西方人眼中的Leslie與春光乍泄

轉(zhuǎn)自@RedForum

作者：Bianca Patzelt，譯者：@leslie_bob

2005年，這位德國榮迷應(yīng)@白袍416 之邀從西方人的角度寫了兩篇Leslie，一篇是哥哥的表演藝術(shù)總評，一篇春光的影評“Happy Together is a masterpiece”

作者： Bianca Patzelt

2007-02-20 18:29:56 由 白袍將軍 分享于 紅·張國榮版

前年雪煙要出書（小編注：即《盛世光陰》），我email德國的Bianca請她以西方人的角度寫寫Leslie，她很快就寫了兩篇，都很認真，也很有趣，但是溝通上出了問題，雪煙不知道Bianca已經(jīng)同意將這兩篇文章出版，后來的書里面就沒有，都怪我沒說清楚，今天發(fā)現(xiàn)我還留著底子，就發(fā)在紅版，別可惜了好文章 。

Crossing Borders

Leslie Cheung is one of the most influencial artists to have come out of Asia. Apart from his remarkable career as a singer, spanning more than twenty years and making him one of Hong Kong′s most popular stars, it′s been his accomplishments as an actor that made his name familiar to attentive movie audiences from all over the world.

Two of his movies especially, Farewell my Concubine(霸王別姬) and Happy Together (春光乍泄) have been very successful in Europe.Though very different in style and , both of them tell similar stories of problematic relationships, jealousy and same sex love. Farewell my Concubine (霸王別姬) opens up a door into another world at first. Luscious, rich settings, men wearing thick and heavy make up, singing foreign sounding melodies in high pitch voices, dressed in wide, colourful costumes are sights rather uncommon and mysterious to a westerner′s eye as well as the concept of male opera actors playing female roles in traditional Peking Opera. The other one, Happy Together (春光乍泄), in contrast appears almost european in visuals and message, describing the estrangement that one feels when being stuck in a foreign country far away from home.

Not every western spectator would be able to recognize at first sight that both of those movies are genuinely chinese, due to his enormeous versatility some would even fail to see that both of those movies feature the same actor starring in a leading role.

Westerners sometimes have a hard time distinguishing one asian society from the other. I am no different. It′s not because of a lack of interest or ignorance, much of it simply has to do with the fact that due to the distance the diversity of asian life is not present in the everyday life of many westerners, for instance europeans like me. Much of our ideas of asian societies lay in a mist of having heard many things, having seen a little, guessing a lot. Leslie Cheung′s art shows many sides of asian, especially chinese and Hong Kong culture. Through watching many of Leslie Cheung′s movies and catching up on his musical career, much of the former mysticism has given way to not total, but better understanding of asian culture, especially mainland chinese and Hong Kong culture and I was surprised to find, next to all possible differences in traditions and history, a strange feeling of familiarity that I wouldn′t have expected to find in the first place.

During the eighties Hong Kong cinema evolved from producing kung fu and comedy to discovering new trends in action and fantasy. Movies like A chinese ghost story (倩女幽魂). and A better tomorrow (英雄本色) were ahead of those trends, opening up new, western audiences to asian cinema and Leslie as an actor was part of this evolution. But his other movies of that period give probably a far more accurate picture of what life in Hong Kong was like at that time.The movie Nomad (烈火青春) for instance, filmed in 1982 and being almost avant-garde in , shows the life of youths alienated by their own society, seeking stimulation by admiring a culture other than their own, in this case japanese culture. Not all of the movies that Leslie had made in the eighties portraying teenage life were as drastic as Nomad (烈火青春), but many of them deal with similar stories, showing youths struggling for independence, growing up, falling in love and trying to find a place in society. Leslie showed extreme diversity as sensitive outsider in movies like On Trial(失業(yè)生) and Little Dragon Maiden (楊過與小龍女), as handsome teenie bopper in movies like For your heart only (為你鐘情) and Teenage Dreamers (檸檬可樂) and even played first grown-up love interests in movies like Rouge(胭脂扣) and Fatal Love(殺之戀).What might distinguish those movies slightly from european movies of the same time is that they often refer to more traditional aspects of life in a chinese surrounding, the value of the family and the respect of rules and traditions. Leslie′s appearances in many of those early films, soft and challenging at the same time, tender and suave, already hinted at what later would become a trademark of his performances in singing and in acting, a sense of individuality and brashness that obviously made him stand out compared to other young actors of that time.

In the nineties Leslie started concentrating more on his acting career, leading into a broader repertoire of characters. The movies of those years give an even more complete insight on chinese society than his other movies had done before. Whether they were referring to chinese history directly like Farewell my Concubine(霸王別姬), Temptress Moon (風月) and Shanghai Grand (新上海灘), portraying life in the sixties with movies like Days of being wild (阿飛正傳) and Arrest the Restless (藍江傳之反飛組風云) or showing modern day Hong Kong in movies like Long and Winding Road (錦繡前程), He′s a woman She′s a man (金枝玉葉) and Inner Senses (異度空間), all of them dealt with themes uniquely displaying what chinese society wondered and worried about throughout the last century when massive political and social changes had taken place and some older views on family values, sexuality, even society as a whole had been replaced by more modern approaches. Many of those changes I learned about and discoveries I made watching all of those movies mentioned left me rethinking what I had thought of asian, especially what I had thought of chinese society before.

Much of Leslie Cheung′s first impression on me derived from him combinating elegant asian features with an unusual western appeal. In fact he had lived several years in Europe during his school days, experiencing western life at first hand, being able to draw ideas from asian and western culture as well to use them for his merit, making him one of the most versatile artists I have seen so far. As an actor limited to the range that directors admitted him, he used his musical performances as a means of self- and creativity.During his 1997 concert tour he caused sensations with a stage show enriched with sexually explicit performances, in his 2000 Passion Tour he appeared in various costumes designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, playing with male and female attributes as well, bravely pushing the barriers of what asian audiences were accustomed to see. Artists are bound to break with traditions from time to time in order to create something new that encourages other people to follow. That′s what being an artist is all about and that′s what societies from all over the world need artists for in order to develop culturally. Leslie, who had certainly been influenced by western ideas of individuality and personal freedom but still maintained to stay chinese through and through, was such an artist. He has been crossing borders in the truest sense of the word. That, among many things, is what makes him so appealing and that, among many things, seems also to be the reason why he often got critized by people who seemingly didn′t understand what being an artist is all about. One could wonder why Leslie chose to expose himself to criticism of many sorts and never decided to leave Hong Kong for other places seemingly more open in allowing people to express their individuality. He had lived in Canada for some time and had travelled to Europe often, the place where he had spent a great deal of his youth.

But even for an external observer like me, happening to be european myself, it becomes clear to see that Leslie Cheung loved his home Hong Kong a lot and many people in China and Asia loved him back in a very emotional way, calling him Gorgor, meaning elder brother. Nowhere else could he have been the outstanding artist that he was. When Leslie Cheung left, the entertainment industry of Hong Kong lost one of their shiniest gems, able to attract asian and foreign audiences as well and this loss so far seems irredeemable. As I′ve grown to love asian movies, music and culture through getting to know Leslie Cheung′s art I wonder whether there will ever be another asian actor and singer as capable in building a bridge between eastern and western culture as he was. Border crossing not only in the truest but also in the best sense of the word, Leslie Cheung is missed as an exceptional person and an outstanding artist by friends and fans from all over the world.

Bianca PatzeltBochum, Germany

Happy Together (春光乍泄) is a masterpiece. Not more not less.

How would one describe the movie to someone who hasn′t seen it without using adjectives as courageous, harsh… or beautiful?

Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung), two young gay Hongkongers who live in the turmoils of an on-off relationship, travel to Argentina to visit Iguazu Falls, the trip being planned as maybe the last one of many chances to save them from breaking up. They start out full of hope, making love in a hotel room somewhere in South America, but their first try to get to Iguazu ends before it hasn′t even started when their wrecky car breaks down and they loose their way, stranded on an empty motorway in the midst of nowhere. Ho Po-Wing, the flamboyant and more adventure-seeking of the two decides that he is bored by Fai already and calls the relationship off again. Both go their separate ways, penniless, with no way left to get back to Hong Kong. They meet again in Buenos Aires. Lai Yiu-Fai has started working in a Tango Bar and Ho Po-Wing makes his living by accompanying rich western males for money. They try living together as friends in Fai′s tiny apartment after Ho Po-Wing gets beaten up by one of his customers, but as they still have feelings for eachother, things get tricky. Fai′s jealousy and Wing′s need for freedom take their toll and both of them end up separating again. Fai decides that he will no longer succumb to Wing′s irresolution and after having met a young tawainese traveller whom he takes a liking to he manages to save enough money to get to Iguazu Falls once before he returns to Hong Kong on his own. Ho Po-Wing is left behind, stuck living alone in Fai′s old apartment, slowly beginning to realize what Fai had meant to him.

Though the movie is centered around Fai′s thoughts and feelings, it′s Leslie′s character Ho Po-Wing who leaves the most lasting impression of the movie. Beneath a surface of recklessness and lust for life lies a certain kind of vulnerability and the fear of being alone. Ho Po-Wing once in a while leaves Fai behind and disappears, seeks adventures with other partners and enjoys life on the dangerous side. Yet he always returns, looking for Fai′s company and more likely, his care. Ho Po-Wing is a man with no past. In contrast to Lai Yiu-Fai, whom we learn to have been taking money from his father′s workplace and over that arguing with him, we know nothing about Ho Po-Wing′s family, motives and upbringing, adding more to the mysticism of the character. He almost appears orphan-like, not used to taking over responsibilities for other people but himself, but has an indefinable need for affection that he only allows himself to display when he′s together with Fai. The cruelest scenes of the movie are probably those that show Ho Po-Wing suffering the consequences of his unreflected actions, when he appears on Fai′s doorstep badly injured after being beaten up by a customer and gets left behind in Buenos Aires after Fai′s return to Hong Kong, crying in the blanket in Fai′s little apartment.

Leslie created the character of Ho Po-Wing almost entirely by himself, with little directive from Wong Kar Wai who, when filming started, had no script to move along to and wasn′t sure where the characters would be heading during the course of the story.

Wong Kar Wai ended up shooting endless roles of material, with different possible endings in mind and many subplots containing other characters, only to decide for one storyline in the editing, that of Fai′s and Wing′s relationship alone and Fai′s encounter with the young taiwanese backpacker Chang Chen. Wong Kar Wai later said that the film as it was had been there from the beginning, in the editing all he needed to do was to cut out all the other things around it rather than deciding what he wanted to have in the movie. The characters themselves had decided for him.

The movie became an international success in 1997, at the same time being top of the talk in Hong Kong due to its open depiction of homosexual love by two of Hong Kong′s most prestigious actors. Wong Kar Wai won “Best Director” award in Cannes Film Festival and art movie fans from all over the world took note of two exiled chinese lovers dancing to milonga tunes in tiled kitchens somewhere in Argentina. Leslie and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai both got nominated for “Best actor” at that year′s Hong Kong Movie Awards, leaving Tony Leung Chiu-Wai to be the winner of the trophy, with the judges putting more focus on a straight actor playing gay rather than judging who had done the better acting.

Apart from being an inspired art film with excellent visuals and brave storyline Happy Together, filmed in 1996, manages to touch in another way, Hongkongers as well as other audiences from all over the world. Wong Kar-Wai went to Argentina to film Buenos Aires, but ended up filming Buenos Aires as if it was Hong Kong, as a narrow, crowded, noisy and sleepless metropolis. Lai Yiu-Fai and Ho Po-Wing, lost in the present, estranged from the past with no idea what the future will have in store for them, seem to reflect what many Hong Kong citizens secretly or openly worried about at that time, shortly before Hong Kong was being handed over from Britain to China in 1997. The open ending of the movie, with Wing being left in Argentina and Fai starting a new life at home, one of them going for it, embracing the new, the other one being stuck in a past life shows two possible drafts of attitudes towards Hong Kong′s then near future that any Hongkonger should have been able to identify with, the movie having become probably a much more personal one that Wong Kar Wai had intended in the beginning.

From the point of view of a western observer though, neglecting all political implications, the movie gives a sharp portrayal of the state of love and relationship towards the near end of the millennium, homosexual or heterosexual. Ho Po-Wing and Lai Yiu-Fai, though in love with eachother, seem to be unable to be happy together. Though they share intense moments of affection and tenderness, those rare moments apparently cannot save their relationship from failing. Struggling to survive far away from home and being too different in character they are bound to separate in the end. Forever? Who knows.

Happy Together seems to have been a crucial movie for many people, in many different ways. Its international success opened up western audiences to asian movies and themes, together with Fallen Angels (墮落天使) and Chungking Express (重慶森)making Wong Kar Wai the most popular asian director in Europe. His following movie In the mood for love(花樣年華) was well received in Europe but estranged fans of his previous works by radically changing visuals and style that Wong was known for before. It seemed that Happy Together had marked the end of an era of the handheld shot, sketchy, urban style artwork he perfected together with cinematographer Chris Doyle, tending to become more dense and luscious in . Not every european fan would follow him there.

Leslie never worked with Wong Kar Wai again after that, though their paths would certainly have crossed again sooner or later, hadn′t Leslie left. Leslie had proven to be a crucial element for Wong Kar Wai′s movies as well. The emotional depth of all the characters he played, Ah Yuk in Days of being wild(阿飛正傳),Ouyang Feng in Ashes of Time(東邪西毒)and Ho Po-Wing in Happy Together has always managed tying the loose ends of fragments of stories together. Wong′s recent work 2046 seems to be missing this quality as if the thread had dropped with noone to pick it up anymore. Leslie and Wong understood eachother′s work and were able to create art together. Their artistic relationship probably matched that of Lai Yiu-Fai and Ho Po-Wing in an interesting way, they were never really happy together, but they would have been incomplete without the other.

Bianca PatzeltBochum, Germany

中文版譯者：leslie_bob

2007-02-23 13:44:01 發(fā)表于 紅·張國榮版

Crossing Borders（跨越阻隔）

Leslie Cheung是一位極有影響的走出亞洲的藝術(shù)家。以歌手的身份開始了他的傳奇生涯，橫跨20多年并成為了最受歡迎的香港藝人，尤其是他作為演員的非凡成績使得他的名字為全世界細心的觀眾所熟知。

尤其是《霸王別姬》和《春光乍泄》這兩部電影在歐洲取得了非常大的成功，盡管在風格和立意上有著很大的區(qū)別，但二者都講述了同一個故事，即問題嚴重的關(guān)系，嫉妒與同性之間的愛情?！栋酝鮿e姬》率先開啟了一扇通往另一個世界的大門。迷人的嬌媚還帶著些許措不及防的性感，雍容華貴的背景，男性穿戴上厚重的行頭，用那很高的音調(diào)唱著外國的旋律，穿著色彩肆意斑斕的戲服，以及京劇中男演員扮演女性角色的現(xiàn)象本身在西方人的眼中就是非常不尋常而又神秘的。與此形成鮮明對比的是《春光乍泄》，它看上去在視覺上和立意上很歐化，描述了飄零異國、背井離鄉(xiāng)的疏遠與孤寂的情緒。

并不是所有的西方觀眾都能在第一眼認識到這兩部電影都是真正的中國電影，由于他的多變與多種可能，甚至使一些人都沒發(fā)現(xiàn)這兩部電影有相同的男主角。西方人有時很難將一種亞洲文化與令一種亞洲文化區(qū)分開來，我也不例外。這并不是因為不感興趣或是不在意，而是僅僅由于亞洲生活的多樣未出現(xiàn)在大多數(shù)西方人的日常生活中的事實所產(chǎn)生的距離感，例如像我這樣的歐洲人，我們的很多對于亞洲社會的的看法都成型于很多道聽途說來的東西，看得少，猜得多。Leslie Cheung的藝術(shù)展示了亞洲的很多面，尤其是中國和香港的文化。通過大量觀看他的電影以及關(guān)注他的音樂，通過這種神交，為理解亞洲文化提供了一條新的途徑，盡管不能完全地但有助于更好地理解亞洲文化，尤其是大陸和香港的文化，我驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)，緊鄰所有可能的傳統(tǒng)與歷史中的差異，一種我始料不及的熟悉在最初的地方找到了，這種感覺非常奇妙。

在80年代，由生產(chǎn)功夫片和喜劇片發(fā)展起來的香港電影業(yè)開創(chuàng)了拍動作片和魔幻片的新浪潮。而《倩女幽魂》和《英雄本色》正引領(lǐng)了這一風潮，吸引了一批新的西方觀眾到電影院去看亞洲電影，而Leslie作為一位演員正是這次發(fā)展的一部分。但是他的那一時期的其他電影則是那一時期的香港的生活狀態(tài)無比真實的寫照。例如這部拍攝于1982年的《烈火青春》，在表達上很前衛(wèi)的先鋒電影，展示了年輕人被自己的社會所疏遠的生活，通過崇拜日本文化來尋找刺激。Leslie拍攝于80年代的電影所描述的青年人的生活并非都如《烈火青春》中那般極端、強烈，但它們大多講述的是類似的故事，表現(xiàn)了年輕人在爭取自由，成長，戀愛，爭取社會地位中的掙扎。Leslie在這些電影中展示了風格迥異的熒幕形象，例如在《失業(yè)生》《楊過與小龍女》中的感情細膩的局外人形象，在《為你鐘情》和《檸檬可樂》中英俊的青年形象，以及在《胭脂扣》和《殺之戀》中的成熟男人的形象。

如何將這些電影和同一時期的歐洲電影區(qū)分開來？這些電影通常會提及生活在中國這一環(huán)境中更為傳統(tǒng)的一面，家庭觀念，對準則與傳統(tǒng)的回應(yīng)。Leslie在這一時期的電影中的形象既保守又叛逆，溫柔而又殷情（溫文爾雅），已經(jīng)預(yù)示了將來他將會在演唱和表演上取得令人矚目的成績，個性十足，反叛不羈，使他從同一時期的眾多男演員中脫穎而出。

90年代起，Leslie開始更多地關(guān)注于表演，演出了更廣闊的類型的角色。這一時期的電影比他早期的電影更深入全面地展示了中國的社會風貌。無論是直接提及中國歷史（文化）的《霸王別姬》《風月》《新上海灘》，還是描繪60年代的生活狀態(tài)的《阿飛正傳》《藍江傳之反飛風云》，抑或是展現(xiàn)當代香港風貌的《錦繡前程》《金枝玉葉》《異度空間》，都敏銳而深刻地關(guān)注并體現(xiàn)了上世紀中國社會在政治、社會發(fā)生巨大變革時期（大轉(zhuǎn)型時期）的中國社會的疑惑與恐慌，以及隨之而來的舊的家庭觀念，對同志問題的態(tài)度，甚至整個社會都被更為現(xiàn)代的所取代。通過觀看這些電影，我了解到了（中國社會的）這些變化，并（開始）反思我對亞洲的看法，尤其是先前對中國社會的看法。

我對Leslie Cheung的第一印象源于他將亞洲文化中美好的一面與不尋常的西方口味相結(jié)合。事實上，在求學時期，他曾在歐洲居住了很多年，最直接地體驗了西方的生活，同時吸收了亞洲文化和西方文化，并能夠充分利用這一優(yōu)勢，使自己（哥哥）成為了一位我所知道的最多才多藝的藝術(shù)家。因為演員（必定）受限于導(dǎo)演所設(shè)定的范圍，他便運用音樂來作為自我表達與創(chuàng)造的一種方式。在他的97演唱會中，他豐富了（過去）單一性別的表演的舞臺演出引起了轟動，在他2000的熱情演唱會中，他以Jean-Paul Gautier為他設(shè)計的多套演出服亮相，同時扮演男人和女人，而且同樣迷人，勇敢地推翻亞洲觀眾的習慣的阻隔，藝術(shù)家有責任與義務(wù)不斷地與傳統(tǒng)決裂（并將其毀掉），以便創(chuàng)造新的（文化）讓人們?nèi)プ冯S。那就是藝術(shù)家應(yīng)該做的，同時也是全世界的社會學家為了發(fā)展文化需要藝術(shù)家做的。Leslie是這樣一位雖然受到過西方追求個性與自由的觀念的影響，但仍一直堅守中國文化的藝術(shù)家 。 他已經(jīng)跨越了這個詞最真實敏感的阻隔。而這正是他為何受到一些人的熱愛同時又受到另一些不知道藝術(shù)家的職責是什么的人的漫罵與譏諷的一部分原因。有的人肯定會不理解Leslie為何要現(xiàn)自己于不義，讓一些（不懷好心的）人（衛(wèi)道士）抓住把柄，成為他們批判他的理由，為何不離開香港到其他地方，因為那樣似乎更有利于宣揚他的主張。他曾在加拿大居住過一段時間，并且經(jīng)常到歐洲去，那個他度過了許大年輕時光的地方。

但是，盡管像我這樣的一個外人，碰巧又是一個歐洲人，都能夠非常清楚地看到Leslie Cheung非常愛香港，同時很多中國人、亞洲人都急切地希望他回去，叫他gorgor，也就是“哥哥”的意思。再也沒有哪一個地方能夠讓他在那里取得超過他以前所取得的成績。當Leslie Cheung離開的時候，香港的娛樂業(yè)失去了它一顆最璀璨奪目的寶石，一位能夠同時吸引亞洲和國外觀眾的明星，而這個失去似乎至今無法彌補。我已經(jīng)愛上了亞洲電影、亞洲音樂、亞洲文化，通過逐漸地了解和認識Leslie Cheung的藝術(shù)，我很想知道會不會再出現(xiàn)一位像他這樣如此有才的、成功的，構(gòu)筑了一座溝通東西方文化的橋梁的亞洲的演員與歌手?？缭搅诉@個詞最真實最深刻的阻隔，Leslie Cheung被來自于世界各地的友人與歌影迷所懷念，懷念這位值得期待的人，這位光彩奪目的藝術(shù)家。

Bianca Patzelt（作者姓名）

Bochum，Germany （德國，波鴻）

（之前翻譯的被吞樓了，所以譯文應(yīng)該是有缺少的，我以后再后續(xù)翻譯完）