從《公路規則》看物件與戀人關係的遞移 |
《公路規則》（1993）是由美國導演蘇・弗迪胥所拍攝的實驗性紀錄片。該導演在1970年代女性主義運動開始風起雲湧的時候就嶄露頭角。打著「個人即政治」的標語，在普遍認為基進議題應當用基進手段抗爭的時候，蘇・弗迪胥的作品反而塑造了另一種可能，並反問基進議題有沒有可能用相對溫和的手法以柔克剛？
紀錄片採第一人稱自述的方式，透過一名女性的視角，以極私我的口吻述說自己與女友在感情維繫、分手前後，兩人共同持有的1983年奧斯摩比旅行車，成了某種意味深長的「物件」。人與人之間確實很容易將情感、記憶寄託在某個物件上，並非有意為之，而物件一旦不知覺地被情感攀附住後，便很難隨意剝除。這樣一個日常化的物件在戀愛關係告終後，反倒成了人們目光追索的的無限循環。
舊情人倆協議把車輪流著開，尤其是其中一人出城工作時，車子便交接給另一人，回城後反之。主述者說她常常猜想前女友開著車去哪了呢？或許只是去超市買鮮奶和報紙，抑或是帶著新女友上海邊去了。但猜想不過徒勞，因為每次「交接」對方幾乎沒留下蛛絲馬跡，只有偶爾留下空的咖啡外帶紙杯，和盛滿煙灰的煙灰缸。分手後彼此仍盡可能貼心，敘述者表示每次都將菸灰清理乾淨再搖下車窗透氣，確保下次「交接」能讓前女友的健康無憂，以及充滿清新舒爽的空氣。
還有前女友不關收音機的習慣，待「交接者」車子發動的瞬間，音樂便橫衝直撞地出來，恰巧和片中穿插紐約街頭影像和流行音樂的手法意外契合，沒有因果、承接順序、開始或結束，所有影像和配樂都魯莽地奔進觀眾的視線與耳膜，再莫名其妙地嘎然而止。
映後講者王君琦老師也提到，本片中仍可看到弗迪胥擅長的實驗電影美學，打破了影像服務於故事的型態，真正嘗試用電影說電影，於拍攝手法上著重更自然、不刻意搭設的攝影機運軌，如片中絕大多數的運鏡都是手提來去，畫面晃動卻意外與光影、車子的震動結合，形成另一種朦朧暈眩的美感。意念傳達上也較不注重因果或某個物件絕對的象徵意義。當然每個片段的擷取固然有其重要，但毋須特地連結到某個大敘述的總論和教條，而是能順著每時每刻的感覺走，就像在觀看「骨牌」過程的起伏與瞬間變化。
該片其實只有短短三十分鐘左右，速寫出敘述者主觀經驗對車子所寄託的自由、歸屬感，以及過去相戀的痕跡。頻繁出現的1983年奧斯摩比旅行車，除了顯現失戀者茫然、不理智地張目探尋，也讓觀眾，至少我，在某些時刻內心好像被緊緊揪住了。
Rules of the Road (1993) is an experimental documentary film directed by American director Su Friedrich. Friedrich has showcased her talent in film-making when the feminist movement started to rise in the 1970s. At the time when it was widely believed that people should take up radical strategies to fight against radical issues, claiming that "the personal is political," Su Friedrich created another possibility with her work to question if it was possible to approach the issues with milder methods instead.
Adopting a first-person narrative method, the documentary tells the story from a female's perspective in an extremely personal tone, describing how the 1983 Oldsmobile station wagon co-owned by the narrator and her ex-girlfriend becomes an object of significance during their relationship and after the breakup. It is easy for people to imprint their feelings and memories on a certain object subconsciously, and emotional attachments are difficult to wear off once established on the object. However, an infinite loop is thus born because people keep going back to look for such an everyday object when the relationship has come to an end.
Two ex-lovers agree to take turns using the automobile. Especially when one of them is out of town for work, the car is handed over to the other, and vice versa. The narrator often wonders where her ex-girlfriend goes--, maybe she just heads out to the supermarket for some milk and newspaper, or take her new girlfriend to the beach. Still, these are only futile guesses because there is no trace to be found every time the car comes back, leaving only some empty take-out coffee cups and an overloaded ashtray. They still show care for each other after the breakup, and the narrator says she cleans up the cigarette ashes every single time and rolls down the car widows to make sure that nothing harms her ex-girlfriend's health, and that the air inside the car is always fresh when the next "handover" happens.
Also, the narrator's ex-girlfriend is in the habit of leaving the car radio on. When the next "taker starts the engine, the music surges through the car, which happens to echo the strategy interspersing the New York street footage and pop music in the film. There is no introduction, transition, causation, or conclusion; all the footage is impertinently exposed in front of audiences' eyes, the music rushing into their ears, and everything perplexingly ends abruptly.
Professor Chun-Chi Wang also mentioned in the after-screening discussion that Friedrich specializes in the aesthetics in experimental films, which is reflected in this film. It breaks the rule that visual is at the service of audio; rather, Friedrich really manages to talk about films with films. Emphasizing on more natural shooting strategies and without deliberately arranged tracking shots, she shoots most shots with portable cameras; the shaking frames accidentally unifying with light, shadow, and the car wobbling presents beauty of haziness. The conveyance of the film's motif does not focus on its cause and effect or offering symbolical meaning of a certain object. Certainly every frame has its significance, but it does not always have to be associated with a pandect or doctrines of some grand narrative. Instead, it follows every moment's natural courses, like watching every fall and change of dominoes.
This short thirty-minute short gives out a quick sketch on the narrator's subjective experience of freedom, a sense of belonging, and traces of past love that are laid on the car. The constant existence of the 1983 Oldsmobile station wagon not only shows an unrequited lover's blank and irrational search but also at some moment tug audiences' (at least my) heartstrings.
作者簡介 |
李翊彤
新莊人，目前就讀國立東華大學華文文學系二年級，偏好徒步遠行，看看電影，練練筆。期許沐浴在東台灣山海間能汲取創作靈感，以更好好地寫出像是作者簡介一類的東西。