Based on stills from the film “The First Incense” (2021) adapted from Zhang Ailing’s novel of the same name, Peng Yuyan plays the actor Qiao Qiqiao.
“Love is an invisible flame, love is a wound that does not feel pain.” This is the sentence of the medieval Portuguese poet Louis de Cammons, and it is also the protagonist Qiao Qiqiao and the heroine Ge Weilong in the movie “The First Incense” A love word that I said when I first met. A few words of dialogue brought out Qiao Qiqiao’s mixed blood background and laid the groundwork for the direction of the relationship between the two people.
This paragraph is not in Zhang Ailing’s original novel, only Qiao Qiqiao said: “I want to translate it into English and tell you, I’m afraid I don’t have the guts.” Zhang Ailing has always been good at leaving blank spaces and giving readers unlimited imagination. , But as a movie, the plot must be full. All of these challenge the writer Wang Anyi as a screenwriter. She told the Southern Weekend reporter that most of her work is to “fill in the pit” and present the inexplicable part of Zhang Ailing’s text. come out.
“Movies are the art of the director, and the screenwriting is to complete the director’s vision.” In the interview, Wang Anyi admitted that writing movies is far from writing novels, but she is very satisfied with Xu Anhua’s stage play “Golden Lock” in which she rehearsed her own script. Whatever I do, I have to do it”, so he took on the task of writing the script of “The First Incense”.
This is not the first time Wang Anyi has adapted Zhang Ailing. She has previously adapted the stage plays “Golden Lock” and “Lust, Caution”. Although often compared with Zhang Ailing, Wang Anyi believes that the biggest difficulty in adapting Zhang Ailing is precisely that she cannot get close to the era of Zhang Ailing, and their views on the world are also very different.
Zhang Ailing’s outlook on life is known for her desolation, and her life often “sinks all the way.” Although “The First Incense” is Zhang Ailing’s first novel published in the true sense, it has been regarded as her representative work. Ge Weilong, a young girl who escaped the war and went to Hong Kong, had to ask her aunt Mrs. Liang for help in order to continue her studies. After a series of changes, she fell into an irresistible “depravity” under the drag of desire and destiny.
In the original book, although Ge Weilong deserves sympathy, she is definitely not totally ignorant and innocent. She is always sober about the relationship between herself and Qiao Qi. The movie version of “The First Incense” simplified Ge Weilong’s character and highlighted her sacrifice for love. Wang Anyi told the Southern Weekend reporter that the film “The First Incense” is a purely romantic film, and Xu Anhua hopes to “love it once” through this film.
The English name of this movie is “Love after Love”. Some people translate it as “Love after Love”. The 1992 Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott has a poem of the same name that talks about how to break in love. Get rid of the pain. The story of the film coincides with the intertextuality, telling the state of people who continue to love after being disappointed in love.
“The First Incense” has experienced some disturbances and controversies from casting, shooting to finalizing, but since its debut at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020, this film has been highly anticipated by movie fans and book fans. The film’s current promotional materials are focused on “love first” and promote the film with the theme of “giving love but not an anniversary”, which just simplifies the space for discussion of the film.
In fact, the connotation of Eileen Chang’s original work and the film text is far more than just a dimension of love, but also questioning marriage, exploring the national identity of Hong Kong during the colonial period, and writing women’s desires.
The creation of the film “The First Incense” respects the original work, and most of the plot and even the dialogue are the same as the original work, but it still fails to meet the audience’s all expectations for the adaptation of Zhang Ailing’s work. Netizens generally complained that there is a large gap between character candidates and written descriptions. However, Wang Anyi believes that several protagonists have surprises, especially Qiao Qiqiao portrayed by Yuyan Peng may become a remembered image in the future (Editor’s Note, Qiao Qi is the Chinese translation of the English name of the actor , Joe is his surname, postponed according to English habits).
On October 22, 2021, the movie “The First Incense” will be screened in theaters in Mainland China. On the eve of the show, the Southern Weekend reporter was invited to watch the film in advance and interview Wang Anyi by phone.
Because of “Golden Lock”, Xu Anhua felt that “I can fill in these holes”
Southern Weekend:The movie “The First Incense” in which you are the screenwriter is about to be released, and you should have seen it in advance. How do you feel?
Wang Anyi:I only saw the film in Shanghai not long ago. I think it is impossible to require that the presentation of the film and the imagination are exactly the same, not to mention that the film is ultimately the creation of the director. But this work has fulfilled the requirements of Director Xu Anhua to some extent. Judging from the vision she put forward when she came to me at the time, the film should be basically completed.
Southern Weekend:Your cooperation with Xu Anhua started with the stage play of Zhang Ailing’s “The Story of the Golden Lock”, and you also became acquainted. From “The Story of the Golden Lock” to “The First Incense”, how did you help Xu Anhua complete his vision?
Wang Anyi:It’s a long story. The script of “The Golden Lock” was originally created for the Shanghai Dramatic Art Center in 2004. Later, someone told me that Xu Anhua had been to see this play. Almost five years later, the Jiao Yuan Theatre Company in Hong Kong approached Xu Anhua to direct a stage play, and she picked me the script. During the whole rehearsal, Xu Anhua just called me. There was no intersection. We met and interviewed together during the premiere in Hong Kong. This was the first time I had contact with her.
Xu Anhua never told me that she particularly liked the script of “Golden Lock”, and I only later learned that she liked this script. One of the scenes was added to the original novel and was written by Cao Qiqiao’s daughter Chang’an and her boyfriend Tong Shifang. A scene. I think the reason she came to me might be because of this scene.
Around January 2018, I accepted an invitation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong to live in Hong Kong for half a year. On the day I arrived, as soon as I put down my luggage, Xu Anhua’s assistant called from Shanghai and said that Director Xu wanted to find it in Shanghai. Let me talk. I said it was unfortunate that I have just arrived in Hong Kong now and I will live in Hong Kong for half a year. Later, Xu Anhua sent me a text message, saying that she would be back the next day, looking very anxious. On the third day, she was already sitting downstairs in our residence.
I wondered if she wanted to buy the copyright of my novel, but as soon as she sat down, she didn’t say any retreat, and directly said that she wanted me to be the screenwriter of “The First Incense”. I was quite surprised when she said that. I wrote a (movie) script for “Wind Moon”, adding some details to the already formed story of Ye Zhaoyan and Chen Kaige. After me, I also went through the work of a screenwriter. I didn’t actually write the movie completely, so Xu Anhua asked me to write the script. I was still quite pressured, but I couldn’t refuse her. I am very satisfied with her “Golden Lock” stage play. I have to do whatever she asks me to do. I owe her a love, and I want to pay her back.
I was writing the novel “Kao Gong Ji” at the time, and it had reached the final stage. I originally planned to go to Hong Kong to teach and write novels at the same time. I said you have to wait for me and wait until I finish writing the novel before considering the next step. You know, it’s very difficult to go in and out when writing something, not to mention that I’m not very sure about writing movies.
But Xu Anhua’s heart has been set, and she is very sure that I want to write. She said that the thing to do in this movie is to fill the hole. Zhang Ailing always has many very hidden clues in her writing, and will conceal key things, such as the marriage of Ge Weilong and Qiao Qiqiao. There is a sentence in the novel saying that she “is busy making money and people” . But this writing is actually very abstract, we are going to fill and plump the story. She thinks I can fill in these pits, because in the scene of “The Golden Lock”, she believes me very much.
At first, I didn’t know that this project had actually had many twists and turns, and the copyright period was probably only two or three years left.If I knew
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