ACC英語會話第5組

蘇西的世界 

The Lovely Bones

北美上映日期：2009/12/11 (限定地區)

台灣上映日期：2010/03/19 (原定1/22)

國別：美國

類型：劇情

導演：彼得傑克森 Peter Jackson

編劇：彼得傑克森 Peter Jackson

演員：馬克華伯格 Mark Wahlberg(麥斯潘恩)

瑞秋懷玆 Rachel Weisz(愛情三選一)

蘇珊莎蘭登 Susan Sarandon(駭速快手)

史丹利杜奇 Stanley Tucci(穿著Prada的惡魔)

莎瑞絲羅娜 Saoirse Ronan(贖罪)

發行公司：夢工廠

製片預算 / 全美票房：6500萬 / 4398萬(14週)

英文官方網站：LovelyBones.com

中文官方網站：http://www.lovelybones.com/intl/tw/#home

Plot

In 2002, a novel came out of nowhere to become a near-instant classic of our times, resonating deeply with readers and critics around the globe. Alice Sebold’s second novels, The Lovely Bones, appeared on the surface to be a dark tale of modern crime about an ordinary suburban child’s haunting disappearance and murder. Narrated from beyond the grave, the story of The Lovely Bones offers a unique and very personal take on the notion of the afterlife. It is a tale about  death that is filled with unexpected light, beauty and hope.

At the heart of the book is the endearingly honest, funny and brave Susie Salmon, who, after having departed this life at far too young an age, watches over the living from a mysterious personal realm where she can have anything she desires or imagines, expect to be back with those she loves. From this world once removed from our own, Susie watches her family as they come to grips with overwhelming loss. As the family grapples with grief and growing frustration over the police’s failure to solve the crime, Susie tries to guise her father towards uncovering the identity of her killer. Strengthened by the love and compassion she feels for those she left behind, Susie eventually comes to understand that she must move on to enable her family to come to terms with her death and fined some measure of peace.

The novel was hailed as a triumph by Time Magazine and a stunning achievement by the New Yorker and became one of the most talked-about and widely read books of the last decade.

Among the millions of readers immediately taken with the story of Susie Salmon and her family’s search for justice and grace was one of today’s most imaginative filmmakers: Peter Jackson. Alice Sebold’s novel is one of those great books where you don’t know what to expect; it’s a tough, thrilling, emotional story. As a filmmaker, that’s terrifically interesting, he says.

Jackson has a reputation for spellbinding storytelling on screen. He is best known for having written, directed and produced The Lord of the Rings trilogy, creating an indelible screen life for the fantasy world forged by J.R.R. Tolkein. Combined, the three films have grossed almost 3 billion at the box office, been nominated for 30 Acdemy Awards, and wom 17 Oscars, including Best Picture for the third film, Te Lord of the Ring: The Return of the king. Jackson took home Oscars for his direction and for the screenplay of The Return of the King. In 2005, he went on to direct, co-write and produce a contemporary adaptation of one of the best-known storied of all time: King Kong, which grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars. Earlier in his career, Jackson wrote and directed a darkly emotional, critically acclaimed film that was based on a true story, called Heavenly Creatures.

It was while Jackson was still in post-production on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers that he first read The Lovely Bones, given to him by his longtime filmmaking associates Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who were ardent fans of the novel.

People were starting to rave to me about this book and so as soon as I could, I grabbed it. I wanted to see what the excitement was about , Jackson recalls. I found it to be a tremendously powerful and evocative story. On the face of it, the novel is about every parent’s darkest fear the loss of a child. Yet, ultimately, it grows into a story about the redeeming power of love, which is why I think, so many people are drawn to the book.

Jackson’s interest was piqued, but in order to preceed the team needed both the rights to the book and Seblod’s blessing. The novel had already been optioned in unfinished manuscript form thanks to the smart good taste of Aimee Peyronnet, a producer from Wild Child Films, and also James Wilson, who was then an excutive at Film4. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens’ huge passion for the book eventually led them to Film4’s door, at a time when this exciting collaboration became possible. There was a real connection when we met Alice, recalls Boyens. She’s a funny, generous, open-hearted person who is brutally honest with a dark sense of humor. We felt so lucky when she came back to us and said we were the right people to tackle the book.

Wingnut and Film4 formed a partnership and Ken Kamins, the team’s longstnding manager, took Peter, Fran and Philippa’s script which was written on spec to the market where it landed at DreamWorks. This is when Steven Spielberg, who had been in love with the novel since its publication, came aboard as executive producer, joining Tessa Ross from Film4, along with Kamins and James Wilson. Steven had a genuine respect for the book and a real desire to see this film made, says Jackson. It was a natural fit for us to work together and he was full of ideas in developing the screenplay and beyond. He provided great support any time we needed advice.

【故事背景】
   2002年，一本小說問世，成為當代的經典小說，在全球引起讀者的共鳴以及書評家的好評。艾莉絲希柏德的第二本小說《蘇西的世界》乍看之下是一個關於一起平凡的郊區少女的失蹤案及謀殺案。 小說主人翁就是這名受害少女，她從死後世界描述整個故事，以非常獨特及私密的角度形容死後的世界。這是一個關於死亡的故事，但是卻充滿光明、美麗及希望。 小說主人翁是甜美、率直、搞笑和勇敢的少女蘇西沙蒙，她在14歲那年去世之後，從一個介於天堂與人間的奇妙世界俯瞰凡人世界，這個地方可以讓她滿足她所有 的欲望以及想像力，但是卻不能讓她回到她摯愛的家人和朋友身邊。
    蘇西看著她的家人如何面對痛失親人的悲傷，而她的家人必須面對悲傷的同 時，也對於警方無法破案感到愈來愈沮喪，於是蘇西試圖引導她的父親找到殺死她的兇手。蘇西藉由她對仍自世上摯愛的人給予她的力量和慈悲心，最後終於領悟到 她必須向前走，好讓她的家人接受她的死亡，並得到某種程度的平靜。
   《蘇西的世界》這本小說一上市就廣受書評人的好評，成為90年代最暢銷 以及最廣受討論的小說之一。受到蘇西沙蒙以及她的家人尋找正義及心靈平靜的故事所感動的讀者之一，就是當今最有想像力的導演彼得傑克森。他說：「艾莉絲希 柏德的小說的情節讓讀者出乎意料，而且這是一個嚴酷、令人動容以及充滿感情的故事。身為一位導演，我對這本小說非常感興趣。」彼得傑克森一向以令人入迷的 敘事手法著稱，他最知名的作品就是改編自J.R.R.托爾金的奇幻小說的賣座鉅片《魔戒三部曲》，這三部電影總共締造30億美元的票房成積，曾經獲得30 項奧斯卡獎提名，並且贏得其中的17項，包括《魔戒三部曲：王者再臨》的最佳影片獎。
   他於2005年自編自導自製改編自現代經典故事的賣 座鉅片《金剛》，該片的全球票房高達5億美元，並贏得3座奧斯卡獎。他早期的作品《夢幻天堂》改編自真人真事，當時也曾受到好評。彼得傑克森是在為《魔戒二部曲：雙城奇謀》一片進行後製作業時第一次看了《蘇西的世界》這本小說，這本小說是他的長期合作夥伴法蘭華許以及菲莉貝鮑恩拿給他看的，她們都是這本小 說的死忠讀者。彼得傑克森說：「大家都對這本小說讚不絕口，於是我一有空就拿來看，想知道大家為什麼這麼喜歡這本小說。我發現這是一個非常有感染力以及想 像力的故事。表面上，故事是關於每個家長最深的恐懼，那就是失去孩子。但是故事發展下去之後，這本小說的主題其實是在闡述愛的救贖力量，這也是我認為這麼 多讀者會受這本小說吸引的原因。」

 心得:

I enjoyed this movie so much! It's a sad story but there are great moments of awe, hope, and love. There are always challenges when the plot involves heaven because none of us knows what heaven is like. But that's precisely what draws me to The Lovely Bones. The Lovely Bones makes me reexamine my conscience. All I can say is "What a touching movie it is!"

我非常喜歡這部電影！這是一個悲傷的故事，但描繪了人們最深的恐懼，希望和愛。其中有些情節談論到天堂是相當具有挑戰性的，因為我們根本就不知道天堂長什麼樣，但這正是蘇西的世界吸引我的地方，因為他很特別。這部電影使我重新省思我的良知。很感人的一部電影喔!