become very famous because of Bergman, and Bergman Week is held on the island every June to pay tribute to him.

Bergman's former residence later became a museum, allowing all domestic and foreign film industry practitioners, researchers and journalists to come here to write scripts, novels and create works.

"Another one to see that lecherous old man, an old man who can't even shoot a pistol. I don't know what's so good about him."

A farmer with a horse walked past the three of them. Unfortunately, he was an anti-Bergman who spoke English.

Boss Lu was stunned: "They..."

Marini said helplessly, "Bergman is a master in film, but his reputation is really not very good. These believers despise him."

Bergman's private life style is somewhat similar to that of the boss...

In 2013, a Swedish television station produced a documentary called "Disturbing Bergman".

The film stars dozens of world-renowned directors, including Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee. These masters, considered masters by ordinary audiences, express their recognition and evaluation of these masters in the documentary.

But von Trier, who filmed "Dogville," said this:

Bergman once told me that when he was young he masturbated in the Royal Opera, the highest temple of Swedish culture.

This bad habit continued until he was 70 years old. Sometimes he had to wait for the shrunken water bag to rest for a few days before filling up again.

. . .

Bergman had 5 wives, 9 children, and an epic number of lovers in his life.

The heroines and supporting actresses in every one of his films, and any woman who could attract his artistic eye, would become his target.

It is said that artists are a mixture of genius and madness. Perhaps this world-renowned film master has another attribute:
abnormal.

There are only about 500 permanent residents on the Faroe Islands. There are no banks, post offices, medical facilities or police stations on the island, and there are few roads.

The old butler drove Lu Kuan and Marini through a gravel road and a dirt road before arriving at Bergman's residence, which looked like a small farmyard from the outside.

The horn honked twice, and a hunchbacked old man came out with a cane, his expression indifferent.

"Fenway, shovel the cow shit out of the back yard."

The film master still found it difficult to open his eyes in the dim sunlight, which is a common problem for directors who have been editing films for a long time.

“Are you Lu?”

"I really don't like looking up at you. When I was younger, I was about the same height as you."

Before Boss Lu could answer, Bergman waved at them and said, "Come in."

Marinette looked extremely surprised——

Today was probably the most Bergman had spoken in the past ten years, and it was to a young oriental director whom he had just met.

There was no place for guests in Bergman's residence. He basically had no guests and did not meet guests.

Marini supported him, and the three of them sat down in a small movie theater converted from a barn.

He collected more than 4000 videotapes here, and would sit down and watch movies after lunch every day for forty years.

The theater was dark, and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was playing on the screen in silence.

Boss Lu was a little excited.

He actually watched it more than once! This is Bergman!
Although he does not have the same crazy obsession as Ang Lee with Bergman, he has grown from failure in the film art in his previous life to being able to communicate face to face with the world's top masters.

This is a supreme spiritual inspiration.

"I heard from Martin that you wanted to see me. You can tell me if you have anything to say."

Lu Kuan pondered for a few seconds, then carefully confided his true feelings: "I...suddenly feel like I can't make movies anymore."

"In the past, the lights, cameras, and actors on the set seemed to me like paint that I could squander freely. I could use them to paint as much as I wanted."

"But after 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', I seem to have a new feeling of anxiety and loss. I even feel like I've gone back to the way things were..."

“It’s like going back to when I first started studying film, and I didn’t even know how to use a camera.”

Bergman seemed to have difficulty even lifting his eyelids, and leaned back on the sofa. Marine covered him with a thin blanket.

He pondered for a long time, as if he had fallen asleep, and suddenly said in a hoarse voice: "You don't know how to make movies anymore, you have a mental problem."

"Let me tell you my own story."

"In 1955, I had just separated from my ex-wife, Anderson, and my two films had suffered losses in succession. My career as a director was almost over."

"I met a new girl named Uman, and she said to me, 'Why do you always shoot such dark things? Why don't you shoot comedies?'

"You know, there were only two options before me at the time: commit suicide or make a comedy. Making a comedy is actually the same as committing suicide."

Lu Kuanxin felt relieved.

Many of Bergman's films are grim and dark, which can easily cause discomfort to the audience, which is related to his original family.

My father is a pastor, but he only talks about God's love to his believers and is violent towards his family members, including my mother, brother, and sister.

During his college years, he broke up with his family. Later, his brother committed suicide, his mother cheated on his wife, and his sister had an abortion. He never enjoyed the warmth of a family.

So much so that later in "Bergman's Island" shot by Marine, he said to the camera:

I have been stuck in the evil waves of my childhood. Love is a luxury and has always been absent in my life. I can't even feel love for myself.

Lu Kuan gave his self-deprecating smile a bit reluctantly: "I watched your Wild Strawberries when I was in college. Isaac's lines in it gave me chills."

He was referring to a monologue spoken by Bergman through the protagonist in Wild Strawberries:
I was born from a cold womb.

Bergman smiled silently: "With Ullmann's company, I made "Summer Smiles."

"Damn it, the title doesn't sound like my movie."

"Uman and I returned to the Faroe Islands, lived together for five years, and together we created 12 films, a play, and a daughter."

"In 1962, I cheated on the set and Uman left me."

Bergman's tone was frank, as if he was narrating another person's life. He never concealed his perverted sexual impulses.

Even in front of the camera.

"That year, I became just like you! Exactly the same!"

Bergman seemed to remember something exciting and suddenly sat up straight with a flushed face.

"I started dreaming, and in my dreams I didn't even understand what montage was. It was a Soviet theory from the 20s!"

Lu Kuan looked at him seriously: "Then how did you..."

"I started having sex with actresses like crazy. I was drowning in infidelity and decadence!"

"you made it?"

Bergman's excitement came to an abrupt end. He shook his head dejectedly: "I succeeded, but I can only make Bergman's films. I will never make another 'Summer Smiles'."

Lu Kuan was speechless, but soon realized the meaning of his words.

Bergman made nearly 50 films in his lifetime, but none of them were love films. Even if there were love stories between men and women, they were all tragedies.

Isaac in "Wild Strawberries" yelled at his wife: "Abort the child. Don't let him end up like me, the product of a hellish marriage."

The two sisters in "The Cry and the Drizzle" are: one is so perverted and repressed that she cuts her genitals with glass to refuse to have sex with her husband; the other indulges in lust, causing her husband to commit suicide;

Eva in Autumn Sonata said to her husband before he proposed to her: "I don't love you, and I have never loved anyone."

David, the writer who is immersed in writing in "Still in the Mirror", obviously has his own shadow - he doesn't know how to face his children and be a good father.

David's failed suicide attempt was also a transplant of Bergman's own experience.

This is what he calls "Bergman's" film.

He had lost Uman, and perhaps also his briefly gained capacity for love.

Bergman suddenly took the remote control and continued the finale of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on the small screen, with the scene of Zhang Manyu holding Li Ming, who had turned into a baby, on a recliner in a nursing home.

"Do you know why I want to see you?"

Boss Lu shook his head speechlessly.

"The technique of your film is only passable, but you managed to produce something that I couldn't."

The 87-year-old man grinned and said in a hoarse voice: "Love."

"But from your current state, I see another emotion."

Bergman uttered a word softly, which made Lu Kuan's hair stand on end.

"Fear, I see fear in your eyes!"

"The fear that trapped me in this situation and made me make dark, desperate, bleak films came from my family and even from my own films."

"Lu! Tell me, what is your fear?!"

Lu Kuan looked into his cloudy yet sharp eyes, and felt his hairs stand on end, and his whole body trembled slightly.

Bergman seemed to have a pair of eyes from hell, pouring out all the anxiety, malice, resentment and regret in his films!
"I...I had a dream too."

Lu Kuan swallowed hard and said, "I dreamed of another me, at the wine table, who might die in the next second."

"In that dream, everything I have now vanished into thin air."

"My artistry, my wealth, my fame, my fans, and..."

"There's another girl."

Lu Kuan seemed to have undergone a high-intensity mental electrotherapy. During the heart-wrenching conversation with Bergman, he felt the trembling from the depths of his soul.

"She was my heroine, but in my dream we were strangers. I could only look at her poster and gaze into her eyes."

He tried to explain his fear to Bergman: "There was a philosopher in ancient China named Zhuangzi who turned into a butterfly in his dream."

"When he woke up again, he couldn't help but wonder, was it him who dreamed of becoming a butterfly, or was it the butterfly that dreamed of becoming him?"

"That's how I feel right now. I feel like I could lose everything at any moment. That's my fear."

When you have nothing, you will just start with your head held high.

Only when you achieve success will you look down and realize that you have achieved so much.

When he looked up again, his steps had slowed down a lot.

People are like this, especially for a time traveler who has experienced life and death.

The more you have, the more fear you feel inside.

While he was unconscious, Concubine Liu Yi was guarding his bedside and heard three names.

Zeng Wenxiu was his biological mother in his previous life. In order to mourn her, he wrote his mother into the movie.

Liu Yifei represents everything he has in this world, while Huang Yimei is the previous life he fears returning to.

Bergman burst out laughing. What an interesting philosophical proposition.

"The best weapon you can use to fight your fear is the love you feel for your movies."

"I have never had the ability or opportunity to love others, or even myself, in my life, but you do. You are less than 30 years old and have countless opportunities to choose."

Bergman lamented, “When I was young, I used indulgence to mask my fear.”

"It was only after my last wife, Yinglide, died of cancer that I realized I had never been able to escape this fear in my life."

He stood up shakily and pointed out the window at the approaching sunset: "I just walk around every day and don't talk to anyone all day."

"I think of her every night, and of all the women I've loved."

"I won't watch any 'Bergman films' on the island, because watching them will make me feel even more pitiful and helpless, and I'll be on the verge of crying at any moment."

Bergman stretched out his hand and patted Lu Kuan's shoulder as if he had used up all his strength.

"My child, my fear comes from my mother's womb, but from your role as a foster mother in 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', I can see that you have enjoyed the love of your family."

"But in your Li Ming, I see an old, battered soul. You're barely thirty years old, huh?"

"Why does it give me such a vicissitudes of life?"

"Believe me, you have to face your fears. Don't numb yourself with indulgence and escape like I did."

"The reason why you feel like nothing you've done seems right is because fear has closed your heart. You're afraid that any wrong step will ruin your present."

Bergman looked at him with a smile: "Open your eyes, Mr. Butterfly."

Lu Kuan's throat rolled over, and he was speechless and choked up looking at the old man in his twilight years.

No wonder Ang Lee cried on his shoulder.

From the soul of such a man who has suffered for over eighty years, from his cloudy yet sharp eyes, everyone can see the misery, pain, helplessness and wasted time of his first half of life.

Bergman seems like a cold machine filled with all kinds of extreme negative emotions. When you reach out your hand cautiously with fear to touch him.

You will suddenly find that he is warm.

Perhaps only those with extremely complex emotions and feelings can become masters in the eyes of all masters.

Bergman calmed down a bit and patted the sofa: "Sit down and watch your "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with me again."

The theater suddenly darkened, and a clock pointing in the opposite direction appeared in the middle of the screen.

"Your movies remind me of Akira Kurosawa."

"You are both directors who know how to root yourself in national culture. Yours is 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' and his is 'Seven Samurai' and 'Spider's Nest'."

Lu Kuan nodded. "I believe that art will quickly wither away if it leaves the matrix of national culture. It is something that is passed down and inherited in our blood."

“There are some very strange shots in your film, which have the shadow of Van Gogh and Renoir, but it seems that they are not entirely the same.”

Bergman pressed the remote control, and the picture froze: "For example, here, Li Ming is standing on the stairs, looking at the 40-year-old heroine."

"The composition and color of your painting aren't 100% Van Gogh. You leave too much space at the bottom of the picture and in the dead corners of light. It looks weird, but it also seems to have its own unique artistic conception."

Boss Lu smiled and said, "This is just an attempt of mine. I wonder if you have ever learned anything about Chinese painting."

“There’s a concept in Chinese painting called leaving blank space.”

"By refraining from using brushstrokes or colors at key points, the artist uses blank space as a medium to create an ethereal, distant, and implicit artistic conception, allowing the viewer's imagination to run wild."

He pressed the button to continue playing. "This is the third act, the meeting of the two, their lives moving towards each other. Both 40-year-old souls, there is no need for many words between them, only tender affection."

"So I left some blank space in the composition of these sections. The fewer elements there are on the screen, the more room there is for them to imagine. I wanted to see if I could resonate with the audience."

Bergman was stunned. This nearly 90-year-old Swedish man had never heard of such profound painting techniques.

Western paintings focus more on the true depiction of the objective world, pursuing realism and three-dimensionality.

The picture is often filled with various specific objects and details, striving to restore the real scene.

The blank space in Chinese painting emphasizes using the empty space to set off the real and using less to achieve more. It also focuses on conveying spiritual connotation and artistic conception through simple brushstrokes and blank spaces, pursuing an aesthetic experience that transcends the actual appearance.

He replayed the scene four or five times before shaking his head with a wry smile: "Lu, I underestimated you."

"You come from a great nation, and you are a lucky artist."

"So I participated in the bidding for the opening ceremony plan of the Beijing Olympics. If I am shortlisted, I plan to take a year off from acting to concentrate on doing this well."

Lu Kuan said with anticipation, "I have a hunch that through this kind of high-intensity and high-pressure brainstorming, I can fuse traditional Chinese art with modern expression methods."

"Even through large-scale evening parties, I learned to handle scene arrangement more skillfully, which will be more inspiring for my future films."

"No wonder Martin told me that he met a young man who might become a master like Kurosawa in the future."

Bergman looked at Lu Kuan with admiration: "You have lived up to his evaluation."

"What kind of realm are masters like Bergman and Kurosawa at?" Boss Lu was very curious.

The old man pondered for a few seconds. "Young people who have just started directing like to use all kinds of fancy techniques, such as push-pull shots, over-the-shoulder shots, long shots, and various montages."

"Beginning directors begin to feel and create films from the inside out, using the most natural narrative to include as many technically created highlights as possible."

"So-called masters, like Kurosawa, Buñuel, and Fellini, you won't find any trace of technique in their films."

Bergman looked at him and smiled. “Even if you could find it, you would find it has been completely integrated into the film. It is one with it, and you can’t tell it apart.”

"Master, there is no narrative."

"Once the characters are established in the film, they perform on the screen by themselves, and you feel that they have nothing to do with the director anymore."

Lu Kuan felt his hair stand on end when he heard this, and his mind became clear, as if he could reach out and touch the master's door.

But when I opened my eyes and looked carefully again, I found that it was still very far away.

Traditional Chinese culture talks about the three realms of life, which correspond exactly to the three levels of Bergman's films.

See the mountains as mountains and the water as water;
The mountains are not mountains, the water is not water;
Look at mountains as mountains, water as water.

Bergman looked at the young man's stunned expression and nodded silently: "Do you understand?"

Boss Lu came back to his senses and said calmly: "I understand, but I forgot."

Bergman was stunned when he heard this, then he clapped his hands: "Good! Good! Forget it!"

The two directors, who were sixty years apart in age, smiled at each other, leaving the old housekeeper and Marini confused.

　Also, please keep begging for votes! I dropped out of the 5th place on the monthly vote list after just 500 days... Now I'm ranked around 560th, begging for more votes!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)