這週關於母職的音樂電影《媽媽咪呀！回來了》上映，裡面也有英國演員Dominic Cooper飾演新手爸爸，剛好就在今天英國也正上映他另一部演新手爸爸的新片 "The Escape" ，我就暫譯為《逃離》。此片由英國電視劇《真愛》的編導 Dominic Savage 來編導，事實上看他片單有好多迷你影集與電視電影，大多都在談家庭與兩性關係，這次要在大銀幕上談母職應是箇中好手。這部《逃離》中演爸爸的 Cooper 只是配角，演媽媽的 Gemma Arterton 才是主角。
我是從 2018/7/26的衛報文章注意到這片，這篇文章並不算是影評，卻是一種電影題材的討論也開了片單。這位衛報影評 Cath Clarke討論了當代電影對強壯女性的理想描繪、也談了女性形象強壯化後反被遺忘的脆弱苦難那一面，尤其是母職的現實，然後開了個母職電影片單並給了點短評。我覺得還挺有意思，就來翻譯一下全文。
新片 "The Escape" 預告 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx05E-99DPA
衛報文章連結：https://goo.gl/bXNZdM
以下開始全文翻譯：
標題：How cinema embraced the silent agony of being a parent
《電影如何擁抱身為父母有口難言的苦》
作者：Cath Clarke
發表時間：Thu 26 Jul 2018 13.00 BST
摘要：In the British drama The Escape, Gemma Arterton stars as a mother who walks out on her family, unable to cope. It’s one of several new films about parenthood with which many women will empathise
在英國劇情片《逃離》中，傑瑪阿特頓飾演一個無法面對親職而從家庭中逃離的母親。這是近來幾部描繪親職到可以令女人們感同深受的新片之一。
Never mind Lars von Trier torturing women and ducklings. Some of the most shocking scenes I have seen on screen this year arrive next month in a low-budget British relationship drama set in a suburban semi in Kent. The film is The Escape, starring Gemma Arterton as a 30-year-old stay-at-home mother, Tara, who abandons her family in a fug of depression and dissatisfaction.
拉斯馮提爾虐女人也虐小鴨已經不稀奇，我今年在電影院看到的一些最令人震撼的鏡頭，就由一部設定在肯特郡郊區的小成本英國親情關係片呈現。此片片名《逃離》，傑瑪阿特頓飾演一個三十歲的在家全職母親名叫Tara，她為了逃出憂鬱與不滿而拋棄了家庭。
I almost couldn't watch one excruciating scene, in which Tara, eyes glazed, voice flat and distant, tells her husband (Dominic Cooper) how she feels about their kids: “I don’t care about them. I don’t care if they finish their dinner. I don’t care if they go to school or don’t go to school. I don’t care, but I make myself care. I make myself be funny and happy. I think they hate me.” Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again it ain’t. In fact, The Escape is a candidate for feel-bad film of the year, possibly
the decade.
我不忍卒睹的一幕是：Tara帶著呆滯眼神、行屍走肉的語氣、告訴丈夫（Dominic Cooper飾演）她對孩子們的真實感覺：「我並不在意他們、我也不在意他們是否乖乖吃完晚餐、也不在意他們有沒有乖乖上學。我不在意，只是強迫自己在意，我還強迫自己看來逗趣又開心。我想他們其實恨我。」媽媽咪呀！又來了，但這並不是回到樂觀電影而是回到悲觀現實。事實上，《逃離》恐怕是本年度最悲觀電影、甚至是十年以來最悲觀電影。
I mean that in the nicest possible way. Spending 101 emotionally draining minutes watching a marriage disintegrate with documentary precision isn’t everyone’s idea of a fun night out. But The Escape is superbly acted and unsqueamishly tackles an unspoken taboo: women who regret having children. The film industry is jumping on the bandwagon of “strong female characters”. But at the expense of how many other stories? Because, while Charlize Theron badassing her way through action movies in six-inch
heels is inspiring, it doesn’t say much about the daily reality of most women’s lives.
我說悲觀電影，是對此片的最正面描述。花上情感糾結的 101分鐘看一個如紀錄片般精準的婚姻崩解故事，恐怕不是人人能吃得下的夜晚休閒。不過《逃離》高明地演出也大膽地處理了不能說的禁忌：後悔生子的女人們。當今影界正跳上一個「強壯女性角色」的光鮮取向，卻埋沒了多少其他的故事？儘管莎莉賽隆穿著六吋高跟鞋在動作片大殺四方很振奮人心，但它並沒說到什麼大多數女人面對的日常現實。
In a study published in May, 81% of women said they had felt overwhelmed or unable to cope at some point over the past year (compared with 67% of men). But, while there are plenty of mums from hell in the movies – characters whose main function is to royally eff up the emotional lives of their kids – fewer films are interested in the reality of life for the 81% – in particular, the exhaustion, frustration, self-doubt and boredom that can accompany motherhood.
五月發表的一份研究中指出，81% 的女人說她們在過去一年某個時點曾感到心力交瘁或是無能為力（相較之下男性只有 67%）。不過，當電影中有數不盡的惡媽媽專事毀掉孩子感情生活時，只有少數電影對這 81%的生活現實感興趣，尤其是關於枯竭、挫敗、自我懷疑、空洞等與母職不可分割的負面情緒。
What surprised me about The Escape is that it is written and directed by a man, Dominic Savage (although the dialogue is improvised). Savage wrote the film for Arterton, shooting it in her home town; one scene was even filmed in her mum’s garden. Talking to him on the phone, I find out the story is partly autobiographical. When Savage was a child, his mother announced that she was walking out when she picked him up from school one afternoon. “She told me she wanted to go; that she was going to go,”
he says, thoughtfully. “But at that time, women had very limited options. She didn’t go. Maybe she should have. She was very unfulfilled for the rest of her life.” In the film, he frames Tara in front of windows as if she needs oxygen – as if family life is suffocating her.
《逃離》令我驚訝的是它竟是個男人 Dominic Savage 編導的（儘管對話有許多即興）。Savage為傑瑪阿特頓寫了這故事、在她的家鄉拍攝、甚至有一幕還在她媽媽的花園拍。透過電話訪談他，我發現這故事有一部分自傳性質。當Savage童年時，有個下午他母親接他放學時冷冷宣布即將離去。「她告訴我她想走、她也準備要走了」他沈吟說道「但在那時代，女人的選擇極為有限。結果她沒走，也許她該走的，她接下來的餘生有志未酬、鬱鬱寡歡。」在電影中，他總是安排Tara站在窗前彷彿需要氧氣、彷彿家庭生活令她窒息。
Tara’s unhappiness is in part down to her circumstances; she had kids young and now feels as if she is living the wrong life. She wonders if could do something in art; she was good at drawing at school. I do the maths: Tara would have been 24 or 25 when she gave birth to her first child. At that age, I had just landed my dream job in publishing. Fifteen years on, when my daughter arrived, much later than expected and much longed for, motherhood really was all fulfilment, joy and love. But I sympathise
with Tara. Anyone who has been in the trenches for 14 hours with a toddler will recognise her thousand-yard stare.
Tara的不快樂一部分來自她的境遇：她很年輕就生了孩子、現在則感覺她過著錯誤的人生。她想著她是否本來可以走上藝術之路，畢竟以前在學校畫畫很不錯。照我的估算 Tara 恐怕 24 或 25 歲就生了第一胎，我在她這年紀時才剛剛找到出版業中的理想工作。我工作了 15 年後迎接第一個女兒，遠比我期待的晚、也令我等待已久，這樣的母職真是成就、喜悅與愛的結合呀。但我同情 Tara ，任何在戰壕裡帶寶寶 14 小時的人都認得她那如戰爭創傷的無神雙眼。
Perhaps the mother of all dramas in the canon of films that do explore family life for women in turmoil is A Woman Under the Influence, the 1974 film by John Cassavetes starring his wife, Gena Rowlands, as Mabel. A stay-at-home mother bringing up three children in a one-bedroom flat with no room to breathe, Mabel drinks too much, is always saying the wrong thing and trying too hard to please. She loves her kids and her husband, but he is off working all hours. Mabel is briefly sent to a psychiatric
unit, but you suspect that she is not mad, simply a woman who has been ignored; whose spirit has been crushed. In an interview with the Guardian, Rowlands joked about how hard the film was to get financed: “Why does anyone want to see a picture about a crazy middle-aged dame?” It’s one of those films I watch more or less once a year.
探討女人在家庭動盪處境的經典電影中，其始祖也許是《受影響的女人》(1974)，約翰卡薩維帝執導、其妻吉納羅蘭茲飾演女主角 Mabel。身為一個蹲在單臥室公寓養大三個孩子的媽媽，Mabel 沒有空間呼吸，只有酗酒，她總是拼命取悅別人卻又一直說錯話。她愛她孩子與丈夫，但丈夫全天工作都不在家。Mabel
短暫地被送進了精神療養機構，但你猜得出來她並不是瘋子、而只是個被忽視的女人，她的精神被徹底擊垮。在與衛報的一次訪談中，羅蘭茲自嘲地回顧此片籌資如何困難：「為什麼有人想看一部中年女瘋子的電影？」但這是我平均每年都要重看一次的電影之一。
One of the Oscars’ greatest crimes was giving the best actress award to Nicole Kidman for wearing a beaky prosthetic nose as Virginia Woolf in The Hours, while her co-star Julianne Moore went home empty-handed for her role as Laura, who, like Mabel, is a square-peg housewife. At the start of the movie, set in the late 1940s, we see Laura attempting an impersonation of a happy housewife, baking a cake for her husband’s birthday with disastrous results. In an inexpressibly sad scene, we get a glimpse of
her authentic self, as she kisses a female neighbour on the lips. The Hours cranks up compassion for Laura, even as we watch her son howling with despair as she walks out.
奧斯卡史上最大的遺珠之一是把最佳女主角給了《時時刻刻》(2002) 裡戴了假鼻子演維吉尼亞吳爾芙的妮可基曼、卻沒給同片飾演（像 Mabel一樣）格格不入的家庭主婦 Laura的茱莉安摩爾。電影開始的 1940s末期，我們看見 Laura努力試著扮演一個快樂主婦，興沖沖烤蛋糕給丈夫慶生結果搞一團糟。在一場隱晦的憂鬱戲裡，當她吻上一位女性鄰居的唇時，我們才瞥見一眼她的真我。《時時刻刻》為 Laura累積了觀眾的巨大同情，儘管我們仍看見她離去時孩子哭嚎多淒慘。
When Meryl Streep made Kramer vs. Kramer, playing a woman who leaves her husband and seven-year-old son in search of fulfilment, she asked for rewrites to make the character less of a villain. When researching the role, her first port of call was her mother, who told Streep: “All my friends, at one point or another, wanted to throw up their hands and leave, and see if there was another way of doing their lives.”
梅莉史翠普也拍過《克拉瑪對克拉瑪》(1979)，飾演一個離開丈夫與七歲孩子以追求自我實踐的女子，她還曾要求編劇把她角色的反派味道降低一點。她在研究這角色時第一個得到的經驗分享來自她媽媽：「我所有的朋友，或遲或早都曾渴望袖手離去，想看看她們的人生是否還有其他可能。」
Recently, we have seen more films that bring a healthy dose of reality to the myths of motherhood, portraying the loneliness and exhaustion of work combined with kids and the emotional labour of having a family (all the other stuff women do. Because, while most men change nappies, few of them notice when stocks are running low, let alone which size to buy). In Tully, for example, Charlize Theron is the mother of three mourning the loss of her old life.
這幾年，我們也見到更多電影為母職神話注入一劑現實，描繪母職在結合養育孩子與家庭感情勞動下（還有其他女人的瑣事，儘管現在男人們多會參與換尿布，但很少數會注意到要購買什麼尺寸或庫存還剩多少等後勤）如何精疲力竭又孤獨。譬如在《厭世媽咪日記》(2018) 中，莎莉賽隆飾演一位一打三的媽媽，哀悼著她過去生活的逝去。
Horror films hath committed innumerable crimes against feminism. But two recent scary movies directed by women are exceptions, breaking more motherhood taboos. Jennifer Kent’s terrifying The Babadook portrays a mother who dislikes – possibly even hates – her son. She is Amelia (Essie Davis), a single mum whose husband was killed in a car crash while taking her to hospital to give birth. Now, she is drowning in the business of raising their difficult seven-year-old son. In an interview, Kent had this
to say about the fantasies of having it all: “We’re all, as women, educated and conditioned to think that motherhood is an easy thing that just happens … But it can also be the other stuff because you don’t have any time for your own life any more and you have to give up everything for this child. It’s also a great difficulty for a lot of women and it’s not spoken about.”
恐怖片這片型中曾有無數電影反女性主義，但是最近有兩部女性執導的恐怖片做出了例外、打破了母職的刻板印象。珍妮佛肯特導演的《鬼敲門》(2014)描繪了一個不但不喜歡甚至可能恨兒子的母親。她是 Amelia（Essie Davis 飾演），一個丈夫在帶她去醫院生產時死於車禍的單親媽媽，而今她沈沒在母職中拉拔那難搞的七歲兒子長大。某場訪談中，肯特談到了一種女性一肩雙挑的幻夢：「我們女人全都被教育也被設定，去認為母職如此輕鬆容易要來就來...
但是現實可能完全不同，妳可能再也沒有任何時間屬於自己、甚至必須放棄一切只為了孩子。這是眾多女性面對的巨大困境，只是沒人提。」
In her deliciously warped black comedy Prevenge, the British actor and director Alice Lowe exorcised her own fears about pregnancy and motherhood (she was eight months’ pregnant during the shoot). Lowe plays a woman who believes her unborn baby is telling her to commit mass murder. (A bit disconcertingly, the baby has a voice like Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films.)
在扭曲得饒富興味的黑色喜劇《幫寶弒》(2016)中，英國演員兼導演艾莉絲羅薇驅除了她自己對懷孕與母職的恐懼（拍攝期間她自己正懷胎八月）。羅薇飾演一個孕媽，她相信自己腹中胎兒會說話、還告訴她要去殺人。（有點令人不安地，這寶寶的聲音好像《哈利波特》的愛哭鬼麥朵。）
In an odd way, The Escape is more terrifying than either Prevenge or The Babadook. There’s nothing abstract or metaphorical about its portrait of motherhood, the mental, emotional and physical cost of having kids. I ask Savage if he has had any negative feedback. He laughs wryly. “I get the feeling that men are less enthralled with it in general. It’s not a film for misogynists. I think that really would be a horror story for a lot of men … to be left literally holding the baby [and] the idea of a
woman finding herself by leaving.”
很弔詭地，今年這部《逃離》(2018)恐怕比《鬼敲門》和《幫寶弒》還要恐怖。此片沒有抽象也沒有隱喻，就是寫實地呈現母職拉拔孩子所付出的心理、情緒、與物質成本。我問導演 Savage 他發表這片後有沒有得來負面迴響，他挖苦道「我有種感覺，大致上男性比較不受這題材吸引，這片不是拍給厭女人士看的。我覺得這故事對許多男性來說是恐怖噩夢：當你被一人留在家裡抱著寶寶、意識到這回是女人離去追求自我了，很恐怖。」
The Escape is released on 3 August
《逃離》將於八月三日上映
翻譯結束
最後列一下以上提到的片單：
片名 年份，出產國 導演 母職主角
《受影響的女人》 (1974，美) 約翰卡薩維帝 吉納羅蘭茲
《克拉瑪對克拉瑪》(1979，美) 勞勃班頓 梅莉史翠普
《時時刻刻》 (2002，美) 史蒂芬戴爾卓 茱莉安摩爾
《鬼敲門》 (2014，澳) 珍妮佛肯特 艾絲戴維斯
《幫寶弒》 (2016，英) 艾莉絲羅薇 艾莉絲羅薇
《厭世媽咪日記》 (2018，美) 傑森瑞特曼 莎莉賽隆
《逃離》 (2018，英) 多明尼克薩瓦吉 潔瑪阿特頓