The film begins with a beautiful French girl riding a bicycle with a bouquet of flowers to visit her parents who have passed away, everywhere flowers and green grass in the countryside, a strong sense of life images, let people envy the unique French sophistication and romance. Later on, the film gradually opens with the activities of the heroine, a German Nazi officer “arranged” to live in their house, they are of course opposed, but in 1941 when France had just surrendered to Germany they had no choice.
The grandfather asks his granddaughter Diana to play a piano piece in order to relieve his boredom, which happens to be a Chopin piece. One is an enemy captain, and the other is an ordinary French girl. The captain is a cultivated gentleman who takes the initiative to greet and find topics to talk about every time they meet, but the owner of the house, in view of his hatred for the enemy, has not had a conversation with him since the beginning.
Although there is not a word, but the two people from the heart of the communication has exceeded all the words, this is probably that: than the flowery words of confession, real action and communication of the heart is the best way to witness the love it. Sometimes, words are pale, poor, pretentious, and decorative, but what really moves the heart is the more direct behavior, action, and eyes… Although this love is silent, but grandfather seems to have noticed, one night Diana in the fire, grandfather said “take the wood away from the flame, do not let it burn in vain”, is not also love?
At the end of the movie, the officer was transferred to another battlefield, and said goodbye to the family, the heroine’s surface is calm as water, but the inner waves, the tears in the eyes gushing out. But until the last second when the car left, she rushed out of the room crying and said “goodbye” to the captain. A great love, with two words so ended, no hugs, no extra words, and no expression of reluctance. It’s a bit sad to see. How would you choose between national hatred and personal feelings? I think this story is great because of his contradictions, conflicts, and reasons are not so simple.
The attitude of the young girl towards the officer, from the initial disgust and rejection, to the curious exploration after the contact, and then to the late entanglement and restraint, the flow of the eyes, even set off the language also so pale. The same victim of war, the male lead because of the family tradition had to join the war, love of music and literature, courteous, this is a real gentleman.
He came with the sound of her piano, and she used it to save his life. It is said that people with artistic training carry their own light, when suffering comes, music and literature is the spiritual pillar, even if the material extreme scarcity, but the soul is always high full. Art has no boundaries, it belongs to all mankind, music allows people to connect with each other, in the beautiful sound of the piano, to reach the resonance of the spirit. This appreciation and understanding is invaluable, however, the deep ravine behind each of them is insurmountable. One went to the battlefield on his own initiative to pay tribute to the purity of his heart; the other joined the resistance to seal the heart that had already blossomed. Silence like the sea, surging.
In addition, personal viewing of the film was deeply touched by the eyes of the scene. When the hero is about to go to the car loaded with explosives, the girl in a hurry with the sound of the piano dragged him, he was full of surprise again heard the girl’s rousing piano, involuntarily moved, a song is over, the hero is satisfied to leave, turned his head between glancing at the girl’s anxious eyes, full of doubts. And at this time the sound of explosions outside the house, the male lead shocked, blinked, turned his head, sigh. This scene, a masterpiece, a breath of fresh air, natural and sincere.
The last parting moment, the male lead is full of sadness, looking at the young girl’s eyes full of love and affection. The next shot, he hung his head sitting in the car, forlorn side view, full of details. Finally the girl unconsciously chased out the door, a “goodbye”, looking at each other without words but a thousand lines of tears. The male advocate opened his mouth, finally said nothing, and went away.
At the end of the film, the female teacher adopts the son of a French resistance member, Pierre, who was also a student she had taught. When love comes, when the firewood is piled up, a “goodbye” is linked, but the harsh reality makes it impossible for them to hug and kiss. The granddaughter has crossed the grandfather’s hatred, and the captain has crossed the hatred of the invading country, they finally expressed their love for each other, and both recognized and accepted each other’s love, like a tender shoot arching out from the dry soil.
“Compared to too many people who only one percent love each other but pretend to be one hundred percent. The film’s protagonists love each other one hundred percent but only reveal one percent, but the power of this one percent is enough to shock”. The quiet as the sea beneath the brewing waves, both guerrillas fight to the death, but also the warmth of the passion of love like water. When the sea is quiet, the first encounter is destined to part, because the war is like a barbed wire fence, across the two people in love can not be overcome.
When the world is finally at peace, when we are at peace and watch this old film made in 2004, shouldn’t we treasure the present moment more when we listen to Bach?
