Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal Square Off in Ari Aster’s Brazenly Provocative Western Thriller, Set During the Pandemic the Film Says Made America Lose Its Mind
华金·菲尼克斯与佩德罗( luó)·帕斯卡在阿里·艾斯特公( gōng)然挑衅的西部惊悚片中( zhōng)一决雌雄——背景设定于该( gāi)片所称“让美国陷入疯狂( kuáng)”的特殊时期
It’s all too common today to see ambitious filmmakers turn their movies into “statements” that fit all too neatly into preset ideological boxes. But in “Eddington,” his teasingly audacious, bracingly outside-the-box cosmic sociological Western thriller, writer-director Ari Aster (“Beau Is Afraid,” “Midsommar”) gleefully tosses any hint of liberal art-house orthodoxy to the winds.
当今影坛，怀( huái)抱野心的创作者将作品( pǐn)强行塞入预设意识形态( tài)框架的现象屡见不鲜。但( dàn)在阿里·艾斯特自编自导( dǎo)的《爱丁顿》中——这部融合宇( yǔ)宙社会学元素的西部惊( jīng)悚片以戏谑而大胆的姿( zī)态突破类型窠臼——曾执导( dǎo)《博很恐惧》《仲夏夜惊魂》的( de)鬼才导演，将艺术电影界( jiè)奉为圭臬的自由派叙事( shì)法则彻底抛诸九霄云外( wài)。
The film is set in the desert city of Eddington, New Mexico, during the COVID summer of 2020, and the first indication that it’s going to offer a major tweak of conventional wisdom is that the protagonist, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), who’s the city sheriff, is just about the only person in town who refuses to wear a face mask. He’s an asthmatic, but he’s also got a brazen contempt for the COVID stats about transmission, and for the general notion of lockdown. Is his stance speaking for the movie’s? That’s tougher to pin down, since Joe, on the one hand, is the character we’re asked to identify with, but Phoenix plays him as a shambolic screw-up, earnest and benign but basically a walking mess.
故事背景设定在2020年特殊( shū)时期新墨西哥州的沙漠( mò)之城埃丁顿，首幕便显露( lù)出对主流叙事的颠覆：由( yóu)华金·菲尼克斯饰演的镇( zhèn)警长乔·克罗斯，竟是全城( chéng)唯一拒绝对面部采取防( fáng)护措施之人。这位患有呼( hū)吸系统顽疾的执法者，不( bù)仅对流行病传播数据嗤( chī)之以鼻，更对当时推行的( de)公共管理策略报以公然( rán)蔑视。其立场是否代表影( yǐng)片价值取向？答案暧昧难( nán)测——尽管乔被塑造成观众( zhòng)移情对象，但菲尼克斯将( jiāng)其演绎成行事乖张的失( shī)败者：真诚良善的表象下( xià)，本质是个一团混沌的行( xíng)走矛盾体。
Not long into the film, the George Floyd murder occurs, and the protests that take place in Minneapolis and other American cities trigger a small local movement in Eddington of anti-racist youth. The film is unambiguous about portraying them as a pack of deluded narcissists whose conception of themselves exemplifies the very privilege they’re out to overthrow. Aster isn’t merely mocking them; his real point is that moralistic self-righteousness has become a kind of addiction in America. Nevertheless, that he kicks off his film by skewering COVID protocols, only to lampoon the radical-chic fervor of middle-class white kids, may make you wonder, for a moment, if Ari Aster has turned into some right-wing hipster auteur tossing cherry bombs attached to Fox News talking points.
随着剧情推进( jìn)，乔治-弗洛伊德谋杀案的( de)发生引发的全美社会运( yùn)动波及埃丁顿，催生了当( dāng)地反种族主义的小规模( mó)运动，影片毫不含糊地将( jiāng)他们描绘成一群自欺欺( qī)人的自恋狂——其身份认知( zhī)恰恰印证着他们试图颠( diān)覆的特权结构。艾斯特的( de)批判锋芒不仅停留在揶( yé)揄层面，更直指美国社会( huì)日益严重的道德优越感( gǎn)成瘾症。从开篇解构公共( gòng)卫生应对机制，到嘲讽中( zhōng)产白人青年群体的先锋( fēng)时尚狂热，这种左右开弓( gōng)的叙事策略，甚至令人短( duǎn)暂怀疑艾斯特是否化身( shēn)为携带特定媒体立场的( de)右翼标新立异导演。
Actually, it’s not nearly so simple. In “Eddington,” Aster is dead serious about dramatizing what he views as the looking glass that America passed through during the pandemic era. He’s targeting that moment as The Great Crack-Up, the moment when the country lost its collective mind. But in the film there are many components to that, drawn from a wide cultural-ideological spectrum. The movie does show sympathy for the increasingly mainstream view that the sense of control that dominated the COVID years went too far. That Eddington, while larger than a small town — it’s a place of sprawling streets and buildings — appears to be all but abandoned is something that casts its own eerie spell; it stands in for a nation that’s been hollowed out, depleted, robbed of its hope for the future. When a teenage boy is chewed out by his father for having joined in a “gathering” (i.e., he met up with half a dozen of his friends in the park), we feel the creeping unreality of it.
事实( shí)上，事情并没有这么简单( dān)。在《爱丁顿》中，阿斯特非常( cháng)认真地描绘了他眼中，在( zài)特殊时期美国经历的集( jí)体精神裂变。导演将彼时( shí)定义为"大崩裂"时刻——整个( gè)国家陷入群体性认知失( shī)调。影片通过多元文化光( guāng)谱的拼贴达成这种解构( gòu)：既流露出对"管控尺度是( shì)否越界"这一主流质疑的( de)共情（埃丁顿这座街道纵( zòng)横却宛若空城的沙漠都( dōu)市，恰似被掏空内核、耗尽( jǐn)元气、丧失未来期许的国( guó)家隐喻），又以超现实笔触( chù)描绘日常荒诞。当一个十( shí)几岁的男孩因为参加了( le)一次 “聚会”（即在公园里与( yǔ)他的六七个朋友聚会）而( ér)被他的父亲训斥时，我们( men)感受到了令人毛骨悚然( rán)的不真实感。
But COVID is just the trigger. “Eddington,” while not a comedy, showcases an angry, sinister, and maybe crazy new America that it views with a deadpan tone of trepidatious glee. And the movie presents us with a fully scaled vision of that transformed society. As Aster presents it, what happened to America is about COVID and everything the relentless rules of the pandemic did to us. It’s about the rise of the new scolding moral absolutism. It’s about how conspiracy theory, which used to be the province of the liberal-left, became the new crackpot paradigm of Middle America, to the point that attacking the government for lies and coverups (like, you know, the plandemic) went from being a rebel stance to a kind of authoritarian reflex.
特殊时期不( bù)过是导火索。《爱丁顿》以非( fēi)喜剧的冷面幽默，解剖着( zhe)一个躁动、诡谲、几近癫狂( kuáng)的新美国图景。影片构建( jiàn)出社会转型期的完整病( bìng)理切片：在艾斯特的镜头( tóu)下，美国这个国家承受的( de)不仅是特殊时期本身，更( gèng)是防控机制带来的深层( céng)异化。这里见证着训诫式( shì)道德绝对主义的崛起，目( mù)睹阴谋论从自由派阵营( yíng)的专利异化为中产阶级( jí)美国人的新疯狂范式——当( dāng)质疑政府信息透明度从( cóng)反抗姿态蜕变为某种威( wēi)权条件反射（譬如特定流( liú)行病起源论），荒诞便完成( chéng)了它的辩证法。
It’s also about the creeping paranoia of gun culture, and about the paranoia that has gathered around the all-too-real issue of pedophilia (a trend that actually started with the day-care abuse trials and missing-children milk cartons of the 1980s, then picked up contemporary steam with QAnon and Pizzagate). It’s about how social media became the dark hall of mirrors that magnified all these toxic forces, to the point that the distorting of reality almost seemed to be the buried reason for it all. And it’s about the ominous rise of big tech (embodied here by a massive proposed data center from a corporation called solidgoldmagikarp), which is both the orchestrator and beneficiary of that hall of mirrors.
影片更触( chù)及枪支文化中的妄想症( zhèng)，以及围绕未成年人权益( yì)保护议题衍生的社会性( xìng)偏执（这种集体心理可追( zhuī)溯至上世纪八十年代托( tuō)儿所诉讼案与失踪儿童( tóng)牛奶盒寻人启事，在当代( dài)网络阴谋论助推下演变( biàn)为新的道德恐慌）。社交媒( méi)体在此被呈现为暗黑镜( jìng)厅——所有毒性力量在此折( zhé)射放大，直至现实扭曲本( běn)身成为终极目的。而科技( jì)巨头的阴影（以虚拟企业( yè)"金鲤鱼"筹建巨型数据中( zhōng)心为隐喻）既是这场镜厅( tīng)诡局的操盘手，亦是最终( zhōng)获利者。
That sounds like a lot for a movie to chew on, but “Eddington,” for all its heady themes, is a far more nimble and relatable entertainment than Aster’s last film, the masochistic surrealist art nightmare “Beau Is Afraid.” The new movie is two-and-a-half-hours long, and it ultimately does take a turn into something ominously out there. But for most of it Aster lures us in by telling a grounded and weirdly arresting story, which the age-of-the-pandemic themes sort of flow through.
尽管承载着如此( cǐ)庞杂的思辨负荷，《埃丁顿( dùn)》却展现出比艾斯特前作( zuò)《博很恐惧》——那部充满自虐( nüè)倾向的超现实主义噩梦( mèng)——更为灵动轻盈的娱乐性( xìng)。这部两个半小时的作品( pǐn)虽最终滑向形而上的诡( guǐ)谲之境，但主体叙事始终( zhōng)扎根于怪诞却迷人的现( xiàn)实主义土壤。导演通过扎( zhā)实的类型叙事引力场，让( ràng)特殊时期的时代症候如( rú)暗河般在故事裂隙中自( zì)然流淌。
It all begins with Phoenix’s desperate, lackadaisical, borderline incompetent sheriff coming under fire for his anti-mask stance, then making the decision to challenge the city’s mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), with his posh backers and facile grin. Joe decides to run for mayor himself, but these two men have an enmity that reaches back to a buried personal scandal: Twenty years before, Garcia slept with Louise (Emma Stone) when she was 16 and got her pregnant. She had an abortion and went on to marry Joe. Joe and her are still together, living in an isolated ranch house atop a small mesa (along with Louise’s blustery mom, played by Deirdre O’Connell; she moved in during COVID). But Louise has a history of mental illness, and Emma Stone plays her as the image of frail, washed-out vulnerability.
故事始于菲尼克( kè)斯饰演的警长乔：这个因( yīn)拒执防护令陷入舆论漩( xuán)涡的失意者，以近乎自毁( huǐ)的姿态向佩德罗·帕斯卡( kǎ)饰演的市长泰德·加西亚( yà)发起挑战——后者带着精英( yīng)支持者的倨傲假面，游走( zǒu)于权力场。当乔决意参选( xuǎn)市长，尘封二十载的丑闻( wén)渐浮水面：加西亚曾与时( shí)年处于青少年期的露易( yì)丝（艾玛·斯通饰）发生关系( xì)致其怀孕，她流产后嫁给( gěi)了乔。如今这对夫妻住在( zài)一个与世隔绝的小山丘( qiū)上的牧场房子里（伴随特( tè)殊时期迁入的暴躁岳母( mǔ)，由迪尔德丽·奥康奈尔饰( shì)演），而斯通诠释的露易丝( sī)始终笼罩在苍白易碎的( de)精神创伤阴云之下。
The marriage is hanging by a thread, and the thread gets cut when Austin Butler, acting with the smoothness of the young Johnny Depp, shows up as Vernon, who’s part of what appears to be a cult devoted to victims of child sexual abuse. Vernon sits in the Crosses’ kitchen and tells his story, a piece of retrieved memory that replaced his other memories, and it’s so garishly far out that we think: Is he about saving people or implanting them with new identities? More to the point: Is this what “salvation” is becoming in America? Louise, in thrall to Vernon’s therapeutic snake oil, has soon abandoned Joe, and this leaves him devastated.
这段( duàn)摇摇欲坠的婚姻，在奥斯( sī)汀·巴特勒饰演的弗农登( dēng)场后彻底崩解。这位带着( zhe)约翰尼·德普早期慵懒邪( xié)气的神秘来客，似乎是一( yī)个专门针对儿童性虐待( dài)受害者的邪教组织的成( chéng)员。当他在克罗斯家厨房( fáng)讲述那段覆盖原生记忆( yì)的创伤回溯时，离奇程度( dù)令人脊背发凉：他到底是( shì)在拯救人们，还是在给他( tā)们植入新的身份？更深层( céng)的叩问在于——当下美国的( de)"拯救"话语是否已然异化( huà)为这般扭曲形态？被弗农( nóng)伪治疗话术蛊惑的露易( yì)丝最终弃乔而去，留下警( jǐng)长在精神废墟中独自沉( chén)沦。
Aster is out to capture how the dislocation of reality that’s becoming the coin of the realm isn’t just a political/media phenomenon; its tentacles reach right into the heart of intimate relationships. And we see the same sort of social-turned-emotional freakout when the Black Lives Matter movement hits Eddington. The film never doubts the validity of the protests that rose up against the murder of George Floyd. But it does satirize the performative aspects of a certain brand of middle-class radicalism, and the way that this ensares various members of the community, like Sarah (Amèlie Hoeferle), who becomes such a self-lacerating true believer that she starts to sound like a member of the Weather Underground; Brian (Cameron Mann), a local kid who starts out just wanting to flirt with Sarah, then finds his identity undergoing an extended mutation (with a real payoff at the end); and Michael (Micheal Ward), the Black cop who works for Joe and couldn’t be more of a straight-arrow, but winds up the victim of a group of terrorist extremists who are out to “save” him.
艾斯特力图捕捉现实( shí)错位如何从媒体场域渗( shèn)透至亲密关系内核。当平( píng)权浪潮席卷埃丁顿时，我( wǒ)们目睹社会运动如何异( yì)化为情感层面的集体癔( yì)症。影片从未质疑乔治-弗( fú)洛伊德谋杀案所引发抗( kàng)议的正当性，却犀利解构( gòu)特定中产激进主义的表( biǎo)演性姿态——这种意识形态( tài)捕兽夹先后困住多位社( shè)区成员：从自我鞭笞近乎( hū)气象派组织成员的莎拉( lā)（阿梅莉·霍弗勒饰），到始于( yú)调情终于身份畸变的本( běn)地青年布莱恩（卡梅隆·曼( màn)饰，其异化过程在结局获( huò)得惊人闭环），再到恪尽职( zhí)守却沦为极端主义团体( tǐ)"拯救"对象的黑人警探迈( mài)克尔（米歇尔·沃德饰），每个( gè)灵魂都成为时代精神病( bìng)理学的鲜活标本。
There’s no question that in “Eddington” Art Aster makes himself a scalding provocateur, the same way Todd Field did in “Tár” when he staged the confrontation at Juilliard between Cate Blanchett’s Lydia and the BIPOC student who questioned her devotion to dead-white-male composers. Yet as much as nailing down the precise point-of-view of “Eddington” is destined to be the subject of numerous incendiary debates, I’d argue that this is very much not a case of Aster becoming some young A24-approved version of David Mamet. What he captures in “Eddington” is an entire society — left, right, and middle — spinning out of control, as it spins away from any sense of collective values.
毫无疑( yí)问，艾斯特在《埃丁顿》中将( jiāng)自己锻造成极具争议的( de)挑衅者——正如托德·菲尔德( dé)在《塔尔》中安排凯特·布兰( lán)切特饰演的指挥家与某( mǒu)音乐学院少数族裔学生( shēng)就"传统经典作曲家"展开( kāi)对峙。虽然影片的终极立( lì)场必将引发激烈争议，但( dàn)必须澄清：这绝非A24厂牌背( bèi)书的大卫·马梅式剧作复( fù)刻。艾斯特真正捕捉到的( de)，是整个社会系统（左翼、右( yòu)翼与中间派）在集体价值( zhí)共识崩解中的失控状态( tài)——就像离心机里飞散的粒( lì)子，彻底脱离任何向心力( lì)的掌控。
The movie is about the center not holding, and you feel that refracted through every pleading stammer of Phoenix’s alienated, sad-sack performance. It’s not quite up there with his great ones, but it’s not one of his mumbly showboat ones either. There’s a bitter poignance to Joe, who’s in way over his mussy-haired head. When he finally takes matters into his own hands, you keep rooting for him even as he does something indefensible. For a while, the film becomes a darkly ambling thriller, one that plays Joe’s investigative team off the efforts of a local Pueblo officer, Butterly Jimenez (William Belleau), who we suspect might turn out to be our hero’s version of Inspector Javert.
影片"中心失守"的( de)主题在华金·菲尼克斯的( de)表演裂隙中纤毫毕现：通( tōng)过其塑造的警长那疏离( lí)的结巴、落魄的肢体语言( yán)，每个颤音都折射着秩序( xù)崩塌的微芒。虽未达其表( biǎo)演巅峰，却摒弃了过往炫( xuàn)技式的含混演绎。当这个( gè)被乱发遮蔽双眼的失败( bài)者最终选择铤而走险，观( guān)众仍会不自主地为他的( de)背德抉择揪心——此刻叙事( shì)悄然蜕变为黑色游走式( shì)惊悚：警长调查组与原住( zhù)民警官巴特利·希门尼斯( sī)（威廉·贝洛饰）的博弈，恍若( ruò)《悲惨世界》沙威警长的当( dāng)代变奏，在文明与蛮荒的( de)接壤处投下道德悖论的( de)阴影。
But just when you think you’ve got “Eddington” pinned down as a coherent and even conventional suspense tale, the movie wriggles out from under you and enters a terrain of stranger things. It doesn’t get lost in the grim funhouse of its own conceits, the way “Beau Is Afraid” did. But it does grow a little…abstract. There’s an indulgent side to Ari Aster, and though it’s more under control here, you can feel him giving him into it. Yet it’s also inseparable from what makes him, in “Eddington,” such a stimulating filmmaker. He wants to show us the really big picture, and while “Eddington” isn’t a horror movie, it puts its finger on a kind of madness you’ll recognize with a tremor.
正当观众自以为把( bǎ)握住《埃丁顿》作为传统悬( xuán)疑片的叙事脉络时，影片( piàn)却如沙漠响尾蛇般滑出( chū)掌控，遁入超验的异质空( kōng)间。它没有像《博很恐惧》般( bān)沉溺于自我指涉的黑暗( àn)迷宫，却仍难掩某种...抽象( xiàng)化的创作惯性。这是阿里( lǐ)·艾斯特骨子里的作者印( yìn)记——即便在此作中有所克( kè)制，我们仍能窥见其放任( rèn)艺术触须恣意生长的瞬( shùn)间。而正是这种危险的诗( shī)意，成就了《埃丁顿》令人战( zhàn)栗的当代启示录特质：虽( suī)非类型意义上的恐怖片( piàn)，却精准按住了时代精神( shén)病灶的脉搏，那震颤将长( zhǎng)久萦绕在观者的神经末( mò)梢。
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