This director is so innocent.

Chapter 161 A Tide of Applause

The next day, at 8:00 AM.

The global press conference for "The Invisible Guest" was held in the press conference hall of the Palais des Festivals.

The media reporters present were mostly foreign journalists, while the domestic ones were reporters from major newspapers such as CCTV-6 (China Movie Channel), Southern Weekly, and Beijing News.

At the meeting, Su Jin, Gong Li, Sun Honglei, and other key members of the production team first observed a minute's silence in remembrance of the earthquake.

Then the group discussed matters related to the movie's plot and shared their thoughts.

As for the fun things that happened during filming, the foreigners didn't care.

After the event, Su Jin and the other two gave exclusive interviews to CCTV-6 (China Movie Channel), Southern Weekly, and Beijing News.

At 3 p.m., the world premiere of "The Invisible Guest" was held at the Lumière Theatre.

Gong Li is quite famous in France; the 2300 seats were already full before the movie even started.

Many domestic colleagues also came to show their support, such as the team behind Jia Zhangke's "Twenty-Four City" and Wu Baige's "Red Cliff" team.

There are also many international producers and buyers interested in "The Invisible Guest," such as Universal Pictures, etc.

MK2, DreamWorks —

Professional film magazines such as Variety, Screen, Screenaily, and The Hollywood Reporter also sent their editors-in-chief.

The lights in the lobby went out, and the screen lit up.

The opening animation features the Palme d'Or, followed by the opening animations of Jianmu Media, China Film Group, and five cinema chains.

The screen goes dark, and the opening shot is a series of overhead shots of a highway.

As mentioned earlier, everything in a movie, from people and objects to scenes, has a reason.

This series of highway shots suggests that the film is like a high-speed train, getting faster and faster, and you can only get off at the very end.

The scene shifts to a yellow taxi parked in front of a five-star hotel, and the doorman opens the back door.

Gong Li, with her hair up and dressed in a black business suit, exuded an air of authority and commanding presence.

Close-ups were given from the moment she got out of the taxi, walked into the hotel lobby, took the elevator upstairs, and even when she put down her purse.

Interspersed throughout the film are footage captured by surveillance cameras, showcasing the character from as much angles as possible.

However, her actions of tidying her appearance in front of the camera, if observed from an omniscient perspective, can be interpreted in a different way: who she really is will be the biggest mystery of the whole film.

He rang the doorbell, and a sleepy-eyed Sun Honglei appeared.

The two introduced themselves to each other and went inside.

Sun Honglei tidied up the messy table and went inside to change his clothes.

Gong Li glanced around slightly; the television in the living room was playing a news report about Sun Honglei murdering his mistress.

Another notable feature of this film is its special emphasis on the role of key props, with close-up shots of these objects being specially arranged.

For example, before the conversation began, Gong Li took out a pocket watch to keep track of time.

Its "beep beep" sound immediately created a sense of urgency.

Editing is the process of assembling shots together. There are many ways to do this, the most common being cut, followed by dissolve, wipe, fade in and fade out, etc.

Because of its use of flashbacks and hypothetical passages, "The Invisible Guest" employs a variety of editing techniques.

The first flashback used a fade-out, with the screen gradually turning white, representing the shift in time and space from the indoor conversation between the two people to Sun Honglei's narration.

Sun Honglei's relationship with Fan Xiaopang (his lover) was discovered, and he was blackmailed for 50 yuan in cash. Afterwards, he and Fan Xiaopang took the 50 yuan in cash to the hotel provided by the blackmailer.

Then a dark figure attacked Sun Honglei, knocking him unconscious. When he woke up again, he found Fan Xiaopang lying in a pool of blood, lifeless, with red banknotes scattered around him.

This flashback features many overhead shots, except for the concluding shot of rising from the rooftop.

The indoor scenes also included overhead shots of Sun Honglei fainting and Fan Xiaopang dead, highlighting the cramped feeling of the locked-room murder and making the development of the situation even more bizarre.

Viewers were somewhat disappointed at this point, thinking the film was just about a simple locked-room murder.

Those with sharp minds are already speculating about the plot developments, which will likely involve the appearance of a mysterious figure or the fact that Sun Honglei is the murderer.

But when they saw that Gong Li did not believe Sun Honglei's words and instead took out a missing person newspaper, they frowned.

What's the story behind the missing young woman in this newspaper?

What does this have to do with the plot?

A series of questions arose in their minds.

On screen, Gong Li is relentlessly pressuring him with her words.

"There is no salvation without suffering, and you are not as wise as I am."

"Have you ever asked yourself what would happen if a prosecution witness saw it?"

"We've already wasted ten minutes, Mr. Jiang."

"I'm asking you one last time, do you know who was in the hotel room at the time?"

Sun Honglei lowered his eyes slightly, looked at the newspaper on the table, gently shook his head, and remained silent.

"If you want to know the answer and hope I can help you get out of trouble and save you from jail, then stop lying to me."

Sun Honglei glanced at the stopwatch, then at the family photo, and then told another story.

The male lead's wife and daughter are played by Tangtang and Zhang Zifeng in cameo roles.

The actress playing the blind sister is Gong Li's daughter; in the original version, she was the son, but this version changed that.

This lawyer was actually Gong Li in disguise; she wasn't a real lawyer.

The newspaper's publication was meant to make people think that this locked-room murder was just the tip of the iceberg, and that a much bigger secret was lurking beneath it.

This time, the screen transition uses a black screen transition, and its main difference from the white gradient lies in the intensity of the expression.

Using a black screen to interrupt time and space is more forceful and concise; similar black screen transitions appeared three times in the film.

Next, Sun Honglei was driving and flirting with Fan Xiaopang when a deer suddenly darted out. He swerved and accidentally hit an oncoming car.

Still shaken, they got out of their car to check the situation of the oncoming vehicle and found that Liu Shishi inside had been hit and was bleeding profusely from a head injury because she was not wearing a seatbelt; she had stopped breathing.

Sun Honglei then wanted to call the police, but Fan Xiaopang stopped him.

This place is deserted and there are no cameras. If I leave now, no one will notice.

Just as they were about to drive away, the car suddenly wouldn't start, and at that moment another car drove up.

Fan Xiaopang, quick-witted, pretended to be in a car accident with Sun Honglei, thus escaping danger.

Afterwards, Sun Honglei went to dispose of the body, while Fan Xiaopang waited for rescue.

When the body was moved from the driver's seat to the trunk, the camera shot an overhead shot through the tree branches.

Overhead shots, also known as "God's-eye view" or "viewer's perspective," are too subjective, thus raising further questions.

Could there have been other eyewitnesses at the scene who witnessed all of this?

Could it be that driver?

The audience continued watching with these questions in mind, only to see an old man ask Fan Xiaopang if he needed help, and say that he was a retired engineer from BMW.

I chatted with Fan Xiaopang in the car and also learned about his wife Gong Li's identity, a retired drama teacher.

When watching this kind of suspenseful film, you must watch carefully because there are many details.

For example, the lighter that Sun Honglei used to light a cigarette before setting off was from one place.

Another lake view photo that Fan Xiaopang took with his camera along the way.

Drama teachers are also in this category.

Perhaps the scene of someone lighting a cigarette is very common, and the audience won't pay too much attention to it.

So, when Ni Dahong was repairing the car, an inappropriate close-up shot of the lighter inside the car was given.

The movie continues, and Fan Xiaopang goes home with Ni Dahong. Gong Li warmly welcomes Fan Xiaopang and chats with her about Liu Shishi.

I remember when this movie was first released, many people who gave it high scores complained that they couldn't tell the lawyer and the housewife looked alike because they were face-blind.

So, this has been changed, completely changed, and the two are now different.

Of course, if you look closely, you can still find similarities between the two.

As the movie continues, when Fan Xiaopang discovers that the deceased Liu Shishi is actually the couple's daughter, she is stunned for a moment, but she manages to conceal it well.

Just then, Ni Dahong finished repairing the car, came in, and returned the keys to Fan Xiaopang.

When Fan Xiaopang drove away, he adjusted his seat. Ni Dahong noticed this detail, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

After the car was sold, Sun Honglei's background was revealed: he was the owner of a mobile phone company, and his company was about to go public.

This scene reminded viewers of why Fan Xiaopang wouldn't let Sun Honglei call the police, and why Sun Honglei agreed to it.

Because if the founder gets into trouble with negative news, the IPO plan will definitely fall through.

Sun Honglei continued telling the story, saying that in order to completely eliminate the hidden danger of Liu Shishi, Fan Xiaopang fabricated that Liu Shishi had embezzled 100 million yuan of public funds and absconded with the money, thus explaining the fact that Liu Shishi had disappeared.

They also said that the driver extorted money from them and eventually killed Fan Xiaopang.

This logic is full of flaws, and Gong used three questions to leave Sun Honglei speechless.

Why did the killer need to borrow Fan Xiaopang's phone to send a text message?

Why didn't the killer take the money from the scene?

Sun Honglei wasn't the only one wondering how the murderer left the room; the audience members were equally baffled.

Then, Gong Li began to tell her version.

She changed the murderer from the driver to Ni Dahong, the father of the deceased Liu Shishi, which makes sense and explains the logic of seeking revenge without seeking money.

As for how to get into the room?

Because Liu Shishi's mother worked at the hotel where the incident occurred, the couple colluded to frame her.

The logic is sound and reasonable, forming a closed loop.

Sun Honglei believed it, and so did the audience; they were all led by the nose by Gong Li.

To get Sun Honglei to reveal the location where the body was dumped, Gong Li pretended to receive a phone call before giving him time to react, saying that the witness was the driver.

Sun Honglei panicked because the driver at the accident scene had seen him, and Sun Honglei told the police that he was in Shanghai at the time.

Gong Li remained calm and continued to analyze the case.

Assuming Sun Honglei is in Shanghai, Fan Xiaopang killed him in a car accident, Liu Shishi's embezzlement of public funds was fabricated by her, and Fan Xiaopang was killed by Ni Dahong.

All we need to do now is connect Fan Xiaopang with the corpse.

How is that related? Just put one of Fan Xiaopang's personal items in the trunk.

But there is one question: what about the witnesses?

Gong Li casually remarked, "There are no witnesses. Witnesses are only there to force you to tell the truth and be honest with me."

At this point, Sun Honglei was completely convinced by Gong Li's wisdom. If he followed Gong Li's advice, he could clear himself of all suspicion.

In the end, he revealed all his secrets.

Not only did they reveal the location where the body was disposed of, but they also claimed that Liu Shishi was not dead and was still alive at the time.

The audience was horrified when they saw this!

Gong Li also lost control of her emotions on the spot. Any intelligent viewer who saw this would have already guessed that there was something wrong with the lawyer.

Of course, it was Liu Shishi's mother. They couldn't guess, since the two looked completely different; how could they possibly guess?

If you can guess it, then you're definitely just guessing.

Finally, Gong Li returned to the hotel across the street, stood in front of the window, looked at the hotel, and removed the disguise from her face, leaving the audience stunned.

"fuck, fuck, fuck——————"

A small number of people are wondering if this lawyer is fake, so does he actually exist?

The next moment, the doorbell rings, the real lawyer appears, and the film ends.

The lights came on, the entire audience stood up, and applause erupted.

The applause lasted for a full twenty minutes before stopping, making it the film with the longest applause during the opening of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

There's a tradition of applause in Cannes; the longer the applause lasts, the more it signifies that people like the film.

Sun Honglei squinted, grinned, and said loudly, "Director, with this applause lasting so long, is the Palme d'Or a sure thing?"

"I don't know, but we should be able to get tickets." Su Jin shook his head. He really didn't expect "The Invisible Guest" to be so popular with the audience.

But the Palme d'Or is probably out of reach.

As Gong Li said, it is a disgrace for France to not win the Palme d'Or for 21 years.

This was the first time Gong Li had seen the finished film. Seeing how popular the movie was, she felt that she still had a chance at Best Actress.

The blind girl looked around excitedly, her little hands clapping until they were red.

Although she was just a minor supporting character, she was happy and proud of her beloved brother Jin.

Zhou Xun tilted her head slightly to look at the radiant Gong Li, feeling extremely envious.

Previously, it was the fifth generation of directors who were promoting him; now it's Su Mo who's promoting him.

After watching the film, the buyers became very interested in "The Invisible Guest," and some couldn't wait and already took out their phones to contact Wong Ka-keung.

CJ's Jim Casey couldn't wait to pull out his phone and call the finance department to ask him to transfer the money, fearing that Su Jin might suddenly raise the price.

After the applause subsided, Su Jin and the other two gave their personal remarks, and their domestic counterparts also offered various forms of praise.

Section Chief Jia: "Last year I watched the premiere of 'The Coffin in the Mountain' and felt that Director Su was a promising talent. His technique was still a bit immature, but he won with the story."

But this year's "The Invisible Guest" is absolutely amazing; both the plot and the visuals are perfect.

Wu Baige: "Sigh! I'm really getting old. If it were me, I could never have come up with a plot like this."

Wong Kar-wai: "He has a chance to compete for the Palme d'Or."

Tsui Hark: "This is the best suspense film I've seen in the last five years, bar none."

After Su Jin and her group saw off one group of guests after another, they saw Huang Jiaqiang walking over with an excited expression.

"Boss, good news! I just received several calls from film companies wanting to acquire the rights to 'The Invisible Guest'."

-

"How many did you sell?"

"It's estimated to sell for $1500 million."

"So many?"

"MK2 accounts for half, with an offer of 500 million US dollars."

"What about North America? Have any Hollywood studios made offers?"

"Yes, DreamWorks offered $500 million, Universal offered $530 million, and several independent film companies offered two or three million dollars."

"Where's 20th Century Fox?"

Just as Huang Jiaqiang was about to speak, he saw Su Jin raise her hand to stop him and take out her phone from her pocket to answer the call.

"Boss, I've arrived in Cannes. Where are you?"