《沉睡魔咒》 暗黑女魔頭也有真愛

When you first look at the posters of Maleficent, Disney’s new fantasy film, you can hardly relate them to the classic fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty — unless you’re so familiar with the story that you recognize the iconic villain through her creepy horns and sculpted cheekbones.

第一眼看到《沉睡魔咒》的海報，你很難將這部迪士尼最新魔幻電影與經典童話《睡美人》聯繫在一起。除非你對故事十分熟悉，還能從海報上女巫高聳的犄角和瘦削的顴骨辨認出她正是故事裏的反派女巫。

Clearly, this time, Disney wants to tell the evil fairy queen’s side of the story. Played by Angelina Jolie, Maleficent is a powerful witch who is betrayed and deceived by Stefan, a childhood friend and the man she loved. When Stefan becomes a king, Maleficent’s mind turns to revenge — she curses Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) and sets about to make her life a misery.

顯而易見，迪士尼此次打算講述惡魔精靈女王的故事。惡魔女巫瑪琳菲森由安吉麗娜•朱莉飾演。故事中，她擁有強大的法力，但卻遭到青梅竹馬的戀人史提芬的欺騙與背叛。當史提芬登基爲王時，瑪琳菲森由愛轉恨，詛咒了他的女兒奧蘿拉公主（艾麗•範寧飾），想讓她終生不幸。

From here, the fairy tale gets its modern-day revision. Instead of being the one-dimensional villain we know, Maleficent soon gets a heart-of-gold reincarnation and reconsiders her evil intention.

從這裏開始，新版故事進行了全新演繹。瑪琳菲森並不是我們所熟悉的單純反派，她心底的善良和柔情漸漸被喚醒，，開始反思原本的惡念。

Quite the irony, isn’t it? The character most committed to the destruction of true love turns out to have been one of its early victims. It’s also where the film adds a feminist point of view to the original fairy tale. It is no longer the story where the queen is bad for the sake of being bad. She has a personal story and there is a reason she does what she does.

十分諷刺，不是麼？曾經被視爲毀滅真愛的罪魁禍首，其實也曾是一個受害者。這也是影片加入的女性視角所在，故事中的邪惡女王並非壞得沒道理，而是有着自己的苦衷和往事。

This comparison and contrast is compelling, but it would never have worked without Jolie’s excellent performance, in which she represents all sides of her character’s complexity. For a character who loses love and gradually finds it again, Jolie makes the transformation believable. With her edgy and stunning image, she effortlessly makes everyone else, including Fanning’s Princess Aurora, pale into insignificance.

故事的對比與反差確實引人注目，但這朱莉的精湛演技功不可沒。她在電影裏全方位的展現出其角色的複雜性。從失去愛情到重新找回真愛，朱莉的演繹讓這種轉變真實而自然。加之朱莉在片中大膽誇張、令人驚豔的造型，不費吹灰之力就讓片中的其他角色黯然失色，甚至連範寧飾演的奧蘿拉公主也難以望其項背。

Another thing that makes the film exciting to watch is the visual effects. Maleficent may be Robert Stromberg’s directorial debut, but the Oscar-winning production designer (Avatar and Alice in Wonderland) certainly has the ability to satisfy viewers’ eyes.

這部影片的視覺效果同樣令人震撼。《沉睡魔咒》也許是羅伯特•斯特羅姆伯格作爲導演的處女秀，但是作爲曾獲得奧斯卡最佳藝術指導獎（擔任《愛麗絲夢遊仙境》藝術指導）的他，一定會會讓觀衆大飽眼福。

Even so, Stromberg’s lack of directing experience shows, sometimes making the film more of a stylish mishmash, with clichéd themes such as “love forgives everything”.

儘管如此，斯特羅姆伯格畢竟缺乏執導經驗，或多或少讓影片變得更像一場時尚大雜燴，同時“愛能原諒一切”主題也顯得老套。

Despite the flaws, luckily, we have Jolie to save the day. As the movie posters suggest, Maleficent is Jolie’s one-woman film, and it’s just great to see her having fun in a starring role again.

不過瑕不掩瑜，我們還有朱莉救場。正如影片海報所呈現的，《沉睡魔咒》是朱莉獨挑大樑的電影。所以，能又一次看她在自己主演的電影裏酣暢淋漓的發揮，也不失爲一件樂事。