维拉·德雷克

今天上午还搜索着有没有人造子宫的可能性来解救女性生育的痛苦。毕竟想要实现男女平等，就跨越不了女性在生理特征方面的特殊性。

早前追着有着深层次矛盾的电影看，现在冷不防的看到vera好心办坏事最后得到惩罚的结局，心里也好似便秘一般，憋闷闷的。要说这世界除了钱，就数性的问题最难办。

电影发生在二战后，失足少女们甚至是不少已婚妇女选择堕胎，可法令明确不允许个人以何种理由给他人流产。一个整日里无偿为邻里奔忙脸上笑哈哈的老妇人被判监禁两年半，手术是她做的，温柔安慰需要帮助女生的也是她。

到底谁做错了，谁有罪？🙊

#第25届SIFF#

在美国部分州严禁堕胎的当代再看上世纪的英国社会，历史真是场循环往复。

拿1861年的法条来判1950年的案子，所谓发达国家，法条不会与时俱进嘛？（不过欧美堕胎违法有牵扯到基督教的教义，迷信真不行啊）

老两口还蛮温馨的，这样的婚姻生活真幸福，作为后盾永远支持理解

典型的英国式表演，很生活化的表演看得不会很爽，但情感共鸣则细腻到位

明明那么善良朴实的老妇人，她的确是在行方便救那些姑娘们，可惜她从小认识的朋友却靠她赚钱，最后令她身陷囹圄，也没有搭把手救她。不过好在维拉有爱他的丈夫，关键时刻陪伴她，并且始终相信她。无论她做了什么，她都是充满善心的

富人阶层有的是办法在法律边缘试探起舞，穷苦大众互帮互助难逃牢狱之灾，制度的问题却要善良的穷苦人民去买单

电影整体不是我的菜，不过艾美达的确配得上影后之桂冠

【SIFF230612】9分，感觉这才是迈克李的舒适区，用稍微复杂和宏大一些的背景去讲小人物的故事或许更适合他。

昨天看完一无所有是我喊得太大声了，今天看完要夸回来。两年过去，卡司几乎都是原班人马，虽然英国一直有这个传统但是几乎所有人都来了，我还是想感叹迈克李或许本人真的很nice，号召力好强。

配乐的使用上节制了很多，运镜和构图更加灵动、技巧也多变了，叙事能力大大提高，人物塑造也出色，还加入了很多隐喻和象征。

维拉的富人雇主家女儿Susan Wales的经历镜像对应地补叙了维拉过去的遭遇，而且在后面庭审担保人那里的细节也做得很好，她不仅拒绝作证并且拒绝承认，因为她的阶级和身份（讽刺的是，即使是资产阶级人家的女儿，也没选择付给私人医生150磅解决问题而是来做了维拉的客人——这吃人的法律不是阶级的问题，这是性别问题，这是男权社会的问题）。

凝重的圣诞节家庭聚会上传递白巧克力的时候，弟妹Joyce和儿子Sid没有收下，而准女婿Reg拿了很多并感谢维拉，他是那个看到自己母亲的痛苦的人，他说得出「这对她们不公平」。Sid是男权社会意志的继承人，他在父亲战争离家后13岁就做了家庭的“顶梁柱”、也确实做到了很好地“关爱”和“保护”母亲和妹妹，深信不疑并乐在其中地肩负物种延续的职责，继续无意识地将女性视为所有物和生命孕育基地。【还想起来一个细节，Sid的台词里有“她骗了我们，瞒着我们不知道做了多少次，从你离开家的时候可能就已经开始了”这不仅体现出Sid对法律和规训的遵循与维护，对母亲丧失信任的恐慌，还有潜意识里所坚持的自我权威被冲击时的厌恶和愤怒】而Joyce是男权规则的维护者，她焦虑迫切地想和丈夫结合、怀孕并生下自己的孩子，不仅被完美规训、更将传递规训视作己任，她为维拉的行为感到不齿和恐惧。

这部04年的片子至今仍然有参考和警示意义。我理解在西方社会里abortion等于扼杀生命和「after you」的男本位思想一样是深深刻在文化基因里的，和宗教信仰和历史沿革不无关系，我理解这一切，也看得到西方社会的进步与改变，但我仍觉得有点悲伤。毕竟，迈克李二十年前就拍出了监狱里两位二犯的“女囚”和维拉一样为女性抗争着并且坚持抗争着这样的结局，但至今这些问题仍然悬在我们头顶，西方社会并没有根本改变，下一个二十年或许还是如此。

还好这部片子温暖细碎的日常里流淌着爱，我看着没那么难受。即使是战后带着创伤蹒跚前行的家庭、即使这场危机或许让一家人就要迎来美好曙光的希望破碎，但我看着最后那个镜头，心里总觉得这个家是联结的、维拉出狱后或许还会坚持做下去。很敬佩迈克李可以拍这样的题材，也很赞叹我们的乌姆里奇教授能贡献如此精湛的演技，非常非常有感染力，警察来了之后大量特写镜头全靠她的细微表情和台词功底来传达情绪。艾美达斯丹顿做得真的太好了！

Film Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

For many years now, English filmmaker Mike Leigh has explored the lives of the working poor with unflinching honesty and an uncanny ability to respect his characters' idiosyncrasies and the feisty ways they struggle to survive against the odds. In this incredibly moving film, he hits high stride in his career and delivers a masterwork that is all of one piece. The ensemble performances are remarkable for their realism; production design accurately conveys the dark alleys and shabby apartments of poor neighborhoods; and the string score by Andrew Dickinson is tender and evocative.

The film is set in London in the early 1950s. Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) lives with Stan (Phil Davis), her husband of 27 years. She is a domestic who cleans the houses of well-to-do ladies; he works as a mechanic in a shop run by his brother Frank (Adrian Scarborough). They have two grown children, both still living with them in their small tenement flat: Sid (Daniel Mays), a gregarious apprentice tailor, and Ethel (Alex Kelly), a shy factory worker.

Vera, as her husband puts it, has a heart of gold. Although she has plenty of household chores on top of her job, she finds time to regularly visit two shut-ins, one of whom is her cranky mother. Vera, who hums methodically, is a cheerful person who believes that a special grace in life is to savor a good cup of tea, no matter what the occasion. Noticing that Reg (Eddie Marsan), is a lonely fellow, she invites him over for dinner. Everyone in the family is pleased when he takes an interest in Ethel.

Another aspect of her care and compassion for others is her secret mission to help poor pregnant women who are not willing or able to give birth to a child. She works closely with Lily (Ruth Sheen), a friend since childhood, who sells household goods on the black market and finds women seeking abortions. These poor girls, married women with too many children and wives who have gotten in trouble, have no choices other than to throw themselves on the mercy of Vera, who does not charge them anything for her loving ministrations. Their lack of options is contrasted with the situation of Susan (Sally Hawkins), the daughter of one of the rich women Vera works for. After she is raped on a date and becomes pregnant, she sees a private doctor and a psychiatrist who arrange for a calm and safe abortion at a discreet clinic for a substantial fee.

Vera's secret missions of mercy come to an end when a young woman she treated develops life-threatening complications. The police find out about Vera and Lily and are swift to apprehend them (abortion wasn't legalized in England until 1967). Much to Vera's dismay, this all takes place on the same day that they are celebrating the announced wedding of Reg and Ethel. Frank and his materialistic wife Joyce (Heather Craney) are at the party with them. Their good news that Joyce is pregnant gets lost in the confusion when the police arrive and question Vera. Anger and shock are two of the emotions experienced by Stan, Sid, and Ethel when they learn the secret Vera has kept from them for nearly 20 years.

When was the last time you saw a movie that focused on the compassion and genuine goodness of a person who doesn't live for herself but always puts others first? Look no further. Mike Leigh has created an emotionally resonant drama around the little acts of kindness that all the world's religions agree is at the center of what it means to be a fully developed human being. Vera accepts the punishment that is meted out to her, but then many good and self-sacrificing individuals have suffered for what they believe in without complaint. Vera Drake is one of the best films of 2004, and Mike Leigh is to be commended for making a hero out of a kindly woman who does her best to help the less fortunate around her.