審查制度的周旋者 伊朗導演阿巴斯

TEHRAN — It was a hot June evening last year when my wife and I received an invitation for a gathering at a rooftop garden here. No reason for the event was given, but when we walked in — carelessly, without gifts — it turned out that a monument of cinema was celebrating his 75th birthday.

德黑蘭——去年6月一個炎熱的傍晚，我和妻子收到了一份邀請，是在當地一座屋頂花園的聚會。邀請函沒有給出聚會的原因，而當我們漫不經心地什麼禮物都沒帶就來到聚會地點時，發現原來是一位電影大師在慶祝75歲生日。

It was a surprise get-together, and the guest of honor, Abbas Kiarostami — a filmmaker, photographer and poet — quietly and modestly received congratulations, the same way he had received dozens of international awards for his movies.

那是一次意想不到的聚會，壽星是阿巴斯·基亞羅斯塔米(Abbas Kiarostami)，一位電影人、攝影師和詩人。他安靜而謙遜地接受着人們的祝賀，和他在接受許多國際電影獎項時一樣。

His trusted assistant, Hamideh Razavi, had invited intellectuals, cinematographers, actors and actresses, and journalists like me to celebrate a man who was one of the most internationally well known Iranians alive. Ms. Razavi made the rounds, hopping from guest to guest while Mr. Kiarostami, wearing his signature sunglasses, sat surrounded by friends and acquaintances. He was silent, shy almost, as he had always been.

他信賴的助手哈米黛·拉扎維(Hamideh Razavi)邀請了知識分子、攝影師、演員，以及像我這樣的記者來爲他慶祝。基亞羅斯塔米是現今伊朗最具國際聲譽的人物之一。拉扎維匆匆地與大家一一打招呼，而基亞羅斯塔米則戴着自己標誌性的墨鏡，在朋友和熟人的簇擁下坐在那裏。他默不作聲，幾乎可以說是靦腆，保持着他一貫的樣子。

The scene of men and women mingling at a gathering could never have appeared in one of the dozens of movies Mr. Kiarostami made in Iran. Even Iran’s master filmmaker had to work his way around the country’s censors.

這些男男女女在聚會上隨意攀談的情景，永遠不可能出現在基亞羅斯塔米在伊朗製作的諸多影片中。即使是伊朗的電影大師，也不得不跟這個國家的審查者周旋。

He was extremely successful in these efforts. Always balancing between realism and poetry, Mr. Kiarostami’s films tried to leave as much space as possible for the viewer’s fantasy to connect the dots.

這方面他做的很成功。基亞羅斯塔米的影片總是在現實主義與詩意之間尋求平衡，試圖給觀衆留下儘可能多的空間，讓他們用自己的想象把故事連接起來。

Many of his films were well known by international audiences and acclaimed by foreign critics: “Ten,” where he follows a female taxi driver through the streets of Tehran; “The Wind Will Carry Us,” about a television crew working in a remote village; and “Certified Copy,” featuring the French actress Juliette Binoche.

他的許多影片被世界各地的觀衆所熟知，得到外國影評人的讚美：在《十段生命的律動》(Ten)中，他的鏡頭跟隨女出租車司機穿過德黑蘭大街小巷；《風會帶着我們走》(The Wind Will Carry Us)講述的是一個電視攝製組在偏遠村莊工作的故事；《原樣複製》(Certified Copy)則以法國女星朱麗葉·比諾什(Juliette Binoche)爲主角。

But in Iran, Mr. Kiarostami also was the ambassador of a vibrant cultural scene, showing others that success was possible. Despite the restrictions he faced in his movies, he managed to reach a global audience.

在伊朗，基亞羅斯塔米也是充滿活力的文化界的一名形象大使，他向人們顯示了成功的可能。儘管電影遇到很多限制，但他仍吸引了全球的觀衆。

And not by playing the exotic card, which can quickly win the sympathy of a Western audience, but by focusing on universal themes. His movies were about love and life and death, and while filmed against an Iranian backdrop, they were never only about Iran.

儘管賣弄異國情調可以很快贏得西方觀衆的同情，但他並不這樣做，而是聚焦永恆的主題。他的影片關注的是愛情、生命和死亡，雖然影片以伊朗爲背景，但它們從來都不僅是關於伊朗的。

Despite his nonpolitical approach, Mr. Kiarostami had numerous run-ins with the powers that be. His association with foreigners was enough for hard-liners to distrust him, and some of his movies were seen as dangerous because of his large fan base and the influence he wielded.

儘管選擇了非政治的手法，基亞羅斯塔米還是與當權者發生過多次衝突。他與外國人的交往就足以讓強硬派們不信任他，由於作品吸引了大量影迷，本人也極具影響力，他被當作一個危險人物。

In 1997, he won the highest award at the Cannes film festival, the Palme d’Or, for “Taste of Cherry,” about a man planning to kill himself and looking for someone who can bury him afterward. When he returned to Tehran after his victory in Cannes, security officials forced him to leave the airport through a back door, because hard-liners, angry over the foreign recognition, were protesting in the arrival hall.

1997年，他憑藉《櫻桃的滋味》(Taste of Cherry)獲得戛納電影節的最高獎項金棕櫚獎(Palme d'Or)。該片講述了一個男人計劃自殺並找人埋葬自己的故事。戛納獲獎後回到德黑蘭時，安全官員逼迫他從後門離開機場，因爲強硬派對該片在國外獲得的認可感到憤怒，正在入境大廳舉行抗議。

He was the embodiment of the dilemma all Iranian artists face: Stay in Iran despite the pressures, or migrate away from the culture that feeds their creativity. The fact that he continued to work and live in Tehran was an inspiration for many here.

他代表着所有伊朗藝術家面臨的困境：是頂着壓力留在伊朗，還是逃離滋養了他們的創造力的這種文化。他依然在德黑蘭工作和生活的事實，鼓舞了這裏的很多人。

In 2013, at the end of a long and difficult period for artists during the last term of the conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr. Kiarostami made his second film outside Iran, shooting in Japan. “Like Someone in Love” centers on a love triangle involving a prostitute, her jealous boyfriend and her older client. Mr. Kiarostami said he had felt “terribly lonely” during the filming in an interview with the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. “I didn’t cry every night, but quite often,” he said.

2013年，基亞羅斯塔米在日本拍攝了第二部在伊朗以外的電影。當時正值保守派總統馬哈茂德·艾哈邁迪內賈德(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)的最後一屆任期，藝術家面臨的一個漫長而又艱難的時期即將結束。該片名爲《如沐愛河》(Like Someone in Love)，故事圍繞着一個妓女、心懷嫉妒的男朋友和上了年紀的主顧之間的三角戀展開。基亞羅斯塔米在接受荷蘭報紙《人民報》(De Volkskrant)的採訪時表示，影片拍攝期間他感到“非常孤獨”。“我不是每天晚上都哭，但的確經常哭，”他說。

During that time, I met Mr. Kiarostami at the airport in Tehran, a backpack slung over his shoulder, coming home to Iran for visits between filming.

正是在那期間，我在德黑蘭的機場遇到了基亞羅斯塔米。當時，他肩上搭着一個揹包，趕着在拍攝間隙回伊朗。

In December, Ms. Razavi, his joyful assistant, died in a car accident. Her death hit him hard. Not long after, he was treated for stomach pain in a Tehran hospital. Mistakes were made by one of his care givers, and Mr. Kiarostami caught a virus and never recovered. He died on Monday in a Paris hospital, where he had been moved for treatment.

12月，他那位性格開朗的助手拉扎維在一起車禍中去世。她的死對基亞羅斯塔米打擊很大。不久後，他因爲胃痛在德黑蘭一家醫院接受治療。因爲其中一名護理人員的錯誤，基亞羅斯塔米感染了一種病毒，再也未能康復。之後，他被轉移至巴黎一家醫院接受治療。週一，他在那家醫院去世。

When news of his passing reached Tehran on Monday evening, phones started ringing and social media overflowed with sadness.

週一傍晚，當基亞羅斯塔米去世的消息傳到德黑蘭時，電話鈴聲開始響起，社交媒體上瀰漫着悲傷。

The director Asghar Farhadi, who in 2012 won an Oscar for his film “A Separation,” had difficulty grasping what had happened. “I just met him some weeks ago.”

2012年憑藉《一次別離》(A Separation)獲得奧斯卡獎的導演阿斯加爾·法爾哈迪(Asghar Farhadi)難以接受這個噩耗。“我幾周前剛見過他。”

He recalled how Mr. Kiarostami had been lying in his bed, laptop at hand, showing a new four-minute movie he had just made in China. “This man was great, not only for us Iranians, but for the world,” Mr. Farhadi said.

他回憶起基亞羅斯塔米當時躺在牀上，手裏捧着筆記本電腦，展示自己剛在中國拍的一部四分鐘長的電影。“他很偉大，不只是對我們伊朗人，對全世界都是這樣，”法爾哈迪說。

On Tuesday hundreds of Iranians gathered at Tehran’s cinema museum to honor the filmmaker. Old men could be seen weeping. Teenagers lit candles. His body will be flown home this week.

週二當天，成百上千人聚集在德黑蘭的電影博物館，緬懷這位電影人。現場能看到老年人淚眼婆娑。十幾歲的年輕人點亮了蠟燭。他的遺體將於本週空運回國。