好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 19 : "The Voices", a trip into the mind of a serial killer with song and dance **half

好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 19 : The Voices, a trip into the mind of a serial killer with song and dance.


"The Voices " **half  2015, Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi's "The Voices" is unusual in that it tells the story from the point of view of the mentally suffering patient who struggles to live an ordinary life, and have ordinary love stories.  

The theme of the story with the serial killer as star is a serious one and such film usually are thrillers, dark and obnoxious, what the movie goers pays for and enjoys.  
But here we see a sympathetic guy, clean looking, trying very hard to have a life.  

If he doesnt take his medication, he hears his dog and cat talking to him giving him two versions of life counselling.  One is kindly with a slow male voice, forgiving with very tolerant good sense - that of the dog, and the other nasty mean old man, giving cruel reality of why people kill - that of the cat.  

If he does take his medication, both the dog and cat are silent, just two animations un-animated as normal domestic animal are.  
Life with pills and medication is a drab.  No colors, no friends, no social interaction - without the pills, at least he sees the world and his life with full bloom colors - that is why he prefers to not take the pills?  If he stopped, his doc would have to inform the authorities and they will lock him away.  The pills are chemical handcuffs, so that he will be sedated without unusual surprises to himself and to the ones around him.  We all understand that.  And we understand him too, why he prefers to be alive instead of living a sedated life.

His history of mercy-killing of his mom - his mom was the one who hear voices and she asked him to help her, by killing her so she doesnt have to go back to the hospital - out of love for her, as a young boy he helped her.  With such a heavy story behind, the boy who normally already heard voices like her mom, developed into the young man that he became today.  His killing are all gestures of love, kindness for his loved ones.  All three women and a fourth one - his psychologist doctor - were all to be achieved as a love gesture.  He didnt want them to hurt anymore.

The film moves along v quickly, like a moving image comic book.  In a comic book, we could move quickly because readers know enough to fill in the inbetweens w his own imagination.  Here, it comes across as too curt.  A movie is not straight story telling, just like a painting is not only representation - there are details, nuances that are proper to the art form.  Here, all this is rather quick, done, next.

At the end, everybody dies.  The doc got saved just in time.  And he goes to heaven with Jesus and the 4 women dancing in hotpink+orange gowns - various cuts and styles to suit the four types of women.  First, sexy Brit girl curvious, second, girl next door pretty and kind, petite; third, wall flower obese fat sweet girl who normally would be the last to be noticed; and the doc, an old lady by now - she was not in the dancing in heaven scene.

The movie shows design, color, unity in esthetics, in humour, all in the end of talking about a subject seriously and making it light.  Even the bathtub factory has everything in pink, pink workmen overall, pink lift forks, pink stickers.  The scenes with office girls are v gd, women have ways of talking thats got hidden messages and their desires are unspoken but never the less very sharply shown, as an ordinary man - not one thats especially sharp - he would have missed all the dynamics and cues behind the apparently simple exchanged amongst the women in the office.  

All the women have their own problems with an interior life thats somewhat shown - even the doc revealed her own uncertainty of how helpful her actual well paying job really is.  

The film does touch on many layers of realities, and the social norms, and ethics of society+personal story from a workman to the office girls to the doc - the story is good.  If it were not so "comic bookfied, I think it makes a v interesting story for a movie.

But here, too quick, too rapid, as if the director is really afraid to touch the depth of all the serious problems in life.