The directors present, whether Chabrol, Polanski, Truffaut, or Bertolucci, are all directors who move between the commercial and artistic worlds, and they are all masters. But it is still very difficult for them to strike a balance between business and art. Just like Xu Wangqiu said, this thing is not like science, there is no standard. It is extremely difficult to make a truly good work that is both commercial and artistic.

Truffaut shook his head and said, "When I was starring in "Contact of the Third Kind", Spielberg dared to communicate this question. He gave me one thing, Coppola's The Godfather is considered an outstanding work that is both commercial and artistic. MGM Chairman Kirk Kerkorian asked Coppola how you do it and how you can make a win-win film for both art and business. Coppola's reply was particularly simple, relying on gambling. I think he's particularly right that the balance between business and art can only be gambling. ”

Polanski has always been torn between business and art, and he is the director who has done the best job of balancing business and art, and his opinion on this is: "Don't say that the balance between business and art is a gamble, making a film is a gamble in itself." I always think that movies should be made for the audience, but the audience will become, and the tastes of audiences in different countries and regions are also different, and it is very difficult to grasp it. When my "Knife in the Water" was filmed, it was a bad review in Poland, but in the United States it was hailed as a work of art.

To balance commerce and art, it is safer to make genre films, and while making genre films, we must dare to break the rules and regulations of genre films and break through on the basis of genre films. When I was filming "Chinatown", the original ending of the script was that the bad guys died and the good guys lived, but I thought it was too cliché, and I fought hard to persuade the screenwriter to have the current ending. The victim, Evelyn, was shot in the back of the head by the police as she tried to escape with her daughter while driving, and Jack could only stand helplessly and watch as Cross took his screaming daughter and granddaughter away. This ending was called one of the irreproducible moments in the history of American cinema by the New York Times. ”

Chabrol agrees with Polanski's point of view: "The benefits of using the author's approach to make genre films are particularly obvious, even if the artistry of the film is not high, because of the framework of genre films, the film will not go too far, and the foundation is still there." Even if it's not very successful artistically, it's not too much of a commercial failure. ”

Bertolucci argues the opposite: "I think it's better to inject a commercial element into an art film. My "Fellows" and "Last Tango in Paris" both inject commercial elements into art films, and the films themselves are a bit anti-story, but the films are successful. I think the most important thing for creative is self-expression. I want to show the life I feel in a cinematic way. Adding a commercial element to the film is a great way to bring the audience into the film, so that they really understand what I want to say. ”

Truffaut was a staple of the New Wave, and although he now turned to business, he was essentially an author-direct. In his opinion, the most important thing in film is self-expression. His current creation is to integrate the techniques of commercial films into his artistic creation, so that he can not only express himself but also communicate with the audience, so as to achieve a balance between business and art. So, he didn't hesitate to vote for Bertolucci.

Xu Wangqiu feels that these two views or practices are correct, and there is no difference between the two in essence, but only the difference in route. However, he was more inclined to Polanski's point of view, and felt that genre films should be made in the same way as the author's films. From the perspective of the development of the entire film industry, the most important thing in the entire film industry now is a director who can make genre films.

Xu Wangqiu listened to their discussion for a while, and then said: "Mr. Polanski, you are better at genre films and like to break through in genre films, and Mr. Truffaut you prefer personal expression and hope to inject commercial elements into films. Why don't you change it? The next film, Mr. Polanski, you make films of self-expression, and Mr. Truffaut, you try genre films, try to add commercial elements to genre films. Maybe by shooting in a different way, you can jump out of the original world and see different things, so as to make a new breakthrough in art. ”

When the directors present heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up, and they all thought this suggestion was interesting.

Truffaut smiled and said, "That's a great idea. Renoir famously said that a director only makes one film in his life, and all his works are just imitations and refinements of his debut/debut films. Of course, this view is a bit biased, but it also illustrates a problem, that is, the creation of patterns. We always make movies in a way that is familiar or comfortable to us, but in this way, our vision and thinking are limited. If we can jump out, maybe we can find a lot of different things. ”

Bertolucci laughed and said, "It's a really interesting idea, so I'll make a genre film in my next film." ”

Polanski smiled and said, "Then I'm going to make an art film that injects more commercial elements into self-expression." ”

Chabrol looked at Xu Wangqiu and said with a smile: "No wonder you can have such innovations and breakthroughs in "Hoe Rape" and "Falcon", you are really a person with a lot of ideas. ”

Xu Wangqiu said modestly: "I'll just say that." ”

At this point, Truffaut stood up: "I have another suggestion, since everyone wants to make a film in a different way, why don't everyone make the same subject? When the film is finished, let the salon members vote for the best film." Winner!" He thought for a moment and smiled, "Let's all have a drink." ”

When they heard this, they couldn't help but applaud in unison, and they all thought Truffaut's suggestion was very interesting.

Truffaut's proposal reminded Xu Wangqiu of "Eros" and "Paris, I Love You", both of which consisted of short films shot by several directors. So, he suggested: "Since it is a comparison, the theme of the movie should be something that everyone is not good at, or even has not filmed, otherwise it will be unfair to others." For example, Mr. Bertolucci is a member of the Communist Party, and his films are always inseparable from revolution and change, so we must not make this. ”

Everyone nodded: "Yes, you should shoot content or themes that everyone is not good at, or even have not filmed." ”

Next, the crowd began to discuss what theme to shoot. Love, sex, this kind of content that has been flooded in Europe is directly discharged, and criticism of the middle class, anti-war, which has been filmed by the directors present, is also discharged...... After some discussion, the directors decided to use mental illness or mental illness as the main axis of the film, and each made a movie.

After deciding on the subject matter to be filmed, the directors present did not speak, and lowered their heads to think about what they should shoot.

In Xu Wangqiu's memory, there are many movies about mental illness or mental illness, among which there are many very good movies, such as "Rain Man", "The Naked Lamb", and "Black Swan". However, Xu Wangqiu did not intend to plagiarize these stories, he hoped to rely on his own ability to have an honest competition with all the masters present.

Soon Xu Wangqiu thought of what to shoot, and filmed the strange disease he had had. In his previous life, he had a strange disease, he was particularly afraid of the cold, even in the summer he always wore long sleeves and had to cover himself with a quilt at night. He spent a lot of money on traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, but he was never cured, until he met a very powerful psychiatrist.

Through counseling, the psychiatrist believed that Xu Wangqiu's illness was a psychological problem and related to his sister's death. The death of his sister put Xu Wangqiu on his back an extremely heavy psychological burden, and he could never forgive himself, and the day his sister died was particularly cold. His heart couldn't help but retrace the incident, always going back to that cold winter. The long-term psychological suggestion made him feel cold and cold, and since then he has had a strange disease of being afraid of cold.

The psychiatrist treated Xu Wangqiu through hypnosis, and during the hypnosis process, the psychiatrist actively enlightened Xu Wangqiu, suggesting that it was not his fault and that his sister did not want to see her brother like this. Despite a period of treatment, Xu Wangqiu's symptoms of fear of cold were completely eliminated and never recurred.

After thinking of his strange illness, Xu Wangqiu thought of the very sensational news in his previous life, the case of Zhang Koukou avenging his mother. When Zhang Koukou was thirteen years old, he witnessed his mother being beaten to death, and 22 years later, he chose to avenge his mother by killing the other party's family of three. Xu Wangqiu fused the two elements of cold and revenge for his family to conceive a story.

Truffaut thought about it for a long time, and also thought about what to shoot, and now seeing Xu Wangqiu's eyes shining and looking very excited, he knew that he thought of what to shoot, so he said, "Xu, have you thought of what to shoot?"

"Yes, I had a great idea. Xu Wangqiu grinned, "Do you want to hear it?"

Everyone didn't expect Xu Wangqiu to complete the idea so quickly, and they were all surprised: "Tell me about your idea." ”

Xu Wangqiu straightened his waist and said confidently and calmly: "The story I want to shoot is called "Cold", and in a certain winter, the weather was very cold, and it was snowing heavily. A murder case occurred in an apartment, where a young couple was killed and their twelve-year-old son was seriously injured. The child was saved, but he has since been infected with a strange problem, that is, he is very afraid of the cold, and he has to wear a coat even in summer. ”

Everyone present was attracted by Xu Wangqiu's story and listened to him curiously.

Xu Wangqiu continued: "Fifteen years later, that child has become an adult, has a girlfriend, has a stable job, and is no different from ordinary people, except for the fear of cold. When he is emotional or nervous, he will feel cold and shiver all over. This summer, the weather was very hot. At noon that day, he was on the bus and accidentally saw a middle-aged man riding a bicycle with a pattern on his hand, and the pattern was exactly the same as the one on the hand of the murderer of his parents. In this moment, his memory returned to that cold winter, shivering all over. When he jumped out of the car, the murderer was already riding away. He knew that the murderer lived in the city and was at large. So, instead of going to work, he took a knife and searched the streets for the murderer.

I haven't thought about the process of finding the murderer yet, but I have thought about the ending. He finally found the murderer, stabbed him to death, and then shivered in the fierce sun. At the end of the movie, in the police station, the policeman asks him, "Why do you want to kill people?" and he shivered, and said, I'm cold. ”

Truffaut and the others were all shocked by the story described by Xu Wangqiu, this story is really unusual, especially the setting of fear of cold is very interesting. The protagonist's fear of cold can be seen as a real illness, or it can be seen as an externalized display of the character's psyche. Because the protagonist's parents were killed when he was a child, and he almost died, he was severely traumatized inside, and being afraid of cold is an externalized display of inner trauma.

It has always been a difficult problem for movies to show characters, and its difficulty lies in the fact that movies use pictures and sounds as the medium to create images in the time and space that move on the screen, while the characters' mental world is internal, which cannot be seen or touched, and this inner feeling must be shown through the film technique of "seeing is believing", which is quite difficult.