《The Descendants》　后裔　一場凈化人心的變故

No.068　《The Descendants》　后裔　一場凈化人心的變故

英文導讀

The Descendants is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne. The film stars George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard and Robert Forster, and was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures in the United States on November 18, 2011 after being screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Alexander Payne's seriocomic The Descendants, an adaptation of the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, stars George Clooney as Matt King, a middle-age Hawaiian who runs a trust responsible for millions of dollars worth of untouched real estate that has been passed down to him and various cousins. He is preparing to sell the area, and make millions for everyone in the trust, when his wife Elizabeth suffers severe head trauma during a boat race.

Matt and Elizabeth have two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). Matt is not very close to his daughters and refers to himself as the "back-up parent". With Elizabeth in a coma at Queen's Hospital, he is forced to confront Scottie's inappropriate behavior with other children and Alex's destructive ways.

Matt learns that Elizabeth will never awaken from her coma, which means that under the terms of her living will she must be disconnected shortly from life support. He tells Alex, but not Scottie, that Elizabeth will not recover and must be allowed to die. To Matt's dismay, Alex initially refuses to see her mother. She then reveals to her father that Elizabeth was having an affair at the time of the accident, which caused a major rift between the mother and daughter. With his two daughters in tow, along with his oldest daughter's doofus boyfriend, Matt sets off to confront the man who made him a cuckold.

The film began its on-location shoot in Hawaii on March 15, 2010. Most of the film was shot in Honolulu and around Hanalei Bay. Underwater photographer Don King filmed a scene where Alex King sinks below the surface of a pool and screams out her grief underwater. The house used as Matt King's house had a flaw in that it lacked the banyan tree described in the book; the filmmakers solved the issue by transplanting a banyan. For the scene where the King family drives up to a ridge to look over their land, the film used a 3,000-acre private cattle ranch on the south shore of Kauai, Kipu Ranch. Kaui Hart Hemmings, the author of the novel on which the movie was based, had a cameo as Matt King's secretary.

The Descendants screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. The Descendants received positive reviews upon release. On Rotten Tomatoes it scored an approval rating of 89%. The website's consensus is: "Funny, moving, and beautifully acted, The Descendants captures the unpredictable messiness of life with eloquence and uncommon grace."

The Descendants won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as two Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture – Drama and Best Actor – Drama for Clooney.

獲獎情況

2012年第84屆奧斯卡：最佳改編劇本獎，并榮獲最佳影片提名、最佳導演提名、最佳男主角提名、最佳改編劇本提名獎。

影片信息

導演：亞歷山大·佩恩

編?。簛啔v山大·佩恩、納特·法克森、吉姆·拉什

主演：喬治·克魯尼、謝琳·伍德蕾、馬修·里沃德

類型：劇情、家庭

制片國家（地區(qū)）：美國

上映日期：2011-11-16（美國）

片長：115分鐘

又名：《繼承大丈夫》《繼承人生》《后人》

劇情簡介

地產商馬特（喬治·克魯尼　飾）的妻子因為一次意外變成了植物人。最近醫(yī)生告訴他，妻子的生命將走向盡頭，這個消息令他倍受打擊。同時，作為夏威夷某島的繼承人，他還在與信托基金談開發(fā)事宜。

忙亂之中，馬特的兩個女兒讓他更加焦頭爛額。小女兒斯科蒂（阿瑪拉·米勒飾）經常對同學爆粗口，馬特只得帶她親自去同學家登門道歉。大女兒亞利桑德拉（謝琳·伍德蕾　飾）寄住在學校，在學校里整天喝酒。母親病危，馬特希望亞利桑德拉可以消除對母親的敵意。意想不到的是，女兒說出了一個讓馬特不能接受的事實：母女決裂的原因是——她發(fā)現(xiàn)了母親出軌。

這徹底毀了妻子在馬特心目中的印象。他跑去找妻子的閨蜜證實，結果答案竟然是真的。一直被蒙在鼓里的馬特既失望又憤怒，開始帶著女兒順藤摸瓜，尋找第三者……

制作花絮

影片根據(jù)女作家凱·哈特·赫明斯的處女作小說改編。

影片于2010年3月15日開始在夏威夷拍攝，同年6月14日殺青。后期工作在2011年2月完成。影片原計劃于2011年12月16日舉行小規(guī)模的放映，后來提前到了11月23日，最后則被定在了11月18日上映。

影片中使用了大量夏威夷當?shù)匾魳?，很多當?shù)氐囊魳芳叶紖⑴c到了影片的制作中。

阿曼達·塞弗里德曾經為片中女兒的角色到劇組試鏡。

重點學習

That has been passed down to him

文中的pass down是英語中的一個固定搭配，在文中，它是“流傳；遺傳；傳給下一代”的意思，比如：The craft has been passed down over five generations.（這種手藝已經傳了五代。）另外，它還可以表達“把…向下傳遞；一個人接一個人地往下傳”的意思，比如：The fruit-picker up the tree passed the fruit down to his partner who stood at the foot with a basket.（樹上摘蘋果的人將蘋果遞給站在樹下拿著筐子的同伴。）

Matt sets off to confront the man who made him a cuckold

Set off是英語中的一個固定搭配，當你set off, you start a journey. 也就是“啟程；出發(fā)”的意思，文中就是這個意思。比如：The president's envoy set off on another diplomatic trip.（總統(tǒng)特使再次踏上外交之旅。）另外，set off其他較常用的意思還有“引起；激起；點燃：使爆炸；發(fā)射；襯托；使顯得美麗”，比如：The slightest spark can set off the explosives stored here.（一點點火星就能夠使儲存在這里的火藥爆炸。）

單詞時間

seriocomic[?si?ri?u?k?mik] adj. 莊嚴又詼諧的

untouched[?n?t?t?t] adj. 未受影響的；未改變的；未觸動過的；不受感動的

cousin[?k?z?n] n. 堂兄弟姐妹；表兄弟姐妹

trauma[?tr?:m?] n. 創(chuàng)傷（由心理創(chuàng)傷造成精神上的異常）；外傷

inappropriate[?in??pr?upri?t] adj. 不適當?shù)模徊幌喾Q的

destructive[di?str?ktiv] adj. 破壞的；毀滅性的；有害的，消極的

rift[rift] n. 裂縫；不和；裂口

doofus[?du:f?s] adj. 古怪的；愚蠢的

cuckold[?k?k?ld] n. 有不貞妻子的男人

underwater[??nd??w?:t?] adj. 在水中的；水面下的

banyan[?bænj?n] n. 菩提樹；印度榕樹

ranch[rɑ:nt?] n. 大農場；大牧場