When you first look at the posters of Maleficent, Disney’s new fantasy film, you can hardly relate them to the classic fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty — unless you’re so familiar with the story that you recognize the iconic villain through her creepy horns and sculpted cheekbones.
第一眼看到《沉睡魔咒》的海报,你很难将这部迪士尼最新魔幻电影与经典童话《睡美人》联系在一起。除非你对故事十分熟悉,还能从海报上女巫高耸的犄角和瘦削的颧骨辨认出她正是故事里的反派女巫。
Clearly, this time, Disney wants to tell the evil fairy queen’s side of the story. Played by Angelina Jolie, Maleficent is a powerful witch who is betrayed and deceived by Stefan, a childhood friend and the man she loved. When Stefan becomes a king, Maleficent’s mind turns to revenge — she curses Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) and sets about to make her life a misery.
显而易见,迪士尼此次打算讲述恶魔精灵女王的故事。恶魔女巫玛琳菲森由安吉丽娜•朱莉饰演。故事中,她拥有强大的法力,但却遭到青梅竹马的恋人史提芬的欺骗与背叛。当史提芬登基为王时,玛琳菲森由爱转恨,诅咒了他的女儿奥萝拉公主(艾丽•范宁饰),想让她终生不幸。
From here, the fairy tale gets its modern-day revision. Instead of being the one-dimensional villain we know, Maleficent soon gets a heart-of-gold reincarnation and reconsiders her evil intention.
从这里开始,新版故事进行了全新演绎。玛琳菲森并不是我们所熟悉的单纯反派,她心底的善良和柔情渐渐被唤醒,,开始反思原本的恶念。
Quite the irony, isn’t it? The character most committed to the destruction of true love turns out to have been one of its early victims. It’s also where the film adds a feminist point of view to the original fairy tale. It is no longer the story where the queen is bad for the sake of being bad. She has a personal story and there is a reason she does what she does.
十分讽刺,不是么?曾经被视为毁灭真爱的罪魁祸首,其实也曾是一个受害者。这也是影片加入的女性视角所在,故事中的邪恶女王并非坏得没道理,而是有着自己的苦衷和往事。
This comparison and contrast is compelling, but it would never have worked without Jolie’s excellent performance, in which she represents all sides of her character’s complexity. For a character who loses love and gradually finds it again, Jolie makes the transformation believable. With her edgy and stunning image, she effortlessly makes everyone else, including Fanning’s Princess Aurora, pale into insignificance.
故事的对比与反差确实引人注目,但这朱莉的精湛演技功不可没。她在电影里全方位的展现出其角色的复杂性。从失去爱情到重新找回真爱,朱莉的演绎让这种转变真实而自然。加之朱莉在片中大胆夸张、令人惊艳的造型,不费吹灰之力就让片中的其他角色黯然失色,甚至连范宁饰演的奥萝拉公主也难以望其项背。
Another thing that makes the film exciting to watch is the visual effects. Maleficent may be Robert Stromberg’s directorial debut, but the Oscar-winning production designer (Avatar and Alice in Wonderland) certainly has the ability to satisfy viewers’ eyes.
这部影片的视觉效果同样令人震撼。《沉睡魔咒》也许是罗伯特•斯特罗姆伯格作为导演的处女秀,但是作为曾获得奥斯卡最佳艺术指导奖(担任《爱丽丝梦游仙境》艺术指导)的他,一定会会让观众大饱眼福。
Even so, Stromberg’s lack of directing experience shows, sometimes making the film more of a stylish mishmash, with clichéd themes such as “love forgives everything”.
尽管如此,斯特罗姆伯格毕竟缺乏执导经验,或多或少让影片变得更像一场时尚大杂烩,同时“爱能原谅一切”主题也显得老套。
Despite the flaws, luckily, we have Jolie to save the day. As the movie posters suggest, Maleficent is Jolie’s one-woman film, and it’s just great to see her having fun in a starring role again.
不过瑕不掩瑜,我们还有朱莉救场。正如影片海报所呈现的,《沉睡魔咒》是朱莉独挑大梁的电影。所以,能又一次看她在自己主演的电影里酣畅淋漓的发挥,也不失为一件乐事。