诅咒1988

“我坐在窗前，徒然地望着外面，我年复一年地坐在那里，经常有个声音对我说，也许下一刻我会发疯，可是我没有疯掉，我也不害怕发疯，我希望我们离开这肮脏的地方。”

克莱尔一直款款而谈，女歌手则一直吃着饼干听着，这是他俩在一起仅有的快乐时光。

1955年出生的匈牙利电影大师贝拉·塔尔，被誉为“独立年代的唯美主义者”。他于1987年执导了电影《诅咒》（又译《天谴》和《炼狱人间》），一如他所有的电影，黑白与长镜头沉缓微移的运用，厚重、凝思又开阔，把个看似平静人的孤绝和悲悯推向灰暗凛冽的极致。

2008年4月2日，贝拉·塔尔来到香港参加《伦敦来客》（2007年）的放映会。当有人问及长镜头时，他说“我喜欢长镜头。在现实生活，你一定要经过中间过程才能达到最后一步。于是，我希望电影时空，让观众思考一下。长镜头在某种程度上也能捕捉到最真实的生活。”在此，电影语言的圣境，经茂瑙、德莱叶和布莱松等电影大师的之手再传到了贝拉·塔尔的手心。

2004年，我看到了他的“社会现实三部曲”之《家庭公寓》、《局外人》和《预制人生》，2005年看到《鲸鱼马戏团》（又译《残缺的和声》2000年）和《诅咒》，2007年终于看到《撒旦探戈》（1993年）。这些电影，这些年都会如美食般拿出来静静品尝一下，生怕自己一不小心就破坏了它的美味。这真是种奇妙而少有的观影体验。2012年又看到了他的新作《都灵之马》（2011年）。对于我来说，看他的电影，是一种人生的恩典，而非只有感伤。

痴迷哲学的贝拉·塔尔10岁那年，出演了一部电视剧中的角色。16岁，他拍摄了一部反映吉普赛工人的影片，招致当局的不满，继而被他想入读的大学拒之门外，从此，拍电影就成了他唯一突破自身的可能性。早期作品多以纪录片为主，写实风格强烈。22岁，拍摄了第一部真正意义上的电影《家庭公寓》（1977年）。

他一直信奉“电影是表达灵魂的媒介”，而永不妥协。他要真实地表现那些边缘的人绝望的人。虽然他如此执着，但他特别尊重与他合作的人。他说过“电影、剧情和音乐，是完全不同的三种语言，只有恰当的融合，才能让电影本身鲜活、生动和自然。”

因而，他与作家兰斯洛的合作早已成为影坛佳话，《都灵之马》的剧情就是在贝拉·塔尔人生低潮时，二人共同合作的结晶。他说兰斯洛点醒了我，让我重新振作。而电影配乐又起到了锦上添花的烘托作用。一如艾莲妮·卡兰德诺和安哲罗普若斯，亦如兹比格涅夫·普赖斯纳和基耶斯若夫斯基，米哈伊·维格和贝拉·塔尔的合作，从1985年拍摄的《秋天年鉴》就开始了。

贝拉·塔尔本身就是一个音乐功底特别深厚的人。他说过“我喜欢把一部电影比喻为一个管弦乐队的和奏，每一个电影语言单位就像一种乐器”。他既是一个古典音乐迷，喜欢瓦格纳、勃拉姆斯和拉威尔，又特别欣赏五十年代到七十年代的欧美音乐，喜欢史密斯和洛里这样的流行歌手。恰好维格就擅用节奏有度的音乐，能准确无误地应和着他电影中的人生残缺和深深忧郁。

在《诅咒》中，手风琴的悠扬和激越，总是渗透着人们的莫明失落感，尤其是克莱尔的静默和黯然。其中女歌手酒吧所唱的歌曲，磁性而感伤，这是一种融合的美，虽然弥漫着淡淡的哀愁。舞厅中的舞曲，即是三个手风琴演奏者的现场演奏，自始至终和缓而意味深长，配合着画面上的人群翩翩起舞，也暗合着坐在桌前那些茫然的眼神，还有靠墙打盹入梦的某张脸。从对舞到集体舞再到人去场空，唯独老太拿起外套缓缓离开。

一位说过“我死了就不会和她再见”的小伙，正踏着雨水踢哒独舞。维格总是用简单的配器、电子合成、吉它、手风琴、钢琴直至最终的深沉大提琴低音，带领我们进入到电影所要阐释的情境。因而，我总有一种久久忘了下咽而一直咀嚼的美妙感觉。这或许就是无以释怀的一种共鸣吧。

其实，拍摄该片之前，导演一直筹拍《撒旦探戈》，碍于片子太长，遇到资金问题，正好趁此空档期赶拍了这部近似《撒旦探戈》的《诅咒》，亦为巨作《撒旦探戈》探好了路径。值得玩味的是，影片拍摄完成后不久即1989年后，匈牙利政治风云突变，苏联和整个东欧社会主义阵营解体。从1987年当时的现实境地，不难看出贝拉·塔松的所思所想。借片中主人公所说的“生活很糟糕，现实在崩溃”。无疑，这是一部预言式的电影。单看片中老太引用《圣经》中的话，就耐人寻味。贝拉·塔尔本身就是位深具哲学思维的思想家。虽然他那年他才32岁。

《诅咒》中的主人公克莱尔生活在矿山小镇，这个无所事事的中年男人，除了爱坐在窗前凝视窗外，就是喜欢站在隔街静静注视着对面的酒吧。野狗是与他相对映的另一晃荡的行尸走肉。其中几只狗从雨中酒吧前如飞马般猎猎而过的场景，特别震撼。雨，即是这部影片的自然注脚，总是来去无踪，正如克莱尔倾心的酒吧女歌手。恰好女歌手最喜欢雨。

在一次会面中，她说过“我喜欢雨，它能让我平静，我什么也不会想，只想着雨，因为这儿一切都不稳定，我只想着离开这个小镇。”有趣的是，所有二人对话中，一人表达，一人则必须倾听，不会有真正意义上的对话，这让整个电影的质感极为有序和静谧，哪怕激烈的争吵，也是如此。而现实是，酒吧老板对克莱尔说“你一无所有，只剩下这副躯壳”。于是老板提议让克莱尔帮他去外地拿批货，三天时限，拿回来后，有两成提成。克莱尔说“你为何不叫别人”。“我只想帮你，我不相信别人。”“我也不相信别人”。足见信任已在这个社会沦陷。

当女歌手唱起《over and done》这首既销魂落魄又落寞尘红的忧伤歌曲，克莱尔的心在流血。他爱着她，却被她的丈夫塞巴斯蒂安私下警告别勾引我妻子，除非你想被扭断脖子。克莱尔说你误会了。消除所谓误会的办法就是把酒吧老板交待的生意，转让给这个吃醋的男人。这个男人欣然接受。

之后的三天，克莱尔如愿以偿，但感情无法持续，她心比天高。巫山云雨后，她说“我会在尘雾中看到你疲惫的额头”，了无牵挂，就此打住，一如她之前斩钉截铁地拒绝，他的苦苦哀求已变得如丧家之犬，这跟之前他乞求已身处寂寞时的她有天壤地别，她不缺崇拜者。亦如同舞会中，她要跟着拿了货回来的丈夫跳，还得跟她的酒吧老板跳，而克莱尔只能一直冷冷地坐着看。之后，女歌手趁她丈夫酒醉之际，跟着酒吧老板出来上了小车激吻。

有趣的是，每当克莱尔怅惘失落之时，一位神秘的老太总会出现在他的眼前，然后跟他絮叨一阵形而上的哲思神语，活脱脱的一个智者。但深处绝望的人，对这些全当耳边风，他要报复。最好的诅咒办法，就是走进警察局。他报告了酒吧老板指使人走私的内情，他说这是为了社会的秩序和公义。

出来后，他满身泥污，孤零零地走在死水一潭的河边和垃圾场。一条野狗突然窜出对他狂吠，他趴下身子学着狗样与之对吠，无奈的狗倒奈他不何，认输般地歪歪头看着他。他离开了。大雨滂沱，这或是天谴。在炼狱人间，他继续走在泥泞又肮脏的旷野上，直至消失。一垛荒丘突兀而立，一如每个人的终点，一切都该结束了。

2013、11、27

选自海天出版社出版的影评集《看不见的电影》

虽然毫无关系，但贝拉·塔尔的这部《诅咒》，总是不断地让我想起《潜行者》的原著《路边野餐》。我当然不是指科幻的部分，而是非科幻的部分。在《路边野餐》里，除了对“ZONE”的危险描写，还有相当大的篇幅，描写潜行者们居住的破败小镇，那是对前苏联社会情绪的再现。那里压抑封闭，与外部世界隔绝，永远弥漫着窒息绝望、无法出逃的氛围，这种氛围被影像化之后，仿佛就是这部《诅咒》。

这是我看过的声音设计最精彩的电影之一，而且声音是如此深度地参与了叙事。开头即是低沉轻微但令人烦躁的低频噪音，以此为始，背景音几乎铺满了整部电影：连绵不断的雨声、没有起伏的旋律、持续的踢踏舞声音……充斥着这部电影的各种各样声响都有一个共同的特点：单调、重复、仿佛没有尽头，配合着贝拉·塔尔精绝的构图与影调，以及缓慢而折磨的镜头推移，完美构筑了一个封闭的电影空间，人们在这里被雨水困住、被债务困住、被欢愉困住、被爱情困住、被憎恶困住、被自我困住、被某种诅咒般的无形存在困住。

女歌手是唯一的例外，只有她演唱的段落，声音得以摆脱无尽循环的陷阱，在百转千回之中迂回地飞升出逃。她代表着这个无望困境的唯一出口。但到头来，她也被困住了。最后宣判了她命运的那个场景，是如此惊悚，对我们而言，又是如此熟悉，那当然不只是发生在曾经的匈牙利，也发生在曾经的中国，更发生在当下的中国。当发现自己无法逃离，不惜出卖灵魂变成下贱的狗，也要把他人拉下沟渠，于是所有人在黑暗污秽的阴沟中，一起煎熬于日复一日的绝望。

我还傻乎乎地记录了一下镜头数量，都是随便乱写，乱用的词语。

毕竟算是贝拉塔尔的偏早期电影，长镜头还不是特别风格化，有些地方的平行剪辑不太属于他的镜头哲学。

每每看他的电影，低沉的背景噪声和隽永悠长的旋律永远帮助停滞和缓慢镜头创造着孤独和绝望的气氛。正是这种氛围吸引着我的视线。

但是这部里的一些长镜头颇具有力量，拍摄人群的横移或许为《撒旦探戈》的牛群开头提供了基础；三棵粗立柱那两段镜头的调度极为精彩，物体遮挡这人而后出现，且有着前后照应重复和变化。男主最后在雨中与狗争斗并生利，展示着人类在欲望和道德的空虚力量的折磨下变得疯狂。

撒旦探戈 (1994)

8.9

1994 / 匈牙利 德国 瑞士 / 剧情 悬疑 / 贝拉·塔尔 / 米哈伊·维格 普吉·霍瓦特

有时会觉得他的电影显得极为形式主义，这是历史遗留问题。在我的电影观念构建基础上，故事在电影里永远是第一位的。但是贝拉塔尔的电影除去简单的故事，其外的一切已具有足够的力量来表达更多的思想。

对一个人靠墙站立蔑视或等待或窥视和行走的记录，便已具备史诗的力量。

希望塔尔还能出新片。

I was sitting at home, and the sound of the decoration came from upstairs. I could feel the weight of the sawdust falling through the ceiling. The computer is playing Bella Tarr's Damnation, and the man at the bar gets up to leave. The afternoon became very thick, with one second chasing the next and then intertwining. The men hide their faces in the shadow of the brim of their hats. In the background, only the music is still moving. There was thunder outside, and the rain was coming, and my eyes rested on the side of a sad man's face. A drop of rain cracked the French window. Two seconds later, a female voice.

“Készazegész”(over and done)

Damnation

This is Bela Tarr. This is Bela Tarr's movie. One might say it is poetry; one might say it is a philosophical work; one might say it is a tremendous hypnotic; some believe it is spiritual introspection. Maybe Bela Tarr's films have all these characteristics, or maybe they do not. However, that does not deny their existence, so deeply embedded in our world that they attack any numb and blind soul to life. If there is a specific category for Bela Tarr and his film, I would call them cinematic humanists, and sincerity is their motto.

Although the master still has a lot of creative energy and talent, we will likely never see his new work again. Bela Tarr's film The Turin Horse, released in Germany in 2011, became his closing work. His explanation for his behavior was: I already speak all that I need, this is undoubtedly a significant spirit loss for fans, this decision also directly cause some of the dissatisfaction of his fans, of course, we can think of Bela Tarr's retirement in a way is a waste of his talent, but this just once again confirmed Bela Tarr's loyalty to his principle.

When we trace this back to the original, we find that it all comes from Bela Tarr's very essential intention for film, from the coincidence that set him on his path as a filmmaker, from his original intention: understand life itself through the manifestation of the real world.

For understanding Bela Tarr's films, we have to understand his insight about films first. Bela Tarr is a strong supporter of Bazin's theory, and in his films, the long-shot takes up a large proportion. This particular approach to filmmaking points to Bela Tarr's humble attitude toward the object itself. He does not see himself as "the original giant". He sees himself as a "filmmaker who wants to make his film." That is to say, in Bela Tal's creation, the authenticity of the object itself is his creation standard.

He does not distort the simplicity of the material for his particular expressive desire. When his camera focuses on his characters' lives, the cinematic images become an excellent example of the humanitarianism of movies. He does not deliberately emphasize a right or wrong moral idea but faithfully depicts the people and the world as they are, even if they are no beautiful.

This humility and respect for the object is the core of Bela Tarr's film. In his films, we can hardly see any specific emotional output or vast doctrinal propaganda, and this mixed ambiguity is precisely the original appearance of reality. Another example is Bella Taal's attitude towards color in films. His works are mostly black and white; he considered the color black and white are the most purified color, and other colors are fake and insincere.

Some people question Bela Tarr's application of color, questioning that he only pursues a specific artistic effect and gives up the natural appearance we are familiar with, which disrespects the object he was filming. This questioning is due to a misreading of Bela tarr's ideas. If one knows enough about the film's authenticity nature, he/she should realize that every cinematic image is real. Black and white images are reality without color.

When we are aware of its inherent realism, color regenerates in our minds. In the cinematic image, the change of tone pointed to by black and white is exactly the original appearance of the world of light and shadow, which is the calmest and objective world. Bela Tarr captures the essence of this reality with great precision. Therefore, in today's increasingly commercialized film market, we can also appreciate such a film culture directly related to the film's authenticity. This is due to Bela Tarr's humility and respect for his filming object

Another revelation of Bella Taal's cinematic philosophy is his choice of lens. He is best known for his long takes and the use of film sound effects. Bela Tarr regards film as the carrier and container of time in a form, and film as the possible solution of truth and human nature in terms of object.

We can guess that when Bela Tal is shooting, he is in the same state as the audience. They all tried to find the truth that he craved in the movie. This is precisely the vision Shared by almost all realistic directors. They don't look for self-expression; they look for cinematic reproductions. They are eager to reproduce reality on the screen; they are confused and hope to find the film's answer. One might argue that if a film represents reality, then the truth offered by the film is not necessarily much "truther" than reality, so why take the time to make a film? Bela Tarr offers the answer with his cinematic philosophy: time.

Why do people take the trouble to watch realistic movies if they only need to go out into the world to see this world's harshness?

Because of the time, in Bela Tarr's films, time is mostly frozen and sticky. The length of his long-shot is reflected in the slowness of his time. In The Turin Horse, the little girl and her father repeat similar routines and behaviors day after day. The repetition of events points to the solidification of time. In almost all of Bela Tarr's films, we could perceive the solidification and rigidity of the characters' expressions. As our memories are consumed by time, and as the flood of time fades away and is forgotten, Bela Tarr's films solidify into a slow, drawling melody. At last, solidified into a stone, standing in the rush of time.

Perhaps the best example is the take of a walking scene that often appears in Bela Tarr's films. The long march stifled the restlessness of our minds, and a profound silence swept over us. Time seems to disappear because we don't know what will appear in the next second. We know that people are walking, they are still walking, and they will walk. A sense of peace and ease takes over our mind. Some people think this is a form of poetry, maybe this feeling comes from the graceful music itself, but I think this feeling comes from a form of sublime's arrival. When humans finally found a way to resist time at some point, we were ecstatic. Although this effect is necessarily transient, it does not prevent the establishment of a cinematic myth.

Bela Tarr is the narrator of this cinematic myth. Perhaps his quest for truth and humanity is hidden in this stone of time, or perhaps the film The Turin Horse contains the last piece of what he seeks, and he decides to retire after all.

Bela Tarr's sincere vision of cinema brings the eternal power of his cinematic form. Moreover, his experiences eventually become the object of his films, embodied in his film's theme. Bela Tarr's creative career is divided into two stages: the angry youth stage and the mature director stage. In his youth, Bela Tarr was banned from making films for political reasons. Censors have blocked some of his films in Hungary.

The Hungarian Communist authorities also blacklisted him. The significant discrepancy between the Hungarian political establishment's promises and realities also influenced Bela Tal's early creative thinking. This kind of social situation has always been lurking in Bella Taal's films. As Bela Tarr's state of mind and thoughts gradually matured, he got rid of the intuitive influence brought by this social situation. His cinematic images have also shifted from reproductions of a single social phenomenon to descriptions of the human condition as a whole.

However, lurking at the heart of Bella Taar's creation may have been the original contradiction, the political authorities' over-commitment, and under-realism. This set of contradictions eventually morphed into the human contradictions that Bela Tal thought about: the sublime and the reality. In Bela Tarr's films, sublime power is everywhere. In Damnation, the sublime is the old man who symbolizes the prophet, who watches Clare's gradual destruction. In Werckmeister Harmonies Sublime is a dead whale and a prince whose arrival changes everyone in town. In satantango, the sublime is Ilimias, an interloper whose characters in the town see as the savior, and the bell tolls from nowhere as a warning of the coming of Satan. In The Turin Horse, the sublime is the opposite of God, the end of the world.。

For Bela Tarr, these sublime forces were necessary. It is almost written in the gene of his inspiration. However, he believed in Nietzsche and rejected religion. He also claimed that God was dead and that human should be their own God. His films do not contradict his ideas. In the Curse, the symbolic noumenon with the power of prophecy is still human. She also has plenty of sympathies, such as pity for the revelers. In Satantango, Ilimias is nothing more but a shrewd crook. Even though he is a metonymy for Satan, what he did is just seeing through the townspeople's fool nature. His selfish human nature lay bare.

The tendency to drag the sublime back to reality is even more pronounced in Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turin Horse. Instead of focusing on the prince and the whale, the film focuses on the kind of Janos. The film also has two remarkable what. During the first long take of celestial motion, the camera pulls back and rises as Janos speaks in silence. Suddenly a resource of light appeared in the picture as if a sublime force were enveloping the tavern. Only later did the audience realize that it was just another light hanging in the tavern, nothing special. The second one is the famous scene that mob attack the hospital, the man who finally stops the mob appears to be a naked, wizened old man. It was the older man's sublime message of transcendence that scared the mobs away. We know very well under the protection of the sublime; he is still a human being just like the others in the hospital.

Moreover, in The Turin Horse, we do not see any doomsday coming, even though the doomsday prophecy must come from some sublime force. All we could perceive is a dry well, a horse that refuses to walk, a dying wind, and the last sound of silence.

Bela Tarr drags the sublime back to reality, telling us repeatedly that the film's focus should be on the human being itself. So when someone suggests that there is an absolute pessimism in Bela Tarr's work, Bella Tarr counters that. As bad as it may be, Bela Tarr's movies will always have a magic touch. So that the audience, after watching, would gain a kind of courage that helps them keep willing to believe in human beings. Perhaps like Satantango, the lofty death knell ultimately points to an infinite cycle of human failure, repeated in numbness.

The sublime entrance and the curtain call, human numbness, or wakefulness. In any case, this is a human's problem, and we are not entirely wiped out. When Bela Tarr's film exists in our lives as a phenomenon, as a vehicle for the time, it continually reminds us. We will also keep staring at Bela Tarr's world. With him, in the solidity of the long take and the length of the music, find a truth, a fact, and a self-testimony.