恩培多克勒之死

最难忘那场在埃特纳火山口的戏，威廉姆·伯格饰演的恩培多克勒没有丝毫煽情，只是平静地走向深渊，仿佛只是去赴一场日常的散步。伯格的表演不用眼泪或嘶吼，他只是把哲人的大衣裹得更紧，在火山喷发的前夜对着海浪自言自语，连背影都绷成一道思考的弧线：不是“伟大的死亡”，是“认真活过的人，必然要与世界做一次坦诚的告别”。斯特劳布和于伊耶真的太“狠”了，完全抛弃了戏剧化的起承转合，用近乎考古学的耐心，让古希腊哲学家在岩石间念诵那些晦涩的诗句。就是有点费脑子，中途可能得暂停去查两句“恩培多克勒的学说”，但看完你会觉得——哦，原来“死”也能拍得这么“不慌不忙”，像喝了杯放凉的黑咖啡，苦得踏实。适合能耐住性子、对古希腊哲学有点好奇，或者单纯想看电影还能怎么拍的观众——它不会给你讲故事的快感，但会给你一种奇怪的庄严体验，像站在废墟里听风穿过石柱的缝隙。他不是什么英雄，只是个总在自问“活着为了什么”的普通人：对着海浪讲自己的梦，蹲在菜市场听菜农骂街，眼神始终湿漉，像藏着没说出口的秘密。

The subject of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub’s Der Tod des Empedokles (The Death of Empedocles, 1987) is the Greek pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles (c. 490 BC – 430 BC), who lived in the Greek colony of Agrigentum in Sicily. His theories are mentioned in several of Plato’s dialogues. He maintained that all matter is made up of four irreducible elements water, earth, air and fire. A mystic and a poet, he is considered to be the founder of classical rhetoric. He is also thought to be the last Greek philosopher to write in verse; two fragments of his works survive Katharmoi (Purifications) and Peri Phuseôs (On Nature). An advocate of democracy, he came into conflict with his fellow citizens of Agrigentum and, as result, was banished with his young disciple, Pausanius. When he was asked to return, he preferred to commit suicide by throwing himself into the active volcano at Mount Aetna.　　The German writer Friedrich Hölderlin wrote two versions of Der Tod des Empedokles in 1798 and 1800, and a final third version in 1820, all three ultimately unfinished. They were conceived as five-act tragedies and all three differ in plot. According to Michael Hamburger, Hölderlin’s English-language translator,　　the main reason why Hölderlin finished no version of the play must be that he remained too closely identified with Empedocles, at the very period in his life when his own view of the poet as philosopher, prophet and priest – and as tragic hero – was subject to perpetual crisis and re-examination.　　Huillet-Straub’s The Death of Empedocles is based on Hölderlin’s first version (the longest of the three), whereas Black Sin is based on the third version.

相关搜索：

殉死
恩培多克勒是什么学派
恩培多克勒跳火山口的原因
恩培多克勒著作有哪些
恩里克一世