《宛如天堂》演绎浪漫人鬼情

New Comedy Just Like Heaven Features Romance with a Ghost

《宛如天堂》演绎浪漫人鬼情

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Reclusive David rents a beautiful apartment in San Francisco, hoping for privacy to get over the recent death of his wife. But it's hard to dwell on his loss when, much to his disbelief, he finds he's sharing the flat with an ethereal roommate: the spirit of the previous tenant¹.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Or it WAS her apartment until a few weeks earlier when hard-driving young doctor Elizabeth was in a terrible car crash. Now she ... or at least her spirit ... has reappeared in her former home and the only one who can see or hear her is David, even though he turns to anyone from clergy² to clairvoyants⁴ to solve the dilemma⁵.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Reese Witherspoon stars as spirited Elizabeth and says the film reminds her of the stylish⁶ comic romances of a generation or two earlier.

 

Reese Witherspoon: Definitely you have those elements of the male and the female characters sort of being very antagonistic⁷ toward the beginning, but being very strong characters and then sort of falling unhappily and unwillingly⁸ for each other. Also, I think there are elements of It's A Wonderful Life or something where you can really see your life from a distance and 'what if you had an opportunity to do it all again?' I like that idea.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Mark Ruffalo co-stars as David, a different sort of role for the actor who has made a name for himself in such independent dramas as We Don't Live Here Anymore or quirky comedies like The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Ruffalo says romantic comedy is deceptively difficult.

 

Mark Ruffalo: Yes, I think there are a lot of perils¹⁰ in romantic comedy. Rarely ever is it romantic or comedic, so going into one I just thought 'wouldn't it be great if we just kept switching the gears as deep and radical¹¹ as we could?' Really do the comedy in an honest kind of funny way, but then when we go into the romance, have it just be deadly like Romeo And Juliet -type stuff.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Director Mark Waters had a hit with last year's high school satire¹² Mean Girls, but he says Just Like Heaven is closer to his 2003 comic remake Freaky Friday, another story balancing on one almost unbelievable premise¹³. In that case it was that a mother and daughter could switch identities; but in both cases, Waters says his challenge is to make everything else seem real.

 

Mark Waters: Even though you have this one fantastic concept, by playing everything else straight you lend some credence¹⁴ to the proceedings¹⁵. If you don't have anything else in the movie seem fantastic except for the one twist, then the audience will go along with it. So we have our one big thing: she's a spirit and she's in this apartment; but once you get beyond that, everything is played dead straight. She's this woman who hates the fact that she has a squatter¹⁶ in her apartment and he's a guy who rented this place and can't handle the fact that he has a roommate he doesn't want. That's the comedy of the movie. It's basically this odd couple session and it just so happens that half of the odd couple is not there.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Just Like Heaven also features Napoleon Dynamite¹⁷ star Jon Heder in a scene-stealing performance as the medium who gets the message.

 

Alan Silverman for the Voice of America in Hollywood.

 

注释：

dwell on 细想，详述

ethereal [i5WiEriEl] adj. 虚空的，无形的

tenant [5tenEnt] n. 居住者，房客

clergy [5klE:dVi] n. 牧师，神职人员

clairvoyant³ [klZE5vCiEnt] n. 有洞察力的人，千里眼的人

dilemma [dai5lemE] n. 进退两难之境

antagonistic [An7tA^E5nistik] adj. 反对的，敌对的

peril⁹ [5peril] n. 危险

fantastic [fAn5tAstik] adj. 幻想的，奇异的

credence [5kri:dEns] n. 信任

squatter [5skwCtE] n. 擅自占住空房的人

1 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

2 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

3 clairvoyant   

adj.有预见的；n.有预见的人

参考例句：

• Love is blind,but friendship is clairvoyant.爱是盲目的，友谊则能洞察一切。
• Those whom are clairvoyant have often come to understand past lives.那些能透视的人们已能经常理解死去的生命。

4 clairvoyants   

n.透视者，千里眼的人( clairvoyant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

5 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

6 stylish   

adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的

参考例句：

• He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
• What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。

7 antagonistic   

adj.敌对的

参考例句：

• He is always antagonistic towards new ideas.他对新思想总是持反对态度。
• They merely stirred in a nervous and wholly antagonistic way.他们只是神经质地，带着完全敌对情绪地骚动了一下。

8 unwillingly   

adv.不情愿地

参考例句：

• He submitted unwillingly to his mother. 他不情愿地屈服于他母亲。
• Even when I call, he receives unwillingly. 即使我登门拜访，他也是很不情愿地接待我。

9 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

10 perils   

极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境）

参考例句：

• The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。
• With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难？

11 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

12 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

13 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

14 credence   

n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证

参考例句：

• Don't give credence to all the gossip you hear.不要相信你听到的闲话。
• Police attach credence to the report of an unnamed bystander.警方认为一位不知姓名的目击者的报告很有用。

15 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

16 squatter   

n.擅自占地者

参考例句：

• The squatter settlements originally came into being through illegal land invasions. 违章建筑区最初是通过非法的土地占有而形成的。
• Squatter control is maintained by regular patrols and hut-to-hut checks. 当局定期逐户视察所有寮屋，以收管制之效。

17 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。