阿法隆的迷雾

看时介绍说是一部迷你电视连续剧，是用女性特有的细腻为我们讲述了有关女神和她如何在历史的长河中失落的故事。我想应该是这样的，最令我印象深刻及心疼的应该就是莫根了，她是亚瑟王的姐姐，也许因为是神母教的传人，她有着超越常人的坚强，但同样的她也只是一个徘徊在信仰与情感之间的柔弱女子，但在经历了粉身碎骨的痛苦之后，她明白了自己的使命并拥有了心灵，但正是因为这样，才让人更觉得心疼，心疼她所经历的一切，心疼她的身不由己。最终，迷雾笼罩了整个阿瓦隆，死亡和失落终结了这个时代，虽然有太多的不舍，但又何尝不是这个时代该有的命运呢。这个时代的终结其实与任何人都无关，人类文明的进步毁灭的又岂止是这些。

《The mists of Avalon》（《亚瑟王传奇》/《阿瓦隆迷雾》）
不是今年那部票房惨淡的《King Arthur》（《亚瑟王》）,而是2001年，根据魔幻小说家Marion Zimmer Bradley1982年的同名小说改编的迷你剧集。是属于目前为止，我所见到的对有关亚瑟王传奇及其人物体系交待最为丰富和完整的影视作品了。亚瑟、桂妮蔚、兰斯洛特、梅林、湖中夫人等等人物都有出现，并且如蟠龙在梅林协助下幽会伊格琳生下压瑟、亚瑟和姐姐摩根结合生下毛德列、兰斯洛特和湖中夫人的关系、毛德列轼父等平时罕见有出现的情节也一一交待，算是让我这个准亚瑟迷过了些瘾头。

相比今年出品的《亚瑟王》，这部《阿瓦隆迷雾》的气质要阴柔迷离的多，虽然也有些战场厮杀血肉横飞的镜头，但重点却决非于亚瑟大一统的征战过程。所有的男性角色都隐藏在了女性背后，亚瑟和兰斯洛特因为搭着桂尼蔚的关系，还稍多一些镜头，其他的圆桌骑士，统统成了只会在餐桌上大块朵颐的食客。

其实这从片名《the mists of Avalon》已经可以了解，为什么不是《the mists of Camelot》？Camelot（卡米洛城）是亚瑟统一不列颠建立丰功伟业的城堡，而Avalon则是传说中亚瑟和毛德列决战后，灵魂归处的神秘岛屿。
“岸边，月光里驶来一艘披着黑纱的帆船；船上清一色黑衣女子，为首三人头戴凤冠，啼哭不止。亚瑟命伯畏将自己背上船放下，三女王迎上前来，其中个头高高，面目皎洁的那位将国王的脑袋靠在自己怀里，称他兄弟。”

Marion Zimmer Bradley大概就是从“三女王接归亚瑟”中得到了灵感，干脆以在传说中“云霞明灭或可睹”的阿瓦隆岛为源，把大不列颠王荡气回肠的征战史写成一段亦真亦幻的传奇。

阿瓦隆，隐藏在大雾弥漫的湖中，她是湖中夫人的居所，是女神的圣地。当基督教在大不列颠岛如火如荼的遍布开的时候，从前崇拜the Godness（女神）的人民纷纷投向the God（上帝），湖中夫人对未来的担忧、焦虑一天天的增加。为了维护女神的地位，她和梅林策划了蟠龙王和伊格林的邂逅，带走亚瑟同母异父的姐姐摩根教授其法术，协助亚瑟取得“削钢剑”，设计亚瑟和姐姐摩根乱伦生下毛德列……湖中夫人倾其一生乃至性命，皆是为了能让“女神”信仰在人世间永驻，能让传承Avalon血液的亚瑟和摩根在中土继续维护阿瓦隆的势力，能让女神的尊严在世间永远歌颂。

这是一场古老神祗在新文明到临前争取生存的斗争，是新旧两个时代交锋的一场迷雾。显然其中隐隐象征/比喻着母系氏族的没落（但是如果按照年份来考，又不足信），或者更加确切的说，是人类在历经了自然原始力量的崇拜后，随着对未知越来越多的的掌控，开始摈弃野性的力量，崇尚文明的一番历程。

亚瑟在之前的诸多艺术作品中，一直是以一个虔诚的基督徒形象出现，还有发动圆桌骑士寻找圣杯的行为。在片中，他虽然继承着纯正阿瓦隆血统，却娶了信仰基督教的桂尼蔚，他是一个试图在女神和上帝中寻找平衡的王，但这种结合原本就脆弱，甚至连他自己都无法同时对两个神保持相等的爱和信仰！而女神祭祀的继承者摩根得知自己中计和亚瑟结合，羞愧愤怒地和阿瓦隆/湖中夫人斩断关系。这是湖中夫人始料未及的结果，孤注一掷的她，去依靠毛德列，却不知道他早已在养母的教唆下背弃了阿瓦隆的真义。
父子俩在战场上的厮杀毁灭了阿瓦隆最后的继承人，当上帝的子民越来越多，也就意味着阿瓦隆的魔力在人世间越来模糊。阿瓦隆不可避免的消失在了茫茫的白雾中。

阿瓦隆的衰灭是片子的主线，穿插其中的，才是亚瑟王和他的骑士们：兰斯洛特的骑士之爱，毛德列的大逆不道，卡米洛城，圆桌，战争……
这还是不是原汁原味的亚瑟王？或许，像克里夫·欧文那样浴血疆场的才是更加贴近历史的真实（《亚瑟王》）；或许，像肖恩·康纳利那样庄严凛然才是“永远的王”（《第一骑士》）；或许……
谁知道呢，谁又曾知道呢？The mists of Avalon!


导演：Uli Edel
编剧：Marion Zimmer Bradley (novel)/Gavin Scott (teleplay)
演员:
Anjelica Huston ..... Viviane
Julianna Margulies ..... Morgaine
Joan Allen ..... Morgause
Samantha Mathis ..... Gwenwyfar
Caroline Goodall ..... Igraine
Edward Atterton ..... Arthur
Michael Vartan ..... Lancelot
Michael Byrne ..... Merlin
Hans Matheson ..... Mordred
官方网站：http://tnt.turner.com/movies/tntoriginals/mists/

注：根据资料，得知1998年，美国曾出品《Merlin》（《梅林》），想来是另一种视角，根据评价“瑰丽的爱与魔法”猜测，写的应该是梅林与湖中夫人爱恨交织的一段，而布列松的《兰斯洛特》不知道，什么时候能有机缘一睹

       这部电影会吸引你一直看下去，但是看完之后却有种压抑的感觉蔓延在身上每个神经...你不知从何说起，却又觉得整部电影引人入胜。
       电影由起初的缓缓铺叙，从摩根离开avalon开始，倒叙回故事的源头，再慢慢描绘整个故事，电影时长3个多小时，才讲完所有情节。虽然是以亚瑟王为故事蓝本，但电影主线却是围绕在与Avalon息息相关的几个女性角色身上，最终以Avalon这一圣地在人们信仰的灭失下逐渐消失在迷雾之中收尾。
       就我个人感觉而言，在还没看过这部电影的时候，其实我对亚瑟王的故事并不了解，所以一开始并不能很好的理解电影所要传达的意思。但随着电影的铺开，一个个鲜活的形象才逐渐展现在眼前，有为了终生的使命而不惜一切代价的戏码，也有为了爱而宁愿牺牲自己的戏码。虽然我觉得故事中主人公之间的关系有点过于复杂且有些混乱，但整部电影来说还是可圈可点的。毕竟电影里面的配乐就是吸引我的其中一点，悠扬的音乐配合电影情节有种引人入胜的感觉。
      总体来说，我认为这是一部很值得看的电影，人们总说艺术来源于生活却高于生活，电影也是如此。无论你了解或者不了解这段真实的历史...这都是一个很好的参考。

       亚瑟王的故事，是一段历史，也是一段传奇。抛开沉重的不一的历史与宗教学说，单从影片所展示出的故事，我们可以看到人性与宗教神学之间的联系与冲突，看到宗教神学背后的光明和阴暗面。
全片以亚瑟的姐姐摩根的一生为线索，通过不同代表性的人物为枝蔓展开，而影片的内涵也隐藏在人的身上。
       薇薇安，湖泊女神，阿瓦隆最高女祭司。在我看来，她对神母却有着病态的尊崇，为达目的不择手段，甚至可以说六亲不认，代表着一种对宗教的盲目崇拜。她妄图通过控制皇室维护阿瓦隆的地位，却适得其反，神母逐渐被遗忘。宗教，只是人们的一种信仰，是个人的事情，不是控制人们的一种手段更不是政治手段，宗教之间的斗争其实是毫无意义的。只有人们认识到一种宗教的优越性，从心底里信奉，才能使之永存。举个不太美好的例子，清朝时的太平天国运动，领带人洪秀全创立拜上帝教，开始时受到广大人民群众的信奉，就是因为它的均田思想深入人心，人们便自发支持他信仰他。后来教义改变，变成为掌权者说话，失败接踵而至。再如基督教，传教士向民众传播它的思想，从而广为流传。梅林临终前对薇薇安说的话，就是想告诉她不要再妄图以人力控制人们的信仰。时代在变化，宗教也在不断进化演变，阿瓦隆的消亡只能说明她已经不适应新的社会，她的思想已经不被新时代的人们接受。那么，消亡不过是一种必然。
       摩根，亚瑟同母异父的姐姐，从小背负着母亲害死父亲的事实，被设计与弟弟乱伦产子，被设计嫁给心爱的人的父亲，最后目睹弟弟与儿子的死亡，见证阿瓦隆的消亡。但命运的磨难并没有打倒她，她的心中装满了对亲人的爱，选择自己承担一切来保护弟弟，是一个坚强、智慧并充满纯真的女子。从母亲嫁给乌瑟潘龙到姐弟两个被梅林和薇薇安带走，中间这段天真烂漫无忧无虑的时光，是摩根心中渴望的东西，是她沉重的一生中少有的欢乐，但也衬托了后来的悲剧。坚强是她留给我的最深印象，不管遇到什么事情，甚至很多在我们看来根本无法接受的，她都默默承受了。很多时候，她会哭，或默默流泪，或嚎啕大哭，但从来不曾寻死觅活，不曾放弃爱放弃自我，而是一直在苦难背后寻找道路，在打击中磨练智慧。这种坚强，是很多男儿都不曾达到的，我甚至觉得亚瑟不过是生活在她的保护伞下的君王。她对神母的信仰才是一种真正的信仰，她曾对薇薇安大喊“我侍奉的是神母不是你！”。影片最终以“神母不过换了一个名字存在于人们心中”结束，正是揭示了宗教存在的意义，所谓宗教，所谓信仰，只是人们的心而已，她替薇薇安理解了什么叫做“all god is one god”。
       摩葛丝，薇薇安的妹妹，从头到尾，其野心都不曾掩饰。这让我想起了一句古话，贪心不足蛇吞象。她与薇薇安本质上是一样的，起码在我看来是的，只不过一个为了宗教一个为了自己。贪婪，是人之常情，是人的一种劣根性。贪婪不可恨，可恨的是为达目的不择手段。原著中有一句话，“女神还有第四张脸，让我们祈祷摩葛丝不要戴上”。很显然，她戴上了。人无完人，每个人背后都有黑暗的一面，女神也不例外，就看你是否能够战胜它。有人说，人之初性本善，也有人说，人之初性本恶。其实我们本就是善恶矛盾的综合体，辩证法不只对事还对人，只是大多数时候我们都希望光明战胜黑暗，也确实需要这么做。
       最后，让我们看看亚瑟，不客气的说，影片中的是我看过的最不欣赏的亚瑟，透过他我认识到，我命由我。总的来说，他不过是一个傀儡，懦弱、遵从。也许正因为如此，薇薇安才选择了他。王位是在阿瓦隆的帮助下得到的，妻子是为了维护宗教平衡娶的。他的命运一直都在由别人控制，遇到喜欢的女子也不去追寻只在心底留念。得知事情真相也只是选择了逃避，任由儿子为非作歹，最终还是在摩根的劝说下觉醒。命运真是个奇妙的东西，总会有人控制它，不是你就会是别人，与其做一个傀儡受别人摆布，不如努力抗争，自己选择前进的道路。正如西汉武帝，尽管从小没有实权一直受祖母控制，却不曾屈服，一直想办法抗争，最终成功夺得实权，创造了汉王朝的辉煌。最近刚看了一部影片，Invictus，讲述了曼德拉不向命运屈服的故事。是的，我命由我不由人，不管是高贵还是低贱的出身，命运的齿轮只能由自己转动。
       我还是给这部影片冠以“沉重”的标签，也许是因为它讲述的是历史与宗教，也许是因为它是一个悲剧，看完之后心里面就像有东西堵着，不禁想到自己是多么幸福，不曾被这些沉重的内容压迫和束缚。平静下来，会发现其实影片中的每个人都能给你思考，他们本身就是一部部启示书，正如上面提到的，拨开萦绕阿瓦隆的迷雾，宗教的自发信仰，人心的坚强，贪婪的邪恶，命运的控制，纯正的爱情……这些迷雾背后的内容，才是值得我们深入思考的。


      The story of King Arthur is a history and also a legend. Without regard to heavy mixed history and religious doctrines, only from this film, we can see the connection between the human nature and religious theology and conflict. We can also see the religious dark side behind the light.
       The life of Arthur's sister Morgan is the clue. And the story is stated through different typical characters and the connotation of it is hidden in the human nature.
Vivian, the goddess of lakes, the highest priestess of Avalon, in my opinion, has a morbid respect to goddess. She represents a kind of blind worship of religion, machiavellian and indifferent. She wants to control royal to maintain the status of Avalon. On the contrary, the Avalon goddess gradually is forgotten by people. I think Religion is only a kind of faith and a personal thing. Therefore, it is not a way to control people, or politics. Religious conflict between different religions is meaningless. Only the advantages of a religion was realized, can it exist forever. For example, not too good, when the Tai Ping movement burst in Qing dynasty, the leader Hong Xiuquan created a religion called “Baishangdi” and it was embraced by the masses of people. At the beginning, the Juntian thought was deeply rooted in the hearts of people, spontaneous to support his beliefs. Teachings later changed, becoming the speaking for the ruler, and failure followed. Besides, such as Christianity, missionaries spread it to the people, thus it widely circulated. Merlin said to Vivian when he died. Do not control people's beliefs by her power. Times are changing with evolution of religion. And the death of Avalon just means she has not been adapted by the new society. Her mind is not accepted by people in a new era. So, disappearance is a necessity.
     Morgan, Arthur's half sister, burdens the fact that her mother participated in killing his father since childhood, designed with brother incest, designed to marry her lover’s father, finally seeing brother and son's death, witnessing the death of Avalon. But fate doesn't beat her. Her heart is full of love. She chooses to undertake all to protect the younger brother. From my perspective, she is a tough, wise and pure woman. From mother married Uther to she and Arthur were taken away by the Merlin and Vivian, the middle period of childlike carefree time, is her rare joy in heavy life. But it is also the foil of later tragedy. Strong will is what she left me the deepest impression. No matter what things, even those we cannot accept a little, she silently bears. Most of the time, she would cry, or tears, or cry, but never attempt to suicide, never give up love or herself. She suffered them and found the future roads, using intelligence to fight. Lots of boys would never achieve this kind of strong will. I even think Arthur is a king under her umbrella. Her faith in god mother is a true belief. Once she yelled to Vivian "My service is god mother not you!" Film ends with "the goddess does not disappear but changes a name". It reveals the meaning of religious existence. The religion is just the hearts voice of people. She understands what is called "all god is one god" replacing Vivian.
       Morgause, Vivian's sister, from beginning to end, her ambition is never hidden. This reminds me of the old saying, “greed has no limits”. She and Vivian are essentially same, at least, in my opinion, just one for religion one for herself. Greed is one of human nature. And it is a deep-rooted bad habit. Greed is not a hate. But Machiavellian is. There's a phrase in the book, "the goddess has the fourth face, let's pray the Morgause will not wear it". It is obvious that she wear .No one is perfect, everyone has a dark side. The goddess is not exceptional. What is important is whether you can overcome it. Some people say that people is good at the beginning, but others say we are bad at the beginning. Actually we are the complex of conflict between good and evil. And dialectics is not only suitable to the thing but also to people. And most of the time we hope that the light can win darkness and we really need to do so.
      Finally, let's take a look at Arthur. I have to say the Arthur in the movie is the most inappreciative I have ever seen. Through him I realize that my life should be arranged by myself. Generally speaking, he is just a puppet, coward, and only following. Perhaps because of this, Vivian chooses him. His throne is with the help of Avalon, and his marriage is to maintain religious balance. His fate has been controlled by others, even won’t to pursue his lover only missing her at the bottom of heart as a souvenir. Found the truth about his son he just chooses to escape, letting the son do bad things. Eventually Morgan awakes him. Fate is a wonderful thing. Someone will control it, your will or other’s. Rather than become a puppet at the mercy of others, why not fight? Choose the future way on your will. For example, Han emperor Liuche, though real power has been controlled by his grandmother , never yielded. He struggled to find a way to, managed to obtain power, creating the brilliance of the Han dynasty. Recently I saw a film called “invictus”, telling the story of Nelson Mandela who refused to bow to the fate. Obviously, my fate is controlled by myself. Whether someone is noble or humble, the gear of his fate turns only by himself.
     I still give the film a "heavy" label ,perhaps because it tells the history and religion, perhaps because it is a tragedy. After watching it, something stuck in my heart. I can not help but think about I am how happy without the content of these heavy oppression and bondage. Calm down, you will find that in fact every characters in the movie can drive you to consider something. They produce many apocalypses, as mentioned above. Through the mist around the lingering Avalon , you can touch the spontaneous religious beliefs, the heart of the strong will, the greedy evil, and the control of fate, the pure love...Behind these mists of content, is worthy of our deep thinking.

     After King Arthur led his knights of the Round Table to fight in the last battle for the glory of Avalon, one of the greatest knights of the Round Table died with his body stretched peacefully. It was Lancelot, King Arthur's right-hand man, Morgan's cousin, who sticked to the code of chivalry to the last moment. In medieval times, the code of chivalry were some behaviors for a knight to follow, and the quanlities the knight had to possess, which also known as chivalry, included bravery, piety and chaste devotion. Here I would like to focus on the chivalry Lancelot possessed.
     Bravery, as you may associate, is an indispensable characteristicof a knight on the battlefield. As I mentioned before, at the most crucial moment, Lancelot came back to defend his king, his country even though he was no longer a knight of the Round Table, and he clearly had the chance to survive from the war. The moment he vowed, he considered the code of the chivalry as the most important part in his life, and he was willing to fight for it throughout his life without regrets.
     Piety, also a vital characteristic of a knight, was adequately reflected on him. As soon as King Arthur introduced his love Guinevere to him, he was shocked but kept silence all the time. Even if there was a chance for him to confess himself, he did not violate his vows, his king, and his country. Additionally, when he was asked to get into Kind Arthur and Guinevere's bed, he looked staggered and embarrassed. The reason why he was hesitated to follow his heart was that he was faithful to the King Arthur and determined to keep his vows forever.
     Chaste devotion, the last characteristic of a knight I speaked of above, was rather impressived too in consideration of Lancelot. To be a knight of the Round Table, he not only devoted his love Guinevere to King Arthurhis, but devoted his life to the country. Actually, he devoted everthing, including his freedom to be himself, because he could not even reveal a little bit his personal feelings towards Guinevere, which was the hardest thing to do it particularly when facing the one you meeted everyday. However, all he could do was to hide the affection and turned it into patriotism.
     In conclusion, all the characteristics of a knight, especially Knight Lancelot, had shaped the whole Europe and continued to shape the world.

很不错的魔幻史诗片，值得一看，没有特别大的效果特技，但是人物心理刻画的很好。
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The Mists of Avalon
The movie “the mists of Avalon” is a very different movie to tell the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female character including his mother Igraine; his half-sister Morgaine; his aunt Viviane, the Lady of the Lake and his wife, Gwenwyfar. The film also shows the decline of people’s faith in Avalon. The film is set in the period when Christian invaded England and people’s faith in Avalon gradually declined.
The distinction between this film and others is that rather than casting Arthur as a distant, unknown person with little or no explanation but from the perspective of the female characters to show a different Arthur. On the other hand, the focus of this film is Arthur’ sister, is presented as a woman with unique gifts and responsibilities at a time of enormous political and spiritual upheaval who is called upon to defend her indigenous matriarchal heritage against impossible odds. The film stands as a watershed for feminist interpretation of male-centered myth by articulating women's experiences at times of great change and shifts in gender-power. The typical battles, quests, and feuds of King Arthur's reign, however, act as secondary elements to the women's lives.

  这是由一部小说改编成的电影，由女性的视角来描述亚瑟王这段神话历史。从电影中我最大的感受就是人类在对神的追寻上的无力，在阿法隆的迷雾中迷失了，但神却一直存在着在每个人的心中，在迷雾中一直望着每一个众生，或许错误的只是人类自己。毫无疑问，这部电影的很多人物都走向了悲剧的结局，在与命运的对抗上纷纷受了伤，让人不胜唏嘘。
 
人物：
亚瑟：亚瑟的命运一开始就像众多帝王之子一样被寄托了厚望，他肩负着使王朝兴旺，抵御外侵，同时联系亚法隆的责任。年少的王子被送去郊外磨练，他单薄的身躯在时光中渐渐成长，成长为一个英勇，正义，勇猛的国王接替了自己的老父亲。他深受人民的爱戴，他的一生似乎没有主动犯过的错误，算是光辉的一个形象。在最后得知莫德瑞是自己和姐姐的儿子之后，他似乎在命运的嘲笑下懦弱了一阵子，勇猛的亚瑟最终在看见阿法隆之后躺在自己深爱的姐姐怀抱中去世。
薇薇安：薇薇安到最后似乎还不明白，正是自己的强力强为或许并不是神女的旨意，他破坏了他妹妹的家庭，使自己另一个妹妹蒙受不快，她的刻板使她过分地使用了自己的魔法，最终神抛弃了忠心的她，最后悲剧性地死在了自己的妹妹剑下。她没有明白梅林最后的去世语言，神存在在我们的周围，追求的自己的幸福也是让神发扬的途径，这位虔诚的女祭司，为所有的悲剧埋下了伏笔。
安妮兰斯洛特：兰斯洛特是一名骑士，他完美地展现了一个忠诚的骑士形象，却也只能在封建时代下选择和爱人隔雾相对，在漫长的时光中承受爱情的折磨，亚瑟在这一点上看的很开，却也不会让这段恋情公开，王国的统治需要国王的果断和舍弃。安妮觉得是本片最大的牺牲品，她年轻漂亮，却在姨妈的诅咒下得不到孩子，最终选择在上帝的忏悔下度过余生，她没有其他的路子选，在幽深的闺房中多少不能得到子嗣的王后是那么胆战心惊，因为她们的底气就存在在另王室有香火可传。
摩根：摩根的命运坎坷，在每一段人生转折处似乎神灵都在跟她作对，她窥不见迷雾后面神灵微笑的脸庞，作为神权的牺牲品，她颠沛流离。与弟弟乱伦，嫁给了深爱之人的父亲，自己的儿子和父亲火拼，阿法隆成为她内心深处唯一的寄托，那单纯的祭祀生活在海的对岸吸引着她，然而神话的结局并不是完美的，阿法隆最终消失在迷雾中不为人所找到，摩根相信神母依然存在在其他的地方，等待着她的信徒们回归。真正的神灵不应该在自己的努力下才会带给我们希望，被压迫的摩根的命运同样让人唏嘘。

  电影是围绕神秘的阿法隆展开的，这个迷雾环绕的仙境有着法力强大的女祭司们，但是显然她们错误解读了神母的神意。这些行为鼓励了凶杀，鼓励了专制，不可避免的悲剧就会产生，我们已经看到中世纪的基督教怎样被教会扭曲，上帝也许是最不愿意看到教会成为一个黑暗的组织剥削着社会各个阶层。
  那遥遥的神意会以怎样的形式驻扎在我们的生活间，安妮在片中说“也许我们都过于渺小，以至于无法了解神的意志”，命运无情地在生活留下伤痛。或许我们都不能把握到什么，只能尽自己所能做自己能做的事情，悲剧下面的人们在悲伤中躲在上帝的光辉后面，悲切的钟声依旧在述说这个古老的传说，关于神母和那些女祭司们的故事。