Puppet Life

This film (drama)Also known asAus dem Leben der Marionetten，is aWest Germany, SwedenProducerwomen sex，At1980Released in year 。The dialogue language isGerman，Current Douban rating8.1(For reference only)。

Reprinted from: movie.newyouth.beida-online.comWonderful Moments:In Peter's dream, amidst a pure white background, there is nothing but a pair of naked men and women. The dazzling highlights conceal all impurities, creating a perfect and pure spiritual world where Peter's anxieties and passions have nowhere to hide, revealing the original essence of life behind the puppet of social identity.Plot Introduction:Young Peter visits a prostitution performance and is captivated by a prostitute named Kraft. After the performance, he stays behind to be alone with Kraft, and the security locks the door as they leave. While Kraft helps Peter remove his clothes, Peter suddenly becomes violent and strangles Kraft.Dialogue between Professor Jergensen and the Inquisitor: Jergensen recalls that at 5:30 AM, he received a call from Peter. He hurried to the location Peter mentioned and found Peter sitting on a stool beside the bed, with a dead girl lying on the bed. To Jergensen, Peter is a wealthy, gentle, and intelligent person. He knows a lot about Peter’s family and mentions that Peter's mother is an actress, and his father passed away early. He has been Peter's friend for 20 years.14 Days Before the Crime: Peter finds Jergensen in his office and expresses his inner confusion. Peter tells Jergensen that he is deeply fascinated by murder and often fantasizes about killing his wife, Katarina, with a razor in their apartment. After listening to Peter, Jergensen describes the horrifying visions that follow a murder and advises him to relax his emotions. After Peter leaves, Jergensen calls Katarina, but Peter, still outside, overhears the phone call.A week after the crime, questioning Peter's mother and Peter's dialogue: In his mother's eyes, Peter was a smart and obedient child until he met Katarina and became madly infatuated with her, at which point everything changed.5 Days Before the Crime: Peter and Katarina spend a sleepless night. At 3 AM, unable to sleep, Peter gets up to drink, and Katarina, also awake, joins him, sharing amusing anecdotes between friends. Another night, Peter stays in the office all night analyzing work matters with his secretary.4 Days Before the Crime: Katarina prepares for her fashion show. Peter finds her at her workplace and invites her to lunch at his mother's house. Katarina makes an excuse to go to a bar, and Peter leaves alone. After drinking, Katarina visits her friend Tim, with whom she has worked for 12 years, and they talk together. Tim is a homosexual who confesses his troubles and unwillingness to face aging to Katarina.3 Days After the Crime: Tim's dialogue with the questioning officer: Under the officer's probe, Tim reveals that he is a homosexual and expresses jealousy over Peter and Katarina's marriage. He has always secretly loved Peter and claims that people like him have an inherent tendency towards violence.Peter writes an unsent letter to Jergensen: In the letter, Peter describes a dream he had with an unfamiliar woman. Later, in a daze while having sex with his wife, he feels an impulse to kill her. During a state of mental unison with his wife, she suddenly dies. After waking from the dream, he discovers his wife lying next to him.4 Days Before the Crime: Peter contemplates suicide: A friend rushes to Peter's home and persuades him to come back inside from the balcony where he has been contemplating suicide. Katarina then lies at Peter's feet, happily discussing their sexual antics.3 Weeks After the Crime: Katarina visits Peter's mother: Upon seeing Katarina, Peter's mother rambles on about Peter. In their conversation, both women feel anxious and lonely, holding prejudices against each other but both profoundly love Peter; they also wish to escape this suffocating world.50 Minutes Before the Crime: Peter selects the prostitute Kraft at the performance venue and stays behind. When they are the only two left, Peter feels anxious and wants to leave, but the door is locked by security. As the half-naked Kraft begins to remove his coat, Peter can no longer control his impulse to kill; he strangles Kraft and then rapes her corpse.Jergensen's recording: Peter was raised solely by his mother. As an adult, he played an educated role in his life, with a strong sense of responsibility, self-discipline, and awareness of social groups, which made him unaware of his homosexuality, and his mother also didn't notice. An inexplicable fear appeared in her mind in another mode, but when Peter met the prostitute Kraft, she became the catalyst for this pattern, unleashing the violence within Peter.In a hospital room: Katarina looks at Peter through a small window in the door. The nurse tells her that Peter is polite and tidy at the hospital, sleeps with a teddy bear at night, which the nurse believes is related to Peter's childhood memories.Brief Review:According to Bergman's own words, the film "tells of two people bound by fate who cannot separate yet find suffering in their togetherness, ultimately shackling each other." Of course, this is merely one aspect or theme of the film, while the richness of its connotation goes far beyond what can be covered by such a brief statement. Another major theme in the film is evidently reflected in the title: Puppet Life. Although Jergensen and Katarina are lovers, his analysis of Peter is mostly profoundly accurate. Peter's almost perverse “heightened sense of responsibility, self-discipline, and awareness of social groups” is likely the root of his eventual tragedy.This film is not Bergman's most outstanding work, as the strong dramatic handling and psychological analysis lead to a muddled relationship between the film's author and its characters, which perhaps mirrors the “anxiety” discussed in various autobiographies of Bergman. Jergensen’s analysis of Peter certainly has its merits, but his affair with Peter's wife, Katarina, taints the audience's acceptance of his views. The film also reveals a vague and ambiguous relationship between the director and the characters, shrouding it in a third layer of mystery. For a film that has transcended the director's self-control and entered a level of "ease," its reception and understanding can vary widely, while any attempt to analyze, interpret, or dissect it may be both fascinating and beneficial, yet ultimately futile.