《The Help》　相助　斗爭(zhēng)也可以清新而充滿(mǎn)溫情

No.072　《The Help》　相助　斗爭(zhēng)也可以清新而充滿(mǎn)溫情

英文導(dǎo)讀

The Help is a 2011 American drama film adaptation of the novel of the same name (2009) by Kathryn Stockett, adapted for the screen and directed by Tate Taylor.

A 1960s-era Mississippi debutante sends her community into an uproar by conducting a series of probing interviews with the black servants behind some of her community's most prominent families. Skeeter (Emma Stone) has just graduated from college, and she's eager to launch her career as a writer. In a moment of inspiration, Skeeter decides to focus her attention on the black female servants who work in her community. Her first subject is Aibileen (Viola Davis), the devoted housekeeper who has been employed by Skeeter's best friend's family for years. By speaking with Aibileen, Skeeter becomes an object of scorn to the wealthy locals, who view her actions as directly challenging to the established social order. Before long, even more servants are coming forward to tell their stories, and Skeeter discovers that friendship can blossom under the most unlikely of circumstances.

Set in Jackson, Mississippi, it stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Sissy Spacek, Mike Vogel, Mary Steenburgen and Allison Janney. Produced by DreamWorks Studios and distributed by Touchstone Pictures, the film opened to positive reviews and became a box-office success with a gross of $211.6 million against its budget of $25 million.

The Help received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes reported that 76% of 197 professional critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 7/10. The site's consensus stated, "Though arguably guilty of glossing over its racial themes, The Help rises on the strength of its cast—particularly Viola Davis, whose performance is powerful enough to carry the film on its own. " Tom Long from The Detroit News remarked about the film:"Appealling, entertaining, touching and perhaps even a bit healing, The Help is an old-fashioned grand yarn of a film, the sort we rarely get these days." Connie Ogle of The Miami Herald gave the film three out of four stars and said it "will make you laugh, yes, but it can also break your heart. In the dog days of August moviegoing, that's a powerful recommendation."

In February 2012, the film received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Davis, Best Supporting Actress for Chastain, and a win for Best Supporting Actress for Spencer. On January 29, 2012, the film won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

獲獎(jiǎng)情況

2012年第84屆奧斯卡：最佳女配角獎(jiǎng)，并榮獲最佳影片提名、最佳女主角提名。

影片信息

導(dǎo)演：泰特·泰勒

編?。禾┨?middot;泰勒

主演：艾瑪·斯通、維奧拉·戴維斯、布萊絲·達(dá)拉斯·霍華德

類(lèi)型：劇情

制片國(guó)家（地區(qū)）：美國(guó)、印度、阿聯(lián)酋

上映日期：2011-08-10（美國(guó)）

片長(zhǎng)：146分鐘

又名：《姐妹》《寫(xiě)出友共鳴》《女仆》《幫助》《幫傭》

劇情簡(jiǎn)介

20世紀(jì)60年代，在美國(guó)南方的密西西比州，這里的社會(huì)依舊深受“黑人奴隸制”陰影的籠罩。在許多家庭里，黑傭依舊遭遇著不平等的待遇。22歲的白人女孩史基特·費(fèi)蘭（艾瑪·斯通飾）是生長(zhǎng)在這片土地上的普通女孩兒。在她完成大學(xué)學(xué)業(yè)回到家鄉(xiāng)之后，發(fā)現(xiàn)從小帶自己長(zhǎng)大的黑人女傭不告而別了，這讓從小把這位傭人當(dāng)做朋友的史基特心里很難受。

機(jī)靈能干、內(nèi)斂沉著，曾帶大17個(gè)白人小孩的黑傭愛(ài)比琳·克拉克（維奧拉·戴維斯飾），在史基特的朋友家當(dāng)幫傭，照顧她2歲的女兒。另一名黑傭米妮（奧克塔維亞·斯班瑟飾），是愛(ài)比琳最要好的朋友，有著一手好廚藝，但她潑辣的個(gè)性使她常常丟掉工作。

個(gè)性善良的史基特一直對(duì)待黑傭如家人，但她發(fā)現(xiàn)為白人帶大小孩兒的黑傭們，不論在生活或態(tài)度上，都時(shí)常得到不平等的待遇，甚至連和白人共用廁所的權(quán)利都被剝奪。

對(duì)此深感不平的史基特，決意著手一個(gè)大膽的寫(xiě)作計(jì)劃：采訪(fǎng)在白人家庭工作的黑傭們的痛苦遭遇，并寫(xiě)成一本書(shū)。以一種平靜而同樣充滿(mǎn)力量的行動(dòng)，去幫助他們發(fā)起一場(chǎng)民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)。與此同時(shí)，馬丁·路德·金領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的平權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)正在如火如荼地開(kāi)展，而史基特所在的密西西比州正是斗爭(zhēng)的前沿，因?yàn)楹谌嗽馍錃⒌难福N族隔離開(kāi)始，一場(chǎng)膚色之爭(zhēng)在所難免……

制作花絮

本片改編自凱瑟琳·斯托科特出版于2009年的同名小說(shuō)，這是她的處女作。

在影片中合作的艾瑪·斯通和布萊絲·達(dá)拉斯·霍華德都在不同的《蜘蛛俠》電影中扮演過(guò)葛溫·斯塔西這個(gè)角色。

影片在密西西比的“攝影棚”是一棟當(dāng)?shù)鼐用竦姆孔?。起先?dǎo)演還覺(jué)得當(dāng)?shù)氐姆孔硬粫?huì)太大。可是進(jìn)去一看才發(fā)現(xiàn)僅僅是一個(gè)餐廳就有30英尺寬40英尺長(zhǎng)（接近110平方米）。

梅麗莎·莫利納羅曾經(jīng)為了西利亞·富特這個(gè)角色來(lái)到劇組試鏡。

重點(diǎn)學(xué)習(xí)

And she's eager to launch her career as a writer

文中的be eager to是英語(yǔ)中的一個(gè)固定搭配，是“盼望，渴望要做…”，其后接動(dòng)詞原形，比如：The staff will be eager to help you through every step of the job search process.（那里的員工會(huì)很熱心的指導(dǎo)你求職中的每個(gè)步驟。）

And became a box-office success with a gross of $211.6 million

每部影片都會(huì)有它的銷(xiāo)售box- office。當(dāng)人們?cè)谡務(wù)搕he box-office, they are referring to the degree of success of a film or play in terms of the number of people who go to watch it or the amount of money it makes.也就是“票房；票房收入，票房?jī)r(jià)值”的意思，比如：The film has taken ＄180 million at the box office.（這部電影的票房收入已達(dá)到1.8億美元。）當(dāng)我們?nèi)タ措娪埃F(xiàn)場(chǎng)買(mǎi)影票時(shí)，看著寫(xiě)有Box Office的房間，那么它就是“售票處”了。另外，box office用于口語(yǔ)中，能表達(dá)“能吸引觀眾的演出（或演員）；叫座”的意思。文中的box-office是形容詞，是“票房的”意思。

單詞時(shí)間

debutante[?debjut??t] n. 初次參加上層社會(huì)社交活動(dòng)的少女

prominent[?pr?min?nt] adj. 突出的，顯著的；杰出的；卓越的

inspiration[?insp??rei??n] n. 靈感；鼓舞；吸氣；妙計(jì)

servant[?s?:v?nt] n. 仆人，傭人；公務(wù)員；雇工

blossom[?bl?s?m] vi. 開(kāi)花；興旺；發(fā)展成

circumstance[?s?:k?mst?ns] n. 環(huán)境，情況；事件；境遇

arguably[?ɑ:ɡju?bli] adv. 可論證地；可爭(zhēng)辯地；正如可提出證據(jù)加以證明的那樣地

yarn[jɑ:n] n. 紗線(xiàn)；奇談，故事

moviegoing[?mu:vi?ɡ?ui?] n. 上電影院，看電影；上電影院看電影的習(xí)慣

recommendation[?rek?men?dei??n] n. 推薦；建議；推薦信