一个Z和两个O

Blatantly laying bare Greenaway’s deep-dish kink concerning our corporeality onto the silver screen, A ZED & TWO NOUGHTS (automatically can be conflated into ZOO), his third feature, is a grand execution on cinematic symmetry, characterized by his undue fascination about dismemberment and decay, but squeamish ones shouldn’t be disquieted, since Mr. Greenaway knows fairly well how to configure his final output.

Two zoologists, Oswald and Oliver Deuce (Brian Deacon and his younger brother Eric Deacon) have lost their wives in an automobile accident caused by a mute swan, the preggie woman behind the wheel, Alba Bewick (a sultry, maternal Ferréol, bed-ridden for the most of the screen time) however, survives but lost her baby and a leg.

Oddly, Oswald and Oliver channel their inconsolable grief into a waxing obsession with the decay of life forms and simultaneously seek intimacy with a dismembered but fertile Alba. Scaling up the food chain, soon the film will be laden with time-lapse sequences of decomposition (from an apple, a bowl of prawns, a pair of fish, a crocodile, a zebra to the specimen of the highest echelon). Meanwhile, sundry wacky peripheral characters mill around to introduce a semblance of a plot development, Frances Barber relishes in dishabille as the indecipherable Venus de Milo, who will eventually maunder into an offscreen demise under a zebra’s hooves; some has his own ulterior motive, like doctor van Meegeren (Thoolen), a Vermeer counterfeiter who is particularly keen in severing off Alba’s remaining, lonesome leg as well.

First and foremost, A ZED & TWO NOUGHTS turns heads as a queer study on symmetric composition against a vivid palette and artisanal settings (marking the first collaboration between Greenaway and his long-time DP. Sacha Vierny), tallying with the revelation that Oswald and Oliver are identical twins (whose discrete appearances conspicuously begin to merge into two conjoined twins as their folie à deux deepens), their peculiar ménage-à-trois with Alba flouts any moral/psychological confinement and the trio sustains a whiff of bewitching chemistry, a tacit equilibrium refreshingly overrules the wanton exploitation of carnality, not least by watching Sir David Attenborough’s LIFE ON EARTH TV series together in bed.

Another great pleasure inducer is Michael Nyman’s seminal score, not dissimilar to his centerpiece in Greenaway’s later theatrical triptych THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (1989), here his refrains are fruity, affective and contagiously uplifting, counterpoises the film’s morbid, quizzical outlook on mortality, evolution (with an inexplicable gap hindering its justification) and perverse self-involvement.

Infested by snails, ultimately and silently the bodies of Deuce brothers contest the ontology of our species, and albeit scratching only the surface of an interest in human’s meta-existence, Greenaway’s taboo-provoking idiosyncrasy and striking idiom as a visual scenester are too cordial to overlook.

referential entries: Greenaway’s THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT (1982, 7.2/10), THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (1989, 7.5/10).

格林纳威的作品始终拥有大量对称的构图和与镜头节奏完美契合的音乐来展现肃穆，庄严的仪式感。而这种仪式感在此片中可谓达到极致，一场关于死亡的仪式，生命最后的仪式。同时，肮脏，反伦理，食与性，死亡本能，生理不适，这些格林纳威招牌也一应俱全，此片可谓格林纳威元素之集大成者，喜欢他的人自然会颅内高潮。另外，此片中大量对生命进化，生命科学等等知识的插入讲解形式还让我想到了阿伦.雷乃的《我的美国舅舅》。

一片开始是两个小孩将一只狗向着动物园里拉，而狗却奋力向反方向挣扎，它不想进入这个“亵渎动物的场所”，这是人类霸权的宫殿，是动物集中营，但面对死亡，人与野兽一样慢慢腐烂，毫无高傲可言。大大的蓝色ZOO标志极其显眼。随着影片的进行，Z失去了光亮，剩下了两个O，继而只剩下一个O.......失去对称的孤独开始弥漫。一场由天鹅造成的车祸夺去了两个动物学家兄弟的妻子，两个兄弟曾经是连体婴，但现代发达的医院技术将他们分离开来。在现代理性的观念中，连体婴是畸形，是怪胎，于是人类自大的凌驾于自然之上，对自然之物进行了改造。随后，他们经常来到医院看望在车祸中存活但失去了一条腿的女司机。他们质问女司机车祸的原因，对此刨根问底。但在对失去妻子而悲伤的同时，他们迷恋上了对腐败之物的观察与记录，先是被咬掉一口的苹果，虾子，随后甚至从动物园买来鳄鱼尸体，偷来斑马尸体，这些尸体在镜头中慢慢变质，生蛆，腐烂，如同他们死去的妻子一样。昏暗的工作室里一闪一闪的照明灯和动植物标本让人不寒而栗。而斑马也在影片中被不断提及，妓女在动物园内与失去双腿的男人谈论Z与斑马英文单词Zebra的渊源。同时，兄弟两人与断腿女人产生了暧昧的情愫，他们甚至开始想象人与动物的联姻，比如让断腿女人嫁给天鹅.......兽性在对动物尸体的观察中慢慢觉醒，打破禁锢。断腿女人的另一只脚因为孤单也在慢慢腐烂并伤害到了脊椎。她最终截去了另一条腿，两兄弟对称的分坐在女人床的两边，向即将截去的腿亲吻告别，并在女人做完手术后完成了3P。两个眼睛，两个耳朵，两个鼻孔，两只手，两条腿，如同ZOO中的OO，双数对称才是上帝的杰作。女人截去双腿回归对称，两兄弟渴望回归连体，变成杰作。失去双腿的动物园管理者告诉女人他因试图强奸一匹怀孕的白马而摔断了双腿……反伦理的兽欲在动物园这个“猥亵动物场所”里被彻底激发。断腿女人在生下了不知是谁的双胞胎后，在音乐中死在了床上，死在了对称端坐在床两边的兄弟两人的注视下，两人想要拍摄女人腐烂的过程，但被拒绝。最后，两兄弟将镜头对准了自己，两人脱光衣服，注射毒药后双双，对称的死在自己的摄像机前，他们用生命完成最后的研究，但大量的蜗牛却让摄像机坏掉.......两人的尸体布满蜗牛，他们为自己献祭，在经历了一段变态生命历程后，用自杀结束了“丧妻后遗症”。