时代周刊:《读书俱乐部》影评 友情大于爱情的老年版《欲望都市》(1)

For this Book Club, only Icons¹ Need Apply

这部《读书俱乐部》，只有偶像需要申请

By Susanna Schrobsdorf

文/苏珊娜·施罗布斯多夫

CANDICE BERGEN IS PROBABLY ONLY HALF kidding when she says that Book Club,

坎迪斯·伯根说《读书俱乐部》，就是她与简·方达、黛安·基顿和玛丽·斯汀伯根主演的新电影，

the new movie in which she stars with Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Mary Steenburgen, is about “glamorous geezers having sex.”

讲的是“一群妖艳古怪的老太太的性生活”的故事时，她可能只是在半开玩笑。

Sure, the plot revolves² around four older women reading Fifty Shades of Grey,

电影的情节的确是围绕四个老年姐妹团阅读《五十度灰》的故事展开的，

and that does precipitate³ a little over-70 sex (and a lot of talking about it).

阅读也确实为这群平均年龄在70岁以上的姐妹的性生活(以及很多关于这事儿的讨论)助攻了。

But the male love interests here (Richard Dreyfuss, Don Johnson, Andy Garcia and Craig T. Nelson)

但她们在影片中的爱恋对象(理查德·德莱弗斯、唐·约翰逊、安迪·加西亚和克雷格·纳尔逊)

are supporting players—comic foils for funny, sexy women.

都只是配角——是这个有趣又性感的姐妹团的喜剧性衬托。

There’s plenty of over the top romance, and most of the expected boxes get checked.

影片中还有很多夸张的浪漫情节，连大多数“出乎意料的盒子”都被选中了。

(Almost everyone couples up in the end.)

(最后几乎所有人都成双成对了。)

The heart of the story, though, is about friendship—both on screen and off.

故事的核心也是友情（而非爱情）——贯穿荧幕内外的友情。

From the minute these four women walk into the garden at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills for tea and tiny macarons,

从这四个女人走进比弗利山庄四季酒店的花园，开始喝茶，吃马卡龙的那一刻起，

it’s obvious they really like one another.

我们便能明显地感觉到，她们彼此都很投缘。

This is the first time any of them have worked together,

尽管这部戏对她们中的任何一位来说都是初次合作，

but it seems as if they, like their characters, have known one another for ages.

她们还是给了观众一种她们和电影里一样彼此都已经相识已久的印象。

Or so we want to believe.

至少，我们愿意相信是这样。

With people who have been so famous for so long,

于那些久负盛名的人，

the lines between the individuals and their roles inevitably⁴ blur⁵.

个人和他们的角色之间的界限不可避免地会被模糊掉。

That’s especially true with this movie.

在这部电影中尤其如此。

The production budget was so small that some of the clothing the actors wear is their own,

由于制作预算实在太少，有些演员穿都是她们自己的衣服，

from Keaton’s wide belts to Fonda’s slim pantsuits.

基顿的宽腰带，方达的西装都是如此。

Co-producers and writers Erin Simms and Bill Holderman (who also directed)

联合制片人兼编剧艾琳·西姆斯和比尔·霍德曼（后者还兼任了这部影片的导演）

wrote one character with Keaton in mind and revised another for Fonda, after she deemed the original script too simplistic.

在写某个角色的时候会从基顿身上找灵感，在方达觉得原来的剧本过于简单之后，还为她修改了另一个角色。

The filmmakers were also advised to cast younger “older” women—all the leads but Steenburgen are over 70.

电影制作人还被建议选“年长的”女性中间相对不那么年长的演员——影片中除了斯汀伯根，所有的主演年龄都在70岁以上。

They wisely declined and ended up with a roster⁶ of icons with four Oscars and six Emmys between them.

但他们都明智地拒绝了，最终一举斩获了四项奥斯卡奖和六项艾美奖。

Despite all that talent, they had to finance the film independently before it was acquired for distribution.

尽管他们是那么的才华横溢，但在影片发行之前，他们也还是要靠自己来给影片筹措资金。

1 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 revolves   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想

参考例句：

• The earth revolves both round the sun and on its own axis. 地球既公转又自转。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Thus a wheel revolves on its axle. 于是，轮子在轴上旋转。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 precipitate   

adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物

参考例句：

• I don't think we should make precipitate decisions.我认为我们不应该贸然作出决定。
• The king was too precipitate in declaring war.国王在宣战一事上过于轻率。

4 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

5 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

6 roster   

n.值勤表，花名册

参考例句：

• The teacher checked the roster to see whom he would teach this year.老师查看花名册，想了解今年要教的学生。
• The next day he put himself first on the new roster for domestic chores.第二天，他把自己排在了新的家务值日表的第一位。