《Capote》　卡波特　人生背后的靈魂傷痛

No.014　《Capote》　卡波特　人生背后的靈魂傷痛

英文導讀

Capote is a 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote, following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood.

The creation of one of the most memorable books of the 1960s—and the impact the writing and research would have on its author—is explored in this drama based on a true story. In 1959, Truman Capote (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) was a critically acclaimed novelist who had earned a small degree of celebrity for his work when he read a short newspaper item about a multiple murder in a small Kansas town. For some reason, the story fascinated Capote, and he asked William Shawn (Bob Balaban), his editor at The New Yorker, to let him write a piece about the case. Capote had long believed that in the right hands, a true story could be molded into a tale as compelling as any fiction, and he believed this event, in which the brutal and unimaginable was visited upon a community where it was least expected, could be just the right material. Capote traveled to Kansas with his close friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), herself becoming a major literary figure with the success of To Kill a Mockingbird, and while Capote's effete and mannered personal style stuck out like a sore thumb in Kansas, in time he gained the trust of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent investigating the murder of the Clutter family, and with his help Capote's magazine piece grew into a full-length book. Capote also became familiar with the petty criminals who killed the Clutter family, Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), and in Smith he found a troubling kindred spirit more like himself than he wanted to admit. After attaining a sort of friendship with Smith under the assumption that the man would be executed before the book was ever published, Capote finds himself forced to directly confront the moral implications of his actions with regards to both his role in the man's death, and the way that he would be remembered. Capote also co-stars Bruce Greenwood as Capote's longtime companion Jack Dunphy, and Amy Ryan as Mary Dewey, Alvin's wife who became a confidante of Capote's.

Capote was in principal photography for 36 days, from October 25, 2004 to December 1, 2004. The movie was filmed mostly in Manitoba in the autumn of 2004. It was released September 30, 2005, to coincide with Truman Capote's 81st birthday.

Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the 78th Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The film was nominated for four 78th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Bennett Miller), Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Keener) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Dan Futterman).

獲獎情況

2006年第78屆奧斯卡：最佳男主角獎，并榮獲最佳影片提名、最佳導演提名、最佳女配角提名、最佳改編劇本提名。

影片信息

導演：貝尼特·米勒

編?。旱?middot;福特曼

主演：菲利普·霍夫曼、凱瑟琳·基納、克利夫頓·克林斯、鮑勃·巴拉班

類型：劇情、傳記、犯罪

制片國家（地區(qū)）：加拿大、美國

上映日期：2005-09-10（加拿大多倫多電影節(jié)）

片長：114分鐘、110分鐘（加拿大多倫多電影節(jié)）

又名：《柯波帝：冷血告白》《冷血字傳》《凱波特》

劇情簡介

電影重現(xiàn)了飽受爭議的作家卡波特創(chuàng)作的小說《冷血》的歷程，劇情深入到卡波特敏感而又殘酷的內(nèi)心世界。

《冷血》的主角原型是1959年美國一個兇殘殺手佩里（克利夫頓·克林斯　飾），他僅僅為了100美元，殺害了一家4口。敏感的卡波特覺得這樁新聞的價值非常大，在雜志社的幫助下，前往案發(fā)地調(diào)查殺手，一篇紀實文學在卡波特心里開始醞釀，從而功成利就。

但是，當他和佩里展開長時間的訪問接觸時，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)眼前這個兇手和自己有著驚人的相似。佩里把卡波特視為知己，一次次把希望寄托在他身上。然而，在卡波特心里，佩里也只能讓位于他的作品、他的名利。

卡波特親眼目睹絞刑后不久，歷經(jīng)6年的曠世巨作《冷血》問世，并在全國各地造成轟動效應，它創(chuàng)造了一種嶄新的紀實文體，既具有時效性、可讀性，又具備了極高的文學價值；同時它也成為了涉及犯罪心理學、美國中西部心臟地帶的民風民情等多方位內(nèi)容的經(jīng)典之作，《冷血》成為美國文學史上重要的里程碑。但是，卡波特本人卻始終不能因為自己的殘忍而釋懷。

制作花絮

杜魯門·卡波特是美國著名作家。即使對卡波特沒有印象的人，大概也知道電影《蒂凡尼的早餐》，根據(jù)卡波特同名小說改編。電影《卡波特》重現(xiàn)了他寫作名著《冷血》的過程。單從這個簡單梗概，而兇手之一有著與作家相似的成長經(jīng)歷，可以看出這是個能夠掘入人性深處的好題材。

好題材也要好演員。對男主角霍夫曼，一位《紐約時報》影評作者是這么說的：觀看他在這部電影里的表現(xiàn)，“你想把找得到的每一種表演獎都扔給他，或許再加兩枚奧林匹克獎章。”。在全美影評家協(xié)會評選出的2005年最佳影片中，《卡波特》名列榜首。

為了塑造這個“完美”的人物形象，主演菲利普·霍夫曼特意減重40磅。

影片預算為700萬美元，于卡波特的誕辰2004年9月30日開機，僅僅耗費了36個工作日就完成了主要的拍攝，片中的部分看守是由海丁利懲戒中心的真實警員扮演的。

重點學習

And while Capote's effete and mannered personal style stuck out like a sore thumb in Kansas

Sore thumb是英語中的一個固定搭配，它是“顯而易見的事情；痛苦（或?qū)擂危┑氖虑?；引人注目的事?rdquo;的意思，比如：If you put a purple sofa in a white room it will stick out like a sore thumb.（如果在白色屋子里放個紫色沙發(fā)就太顯眼了。）

And with his help Capote's magazine piece grew into a full-length book

Grow（過去式是grew）into是英語中一個固定搭配，在文中，該搭配是“成長為，發(fā)展成”的意思，比如：The site should be able to grow into a portal in the future.（該網(wǎng)站應該能夠成長為在未來的門戶。）Grow into可以表達“（孩子）長大得可以穿進（衣服等）”的意思，比如：These shoes are a little too big for him,but he'll grow into them.（這雙鞋子對他來講稍微大一點，不過他長大后可以穿。）另外，該搭配還有“長進…里面；變得習慣于”等意思。

單詞時間

memorable[?mem?r?bl] adj. 顯著的，難忘的；值得紀念的

novelist[?n?v?list] n. 小說家

compelling[k?m?peli?] adj. 引人注目的；強制的；激發(fā)興趣的

brutal[?bru:t?l] adj. 殘忍的；野蠻的，不講理的

unimaginable[??ni?mæd?in?bl] adj. 不可思議的；難以想像的

literary[?lit?r?ri] adj. 文學的；書面的；精通文學的

thumb[θ?m] n. 拇指

assumption[??s?mp??n] n. 假定；設想；擔任；采取

companion[k?m?pænj?n] n. 同伴；朋友；指南；手冊

confidante[?k?nfi?dænt] n. 知心女友；18世紀的一種沙發(fā)