客途秋恨（粤语）

谁道秋来烟景素。任游人不顾。一番时态一番新，到得意、皆欢慕。
紫萸黄菊繁华处。对风庭月露。愁来即便去寻芳，更作甚、悲秋赋。
——黄山谷《一落索》


趁着《黄金时代》上映的热闹，这两天把许鞍华早期的几部电影过了一遍，从《投奔怒海》（1982）到《女人四十》（1995）再到今天看的《客途秋恨》（1990），每部都没有让人失望，不得不承认与许导早期的作品相比，破碎而单调的《黄金时代》简直就显得太过“小清新”了。

如果说《投奔怒海》偏向政治题材，《女人四十》偏向家庭伦理的话，那么《客途秋恨》就将这两者结合得近乎完美。虽然处理日常生活中的细微情感、道德伦理是许鞍华的拿手好戏，但是能够把异文化中的身份认同、政治时局、战争创伤、家国乡愁、传统失落……这么多丰富的面相熔于一炉也着实要依赖于吴念真出色的剧本。

影片的开场是1973年的夏天，伴随着Bob Dylan的代表作Mr. Tambourine Man，晓恩（张曼玉饰，彼时26岁）完成了她在英国的硕士学业，那时她和她的英国同学一样，渴望找到一份体面的工作，从此开始新的人生。她在片中自白道：“越战、中东战争，都只是电视新闻里的镜头而已，那些地方毕竟都那么遥远陌生。”显然，那时的她还无法理会政治的意义。

故事的主线无疑是葵子和晓恩回日本的探亲之旅，其实这也是母女二人相互理解和包容的过程，通过一次次的角色互换，她们越来越接近对方内心深处那个孤寂的角落，于是锁闭的盒子被打开，隐没的家世淌溢而出。

另外，光是本片的片名也有故事可考。据传，《客途秋恨》最早是由清嘉庆学者缨艮所作的词曲名。后来南海才子叶瑞伯对其进行重编，把它变成了一首广东地水南音。原来叶瑞伯曾于道光年间到广西做生意，途中与一名女子相爱。后遇苗乱，两人失去联系，叶瑞伯创作《客途秋恨》来怀念情人。

20世纪20年代，编剧家黄少拔将男女主角附会为才子缪莲仙，麦秋娟，并改编成粤剧《客途秋恨》，由佛山粤剧名家白驹荣首演，并一唱成名，遂成经典。这首曲子与顺德何惠群的《叹五更》被誉为“粤调双绝”。

南音《客途秋恨》在片中第一次响起，是幼年的晓恩面对窗外的莲池和在躺椅上的爷爷，背诵刘禹锡的《乌衣巷》，背完之后她就趴在爷爷的肚子上睡起觉来。爷爷边摇扇子，边对她讲述着自己的家事。这个场景最后一个镜头非常棒，当爷俩在阳光的沐浴下睡去，凄婉的南音袅袅，镜头随之缓缓拉伸，画面安稳祥和。

等《客途秋恨》再度响起时，已经来到了片尾。

爷爷在老家中风卧床，晓恩来到正处于“文革”时期的大陆去看他。爷爷拉着孙女的手，语重心长地说：“爷爷本来身体还好，有一天知道你回来在电视台做事，就找了一本《宋词选》，要寄给你。谁知道，被那群红小兵问了一整天，累了，一爬楼梯，眼前一黑，就完了。晓恩，不要对中国失望啊，爷爷是老了，可是你还年轻，希望在你们自己，知道吗？”

晓恩望着爷爷难过地心想：“这样苍老的肚子，恐怕再也承受不了这个孙女的重量了吧。”这一刻，童年往事、家国爱恨交织一处，使得叙事的情绪升至顶点。当然，上述那个晓恩趴在爷爷肚子上睡觉的拉伸镜头也就有了无限延宕之韵。

感谢许鞍华，在这个长假的末尾，带给我如此优美的艺术，它仿佛初秋阳光的落叶，让人在萧瑟中涌发温暖的力量。

“凉风有信，秋月无边。亏我思娇情绪，好比度日如年……”


2014.10.6


附，白驹荣《客途秋恨》原唱试听：http://music.douban.com/subject/1846071/

Song of the Exile reveals its veil with an extreme close-up of a bicycle wheel, accompanied by Hueyin’s sentimental narrations. Hueyin, the narrator and one of the protagonists, isa Sino-Japanese (ethnically) studying in London. Aiko, Hueyin’s mother, is a Japanese who has been living in Macau and Hong Kong since the end of the Second World War.Hueyin’s grandparents, in reliance of their illusionary imagination on Mainland China, choose to settle down in Guangzhou in the shadow of Cultural Revolution. Seemingly all the main characters in Song of the Exile are in displacement from motherlands and resettlement in host lands (Yue). This essay will analyze the displacement and its reconstruction of identity in the context of Song of the Exile.

As to Hueyin, a subtle implication on her contradicted ethnicity and nationality arises when she is typing another resume after she receives the rejection letter from BBC. The heading of her resume indicates that she was born in Hong Kong (“Place of Birth: Hong Kong”) but she is a British (“Nationality: British”). The scene not only epitomizes the colonial history of Hong Kong, but also portrays the discrimination Hueyin encounters as an ethnical Chinese. She should have been treated equally as her local friends on application to BBC in terms of nationality. Yet more often she is isolated in the pub and unintentionally alienated when her friend mentioned about using chopsticks, which symbolizes a classical imagination of orientalism. All these subtle fragments pile up, Hueyin gradually realizes that although she lives in London and speaks fluent English, she still belongs elsewhere. She is indeed “an exile in a foreign land” (Erens).

That’s probably why Hueyin erases her resume and instead types a farewell letter to her friends in London. The opening scenes depicting the landscapes and culture heritages of London, especially appealing to most people in Hong Kong at 1990s after the demonstrations on Tiananmen Square. The image of London is somehow embellished in the diffusing suspicion of returning to socialistic China. In terms of Hong Kong, the model of One Country Two Systems “includes Hong Kong as a part of China but excludes it from legal structure” (Yue) and economic coordination. All those British culture and heritages left in Hong Kong cannot be simply replaced like the replacement in nationality derived from the handover, not to mention the reconstruction of recognition of Chinese identity. It seems that Hong Kong itself, like Hueyin, also lives here but belongs elsewhere.

The same displacement occurred to Aiko,Hueyin’smother, who has been living in Macau and Hong Kong for most of her life. She tells her older brother how difficult her life is in a “foreign country” upon reaching her hometown in Japan. As a Japanese living in Macau and Hong Kong after the Sino-Japanese War, Aiko was prejudiced and even despised by Hueyin’s grandparents and neighbors. She speaks Japanese. She is more in favor of Japanese cuisine. She always reminds herself and Hueyin of the reputation and wealth of her family in Japan, which constitutes an explicit contrast to her floundering life in Hong Kong and Macau, trying to adapt to local lifestyle. When returning to Japan, she picks up her mother tongue, her Japanese name and all other Japanese ritual habits, thus reaffirming her identity as Japanese. She seems to be no longer the “otherness” but one of “the same” with similar social practices and collective acknowledgement of identity.

However, the authenticity of favorite food, the familiarity of language and the comfort of coming back home do not last for long. When Aiko deliberately shows off her well-educated daughter studying in London to her relatives in an attempt to create a “glorious return”, her relatives respond in indifference and ethno-centrality. The Japanese food she used to favor feels cold and tasteless. She even complains about the traditional hot baths for their impracticality and inconvenience. Those yeas living in Macau and Hong Kong unselfconsciously alter he cultural identity. “The years of acculturation in Hong Kong have changed her attitude towards the homeland” (Yue). For Aiko, the journey to Japan is supposed to be a resume of her original identity, but it turned out to be a reminder of her new cultural intimacy towards Hong Kong created by her life of displacement.

At the end of Song of the Exile, Hueyin’s grandfather, who is severely beaten by the Red Guards in Cultural Revolution claiming to topplebourgeoisie, mentions about sending the book of Song Poetry to Hueyin in case she forgets the profound traditional Chinese culture. His reference to this particular period of divine Song Dynasty infers “the national sentiments of modernity, exile and reunification” (Yue) in the horrific shadow of Cultural Revolution. The poverty, brutality, and disorder in Guangzhou smash Hueyin’s grandparents’ fantastic illusion on homeland when they are in Macau. The distance from home procures an ideal to restore the original identity. Yet Hueyin’s grandparents have already become the “otherness” when they return. Only marginalization and hostility towards the Kuomintang’s nationalism embrace them.

In Song of the Exile, the elements and implications of displacement and resettlement constantly affirm and reshape the characters’ recognition of their own ethnic and cultural identities. As for Hong Kong, 15 years has passed by since the handover, seemingly it still belongs elsewhere. In a time of globalization, borders and boundaries may be easily blurred out and they are no longer obstacles for commerce and communications. However, frequent communication does not directly lead to mutual understanding between Mainland and Hong Kong. Conflicts may also arise. The recognition and reconstruction of Chines identity are far more difficult than the reconciliation between mother and daughter in Song of the Exile. As for Hong Kong cinema,local contents (food, language, cultural heritage) in Song of the exile seem to be “a nationalistic response to globalization” (Teo). Nonetheless, maintaining and distilling local features in the pressure of globalization“would not have been and still is not easy” (Yue) in 21st century.

喜欢的细节：
15岁的晓恩在菜场看到买东西的老人，回忆起和爷爷一起逛菜场的情形。

夏日午后，小女孩趴在爷爷肚子上午休。长大后的晓恩看着中风在床的爷爷，想着：这样苍老的肚子恐怕再也承受不了这个孙女的重量了。——泪奔

母亲在家乡的车站轻声地用日语道：“我回来了。”旋即觉得自语有些失态——那一刻，才不会记得计较自己的生活是否体面。

墙上山口百惠的海报。

现实和回忆在相关情形的引带下交织，揭示故事的全貌。很经典的叙事。

不大理解的：

母亲的变化（从澳门的小媳妇，到香港的麻将师奶，再到后面虚荣的师奶），父亲的态度，其中的矛盾和复杂交待的不够，母亲因为一次归国之旅后的痛哭暂得解脱（让晓恩回去看爷爷奶奶）显得太轻而易举了。

舅舅的中国话突然长进了。

也可以看得出以母女关系为主线想顺带的东西也很多，父辈的对乡土的向往，红小兵对父辈的反咬，香港时事的变化等等，包得太多太紧。

《客途秋恨》。刚看完。听到爷爷那句相信中国会好的。泪流满面。为何会泪流。相信每个国人回看中国的历史。不说仁人志士，就说普通人。都希望自己的国家能尽快好起来。如此盼望了一百年。又付出多少血泪。
主人公的爷爷一代。战乱从广州逃到澳门，六十年代从又回到广州。为新中国服务。就算生活艰难，也算是回家。没有客死异乡。
主人公母亲是日本人。在中国生活了三十多年。朝思暮想回家。一朝回日本，却发现已不适应。
主人公留学英国，毕业后想留在英国，不再回香港。
香港曾是三代人的客居地。爷爷奶奶归去，父亲去世。而母女却最终把客居地当做归地。以个人体验托出集体记忆，所以说这部关于个人自传的影片，能获得许多人共鸣，千万港人的心态不是如此吗。
大陆已人事物非，不能折返。英国也不再是宗主。港岛犹如一巨轮。搭载过许多离乡之人。遥望大陆，无论是西洋，东洋，还是故土。故乡是回不去了。而香港才是唯一的归地。从不接受到接受。
乡愁是消不去的。爷爷听说她进电视台工作，就想寄一本宋词给她。无非是不要忘了故土。结尾唱出秋风有信的昆曲。乡愁四韵。
女性导演从母女情出发却带出这么大的气魄。这也是个人体验的严肃力量。不要轻视自己的个人体验，无论民族历史等等都由此出发。有其神圣性。