《唐頓莊園》劇本秘方：柔和敘事中突起波瀾

《唐頓莊園》劇本秘方：柔和敘事中突起波瀾

The fourth season of “Downton Abbey” concluded on Sunday with the servants Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson joining hands on a beach as they walked into the water together. It was a serene image that belied a year on this PBS “Masterpiece” period drama that was filled with tumultuous events — a character’s rape and the fallout from it, the introduction of race as a plot point — and, at times, tumultuous audience reaction.

在PBS“經(jīng)典劇場”中播出的古裝劇《唐頓莊園》(Downton Abbey)的第四季于周日完結(jié)，最后一幕是仆人休斯(Hughes)與卡森(Carson)在沙灘上攜手朝水中走去。在這寧靜的一幕下，掩藏著一年的跌宕起伏——角色之一遭到強奸并造成種種后果，種族話題作為一條情節(jié)線引入其中——觀眾的反應(yīng)也時不時地隨之波動。

All of which, said Julian Fellowes, the “Downton Abbey” creator and writer, makes it no different from any other season of this series about British aristocrats and their household staff. It reliably stirs up its audience once or twice a year, but is otherwise as notable for a lack of action as for when it occurs.

《唐頓莊園》的創(chuàng)作人兼編劇朱利安·費羅斯(Julian Fellowes)表示，在這部以英國貴族與家仆為主題的系列劇中，種種波折構(gòu)成的這一季與之前的幾季別無二致。它必然會每年在觀眾中掀起一兩次風(fēng)浪，但除此之外的波瀾不興與大事發(fā)生時的喧囂一樣引人注目。

“ ‘Downton’ is, God knows, a slow burn of a show,” Mr. Fellowes said in a recent telephone interview from London, where he was revising scripts for its coming fifth season.

“上天可鑒，唐頓是部慢熱的劇，”身在倫敦的費羅斯最近通過電話接受采訪稱。他正在為接下來的第五季修改劇本。

If there is any formula, he said, it’s that “we have these fairly lilac-covered, gentle narratives, interweaving. And every now and then — poof — something huge happens.”

他認為，如果說劇本有什么配方的話，那就是“我們讓浪漫柔和的敘事交織在一起。然后時不時地，砰，蹦出一樁大事。”

That could surely be said about the episode in which the lady’s maid Anna (played by Joanne Froggatt) was raped by a visiting nobleman’s valet. While the repercussions of the rape played out over several installments, it also angered many viewers, who complained that this dark incident did not fit the tone of “Downton Abbey” and that it had overwhelmed other subplots.

有一集絕對就是這樣：小姐的貼身女仆安娜(Anna，喬安妮·弗羅蓋特[Joanne Froggatt]飾) 被前來拜訪的一名貴族的貼身男仆強奸。雖然強奸事件的影響是在接下來的幾集里逐步呈現(xiàn)出來的，但這一情節(jié)也惹惱了不少觀眾。他們抱怨，這么黑暗的事情與《唐頓莊園》的基調(diào)不符，還埋沒了其他的情節(jié)。

Mr. Fellowes countered that Anna’s rape was not “much less of an event” than other dire circumstances that have befallen the Crawley family in the past, like the death of Lady Sybil in childbirth or the car accident that killed Matthew, a new father.

費羅斯反駁，與過去降臨到克勞利家族頭上的種種遭遇相比，比如西比爾小姐(Lady Sybil)死于生產(chǎn)，以及剛當了爸爸的馬修(Matthew)喪生于車輪之下，安娜被強奸一事“差不了多少”。

“It was very important that it should be completely clear that it is not the victim’s fault at all,” Mr. Fellowes said. “This was a chance to make the argument for the innocent rape victim who has done nothing to deserve it.”

“要完全明確一點，這件事根本不是受害者的錯，這很重要，”費羅斯說，“無辜的受害者沒有做任何活該被強奸的事情，這里是為受害者發(fā)聲的一個機會。”

“It created this mammoth thing that she and Bates had to get through,” he added, referring to her husband, “and Bates’s response is that he doesn’t love her less. He says himself: If anything, he loves her more.”

談到安娜的丈夫時，他說，“這件事給她和貝茨(Bates)創(chuàng)造了一個必須跨越的巨大障礙，而貝茨的反應(yīng)是，對她的愛沒有減少一分一毫。用他自己的話說：如果說有什么變化的話，那就是更愛她了。”

Love also created complications for young Lady Rose (Lily James), a Crawley family member who fell into a romance with a black jazz singer, Jack Ross (Gary Carr), that scandalized some family members.

對年輕的羅絲小姐(Lady Rose，莉莉·詹姆斯[Lily James]飾)而言，愛情也制造了諸多麻煩。她是克勞利家族的一員，卻與黑人爵士歌手杰克·羅斯(Jack Ross，加里·卡爾[Gary Carr]飾演)陷入愛河，讓一些家人深感震驚。

Despite viewers’ criticism that Jack Ross was too easily embraced in rigidly divided 1920s Britain, Mr. Fellowes countered that the character and his treatment accurately reflected that country’s history.

雖然有讀者批評，在上世紀20年代階層嚴格分化的英國，杰克·羅斯太輕易地就被接納了，但費羅斯反駁道，這個角色及他所受的待遇精確地反映了英國的歷史。

Attitudes toward race were comparatively more liberal than in America, he said, because Britain had its own black communities earlier and abolished slavery sooner, and its upper-class citizens were more accustomed to encountering nonwhites throughout the British Empire.

他說，那個時代，英國對待種族的態(tài)度比美國更開放，因為那里的黑人社區(qū)更早建立，奴隸制更快被廢除，上層社會對在大英帝國各地遇到白人以外的族群也更習(xí)以為常。

By the 1920s, Mr. Fellowes said, there would have been “a hell of a lot” of black jazz singers working in London — even those who had affairs with dames and debutantes — but none who would have been allowed to marry into white society.

費羅斯說，到了20年代，倫敦應(yīng)該有“大把的”黑人爵士歌手，甚至還有人與貴婦或初入社交場合的小姐產(chǎn)生戀情，但無人能獲得與白人家族聯(lián)姻的許可。

“However much people were polite and perfectly happy to have all sorts of people at their parties, there was a rule governing who you settled down with,” he said. “I don’t think we tried to whitewash that.”

他說，“不管人們是多么彬彬有禮、多么高興地讓各色人等參加他們的宴會，總會有一條規(guī)矩支配你最后和誰在一起。我認為，我們沒有試圖粉飾這一點。”

Gareth Neame, an executive producer of “Downton Abbey” and the managing director of Carnival Films, the British studio that produces it, said that Mr. Fellowes has wide latitude to shape each season as he wishes.

嘉年華影業(yè)(Carnival Films)的執(zhí)行董事、《唐頓莊園》的執(zhí)行制片人加雷斯·尼姆(Gareth Neame)說，費羅斯有很大的自由度來隨心塑造每季的劇情。嘉年華公司是出品本劇的英國制片廠。

Before Mr. Fellowes delves into new episodes, “we’ll sit down and debate and discuss at great length all of the characters and the journeys they might take,” Mr. Neame said. “By the time he starts writing, we’ve established the building blocks of where the main characters are going.”

在費羅斯埋頭撰寫新劇集之前，“我們會坐下來，花大量時間去爭論和探討所有的人物，以及他們可能經(jīng)歷的人生旅程。到他開始動筆的時候，我們已經(jīng)安排好了主人公的命運主線，”尼姆說。

Though the rape story line generated substantial controversy when it was broadcast in Britain last fall, Mr. Neame said this “was really rather whipped up by the British press.” If anything, he said, reaction was more muted in the United States, where the “Downton” episode was shown opposite the Golden Globes, and “we didn’t get quite the sort of copy space that we did in the U.K.”

去年秋天在英國播出時，強奸劇情引發(fā)了巨大的爭議，盡管如此，尼姆說，“準確地說，這就是英國媒體的炒作。”他還表示，如果說有什么區(qū)別的話，那就是美國人的反應(yīng)更平和，《唐頓莊園》中的那一集在美國播出時，正好碰上金球獎(Golden Globes)頒獎典禮，而且，“我們的廣告規(guī)模鋪得不像在英國那么大”。

Not all the “Downton” characters suffered needlessly, and some even grew from their adversities, like the hapless Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), who showed a previously untapped resolve when her lover disappeared, and she found herself unexpectedly pregnant.

并非《唐頓莊園》的每個角色都遭遇了不必要的厄運，有些角色甚至因為逆境而獲得成長，比如不幸的伊迪斯小姐(Lady Edith，勞拉·卡爾邁克爾[Laura Carmichael]飾)。當她的戀人消失，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己意外懷孕時，她表現(xiàn)出了此前沒有顯露的堅強意志。

“These people have to find a way of adapting to the world as it was changing,” Mr. Fellowes said. Lady Edith in particular, he said, is based on women like his great-aunts, who, for their era, “were fairly conventional in their aspirations.” Had Lady Edith been born a generation earlier, he said, she “would just have married a baronet and stayed in Yorkshire.”

費羅斯稱，“這些人物必須找到一條途徑，以適應(yīng)不斷變化的世界。”以他的太祖母輩親戚為原型的伊迪斯小姐尤其如此。在那個年代，她們的“愿望相當傳統(tǒng)”。他還說，如果伊迪斯小姐提早一代出生，她“可能會和一位準男爵結(jié)婚，待在約克郡。”

Mr. Fellowes said he drew encouragement from American television shows like “Mad Men,” which he has been consuming “in huge, boxlike helpings,” and which balance mordant humor and comic subplots with more serious matters.

費羅斯說，他受到了《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)等美劇的鼓舞。一直以來，他觀看了“大量”這類劇集。它們用嚴肅的事件來平衡尖刻的幽默和喜劇化的情節(jié)。

“One minute, some secretary’s driving a lawn mower over an executive’s foot,” he said. “And the next, Don Draper’s brother is hanging himself.”

他說，“上一分鐘，某秘書還開著割草機軋過了一名高管的腳。下一分鐘，唐·德雷珀(Don Draper)的弟弟就上吊了。”

Mr. Fellowes has also noticed that American serials like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” have tended to run about five to seven seasons before reaching their natural conclusions. Asked if he was starting to contemplate an end game for “Downton Abbey,” Mr. Fellowes said, “I think you have to.”

費羅斯還指出，《廣告狂人》和《絕命毒師》(Breaking Bad)等美劇常常會拍上五到七季，最后自然收尾。當被問到他是否正開始為《唐頓莊園》構(gòu)思結(jié)尾時，他說，“我想我必須得這么干。”

“It’s not like a soap opera that can go on for 27 years,” he added.

他還說，“它不是那種能拖上27年的肥皂劇。”

Mr. Neame said he would like “to eventually end the show just before people want us to.” He added, “We won’t be around for 10 years, and we’re doing Year 5 now. So we’re going to be somewhere between 5 and 10.”

尼姆則表示，他希望“恰好趕在觀眾巴望著我們收尾之前，最終結(jié)束這部電視劇。我們不會拖上10年，現(xiàn)在我們已經(jīng)播了5年。所以，我們打算把它控制在5到10年之間。”

However “Downton Abbey” ends — and he is not yet saying when — Mr. Fellowes said it would be on his terms.

費羅斯還沒有透露何時終結(jié)《唐頓莊園》。不過，他表示，無論何時，他都一定會讓它按照自己的意愿結(jié)束。

“It would be unlikely that I would suddenly find, ‘What, we’re not doing it anymore?’ ” he said with mock astonishment. “I think we’d know before. We’ll know in time.”

“不太可能出現(xiàn)那種我突然發(fā)問，‘什么，我們不會再繼續(xù)拍了?’的情況，”他用打趣的訝異語氣說。“我想，我們會提前知道結(jié)束時間。我們也會及時知道的。”