The Best Director - Chapter 399 - Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Actually, You Don't Understand His Heart

Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Actually, You Don’t Understand His Heart

“Well, she really is just a girl.”

On the San Francisco streets, the set of “500 Days of Summer,” within the performance area focused by the camera lens, Natalie, holding a script, nodded calmly upon hearing Wang Yang’s words, but ripples were stirring in her heart. It was apparent that Summer was a blend of Helen and Natalie; why was he so infatuated with Helen, yet only flirting or rather indifferent towards Natalie? Was it because he had a girlfriend? She glanced at Jessica, who was sitting in the director’s chair reading a magazine—everyone was just a girl.

“But Tom doesn’t think so. He thinks Summer is a perfect goddess,” Wang Yang turned to look at Joseph Gordon Levitt, who was dressed in a plaid sweater vest, embodying the boy-next-door, radiating an artistic, sunny vibe. Wang Yang continued, “I think every guy has a goddess in his heart. When in love, he worships her like a deity, is infatuated with the aspects of her he likes and inadvertently ignores the aspects he dislikes.”

This is exactly the essence of beauty being in the eye of the beholder and love covering all faults. Wang Yang explained, “At this point, you have a few options: one, find excuses for all of her actions, go out of your way to protect her image for others and yourself; she is still a goddess for a reason; two, convince yourself to actively change and accommodate, to like all of her; three, change her. All choices have one thing in common, that is to adjust her into an ideal state for you, a state in which you can indulge. But…”

Helen and he were both fond of the third option, Wang Yang paused, and then smiled, “She is just an ordinary girl, nobody is a goddess.”

Joseph Gordon Levitt nodded in understanding. He hadn’t been without romance, nor was he ignorant of what a goddess meant. This was a major mindset issue for Tom in this relationship; he was in love with a goddess, and so he was extremely careful and blissfully intoxicated. In his eyes, Summer was flawless. He and Summer were the Perfect Match, predestined by fate, which made him blind to the fact that Summer actually didn’t care about “Knight Rider”, actually liked “The Graduate”, and hadn’t really listened to the music album he gave her. He often chose to make excuses for Summer—perhaps she just hadn’t paid attention, maybe just…

But it was never the case. Because of this, he even failed to see when Summer felt disappointed, when her feelings changed, as well as her sudden kisses as a reminder to him, “You need to do something! Confess to me! Propose to me!” But Tom kept on making excuses, kept believing in Summer, that all this was her coolness and personality. Sometimes he wanted to choose to change her, to change their relationship, not hesitating to argue and get angry, to lose his temper at the goddess, but he never took the final step, the most important step, because he thought, “This is just Summer.”

“Tom’s love for Summer isn’t just about the person Summer is; it’s more about his own ideal pursuit of a romantic state and a love partner.”

Wang Yang glanced at Natalie, who was somewhat perplexed, and he smiled, “This is the imagination space provided by fate and love at first sight; Tom was convinced that Summer was the one, the most perfect partner for him in this lifetime. In fact, he and Summer indeed matched well, but what went wrong later was not because Summer didn’t love him enough or wasn’t good enough, but Summer was a real person, they were a real couple. The sad part is, Tom just couldn’t keep up with the pace.”

After the passion that could cover all had passed, you suddenly realize the other person has flaws, has things about them that dissatisfy you, and worse, repeatedly! Instead of thinking about making concessions, tolerating, or compromising, couples tend to think about changing and controlling each other to achieve the state they want. This leads to the kind of struggles between lovers, and often escalates into life-or-death battles, in this tug-of-war of love, no one is willing to lose.

Tom and Summer’s tug-of-war was a war with mismatched rhythms, and in the end, Summer lost, Tom lost.

After their only period of sweet synchrony, while Tom was still enraptured by the atmosphere of passionate love, yearning for the future, the more mature Summer had already progressed to the next stage. She was no longer satisfied with sweetness or romance; once having something worth caring for, she feared losing it. She wanted security and stability, a relationship, marriage, a brave and dependable man. Yet Tom felt that their relationship was pretty okay. On the one hand, he was very tense, easily going mad whenever Summer was hot and cold; on the other hand, he was quite at ease, enjoying the sweet thrill of their ambiguous relationship.

There was a restrained side to Summer’s character. Although she could quickly be attracted to someone, she would soon begin to coolly evaluate them. This did not mean she didn’t like him. While Tom still thought the world of Summer, she had begun to scrutinize his flaws, feeling that “Tom was a disappointment,” especially when another excellent man appeared. Summer struggled a great deal, but still gave Tom many chances, which he failed to seize.

In fact, Tom was not a cowardly or timid man; he dared to confront flirtatious hecklers with a straight punch in a bar. He wasn’t without the courage to confess; he simply idolized Summer as a goddess.

If it was said that Tom lacked courage, Summer too lacked courage, but she was braver than Tom because she took the initiative in the changes in their emotional phase. However, her feminine reserve and her attitude toward love stopped her from confessing. She believed that step shouldn’t be initiated by a woman; otherwise, what was the point of the romance? That wasn’t what she wanted. When Tom couldn’t give her that, she left.

“I…” Wang Yang said a lot, looking at Natalie’s face, suddenly a bit at a loss for words. When Helen yelled at him over the phone years ago, he didn’t call back because he always thought of Helen’s calls as hearty curses, feeling that it was over just like that. Helen didn’t make a second call; she wouldn’t, as that wasn’t what she wanted. Later, Jessica also waited for him for a while, up until her Thanksgiving dinner invitation, but she wouldn’t confess her feelings; she wanted the guy to make the first move, because “that’s how dating is supposed to be.”

Actually, these were all issues of communication. If both people could sit down and straightforwardly explain their thoughts, everything would be simple, would be solved, wouldn’t it? How many people can do that? Desires are simple, but love is complicated.

“For this next shot, I need you to treat Summer as a muse, make your expressions and smiles more noticeable!” Wang Yang patted Joseph’s shoulder and then instructed Natalie, “But you’re already a beat ahead, have a bit of dissatisfaction towards him, understand?” After saying this, he headed towards the camera, picked up the microphone at his waist, and shouted to everyone, “Everyone get ready, we’ll shoot three more shots and then break for lunch, let’s start!”

A muse? Summer had indeed brought Tom a burst of inspiration; he had become the star of the greeting card company. Natalie handed the script to her assistant and walked toward her mark. Had she ever been Yang’s muse? In the era of “Léon: The Professional”? Suddenly, Natalie realized that whether she had been or not in the past, she never had the “goddess image”; she was more proactive in making confessions and bold statements of pursuit, losing too much to Helen from the start. Yang still needed to go through a summer; he was ready for autumn… A curious error in the timing of their meeting.

“What to eat this weekend?” Hearing a familiar cry of ACTION, Jessica saw the crew starting up not far away and smiled slightly, continuing to flip through the food magazine in her hands.

Sometimes, love can’t be simplified, no matter how much one wishes. Never put a woman on a pedestal as a goddess, and never fully believe a woman’s every word. The question is, if women didn’t act this way, if couples were to clarify every issue between them, wouldn’t every love blossom and bear fruit?

One of the key reasons Tom was infatuated with Summer was precisely because she was like a goddess—cool, elusive, maintaining her distance, not giving a sense of definite security, challenging, and envied by others… All these features added a bittersweet flavor to their romance. If Summer had been more proactive and clarified things, they would have moved on to the “Tom was a disappointment” phase, where the bittersweetness would diminish. The way one positively or negatively enters this phase makes a difference, affecting one’s patience and tolerance for handling the disappointments.

What is certain is that without this goddess allure, Tom wouldn’t have liked her as much—a typical trait in men.

Wang Yang naturally felt the same, and there was a limit to this. If you overdid it, you would really lose the feeling. The more intelligent and mature a woman, the more she knew how to control this limit, making a man willingly take the bait. Of course, everyone’s limit was different. And it wasn’t just the charm that the woman herself exuded that worked; the sweet feelings of heartbeats, passion, and romance during the dating process, as well as the sweet and sour feelings from suspicions and arguments, all stemmed from combining both the positive and negative aspects of love. They all provided nourishment for love.

However, the sweet and sour feelings of love needed to be within a safe range to be wonderful. Wang Yang felt that it was a very intriguing emotion; even though it hurt, it could become endlessly delightful in the blink of an eye. If the sweet and sour were too intense, it would lead to exhaustion, and that fascinating pang in one’s heart would turn into a headache. He remembered how, due to serious differences in college choices, he and Helen had struggled without any wonderful feelings, but instead often experienced heartache, restlessness, and anger. That could be considered torture, but was it still love?

But if there wasn’t even a hint of sweet and sour feelings, could they still be called lovers? These back-and-forth sweet and sour pleasures were parts of being in love, somewhat like a neutralizer for sweetness. Otherwise, the latter could turn into a weary blandness. When a man or a woman lacked interest in teasing, joking with the other, or sparking emotional and physical fluctuations, their love was not far from being over, even if the relationship continued, it would be sustained only on familial affection and dependency.

The reason Wang Yang loved and enjoyed being with Jessica the most was that in every aspect, they were within a safe range and limit, a naturally ideal state with no distance or strife, where two hearts clung tightly together. She wasn’t a goddess; she was a little woman. But how to maintain this ever-burning passion? He never felt they lacked sweetness; but another side of him often silently demanded a taste of the sweet and sour, so he thought he indeed looked for opportunities to be a bad boy… of course, all within a safe range.

It wasn’t deliberate; it was the complex subconscious that would change his thoughts and rationality, driving the development of events. It was like in the occasional argument, where some words were regretted as soon as they were spoken, but the next time an argument happened, the same words would be repeated. With both wonderful sweet and sour and wonderful sweetness, he coaxed her, teased her, loved her, and she did the same for him, creating an incomparable feeling of love. Now the baby had brought another kind of sweet and sour panic, which was very interesting.

This kind of love was nothing like the ambiguous flirting he had purposefully played with Rachel for; not like the fighting with Natalie; nor was it something he could enjoy with Helen. Wang Yang now had a clear understanding; he didn’t think he would miss the love affair with Helen. He had always had trouble letting go, even driving himself to madness and despair. It was not just because he had once deeply loved Helen, nor was it simply because of what she had said about “winning and losing, ” but also because of his pursuit of an ideal state…

In fact, it was a competition with himself, as if not persisting would be met with scorn and mockery from another side of his heart: “Now I see your plan, right?” It wasn’t that he couldn’t let go of Helen, just like Tom couldn’t let go of Summer. What they couldn’t let go of was that architectural blueprint, the drawing on her forearm, the “Goddess Summer” they had adjusted subconsciously, presuming she liked “Knight Rider,” presuming she liked the bands and teams he supported… like the most peaceful and beautiful scenery to him.

It was as if without her, his pursuit and ideals of love would be utterly denied. How could things not develop as he had planned!? Tom thought he and Summer were meant to be together, so why weren’t they? That was supposed to be the destiny! That was his skyscraper of life that he was building! However, when this skyscraper crashed down, it drove him crazy. Wang Yang thought this was why, at that time, he even felt a terrible desolation, as if he hoped the Earth would explode. Nothing mattered anymore, and he hated that things had turned out this way.

But during the post-breakup recovery period, Tom gradually got to know himself again and reevaluated his relationship with Summer: Summer wasn’t a goddess, she wasn’t that cool or that great, he enjoyed the ambiguity, he wasn’t that infatuated with Summer, he was obsessed only with his self-provided blueprint for a lover & a romantic relationship, obsessed with watching it take shape into reality… so was there any such thing as destiny? Summer told him there was, but only with regards to meeting.

“CUT!! That’s a wrap—” With a loud shout from the megaphone, the atmosphere on the set of “500 Days of Summer” immediately became more relaxed.

Wang Yang told the main creative actors from the start that the final film should make the audience feel as if they had experienced both falling in love and breaking up within 2 hours, alternating between sweet and bittersweet feelings.

No matter if it’s “Titanic” or something else, the viewers often don’t truly feel the pain unless there’s an intensely personal resonance, which is still hardly comparable to the effect on believers watching “The Passion of the Christ”. Of course, very few spectators go to the cinema in search of pain, so even if the emotional heartache provided by a romance film reaches a point of uncontrollable crying, it’s still a type of enjoyable emotion, a memorable bittersweet taste. So, while Tom is suffering tremendously on the big screen, the audience watching his frenzied scene might even find it amusing.

Thinking back on his own mad period, Wang Yang felt only immense pain. After receiving that call from Helen, he had picked up a chair and smashed it to pieces in a frenzy—pain, pain, pain! Damn it, where was any sweet and sour?

However, during the viewing process, the audience will follow Tom & Juno through happiness, sweetness, bittersweetness, and sorrow… yet always enjoying it. One key reason is that they know they are watching a movie, a Hollywood romance/drama/comedy. This gives them a sense of safety in their expectations that the story will end well, and who knows, it might even end with everyone happily together in a big, feel-good comedy. Currently, this bittersweetness is just a twist in the tale.

In fact, this is the blueprint the audience takes for granted, so the movie’s ending must be tightly guarded, keeping them entertained with anticipation, hoping against hope, even showing a glimmer of hope midway through the story with Tom and Juno enjoying each other’s company as if to reconcile, only to then hit them with even bigger bittersweetness when Juno gets engaged, so what? The audience rooting for Tom would hope he can pull off a wedding heist like Benjamin in “The Graduate”.

Wang Yang had come to understand why he liked to play with wicked fun, seeking thrills and a taste of sweetness and sourness because deep down, he felt that he knew the end would be good. He could control it, and would automatically adjust her thoughts to “supportive”. Why not when he could make progress in his career and find different kinds of happiness in life? Such thinking is dangerous, however, because if events don’t follow the blueprint… Thankfully, he still knew what a safety margin was, but it seemed that he wouldn’t seek the taste of love in such a way again.

Tom & Juno hadn’t reached such a far stage. He and Summer definitely couldn’t be described as teasing and quarreling, and how he and Autumn would fare remained unknown.

When Wang Yang filmed “High School Musical” in 1998-1999, he didn’t think too much about it, even though he had experienced heartache with Helen. He wouldn’t remember Rachel’s lost voice at the time: “Yang, what do you want? A woman who can be a good friend with whom to share talks and interests?” He knew his thoughts were selfish, thinking he could maintain a happy confidant relationship, just apologizing blindly… In 2000, while filming “Juno”, he hadn’t thought much about it either. Natalie disdainfully said: “I can imagine what love is; but I can’t imagine two people being together forever. That’s too scary, and not very likely. Forever? I don’t believe it.”…

Was he a jerk? Maybe, or maybe not, actually, he wasn’t any kind of cool person, he was just an ordinary guy.

“Haha! What?” Night had fallen over San Francisco, and on the large bed in the luxury hotel suite, two pairs of eyes met, staring intently, unblinkingly at each other. After what seemed like an eternity, Jessica finally burst into clear, ringing laughter, conceding defeat. Wang Yang smiled and raised an eyebrow, “Nothing, just that I’m liking you more and more.” Jessica feigned surprise with her mouth agape, “What about before then? Not at 100% yet?” She stretched out her left hand adorned with a wedding ring and waved it rapidly across his face, to which Wang Yang closed his eyes, “Oh, oh, I’m dizzy, I’m gonna faint…”

“No fainting allowed! Speak clearly.” “What I mean is, no one knows where the limit is, like a black hole constantly devouring, just swallowed another solar system.” “That’s not fair! I just swallowed a whole galaxy.” “Haha!”…(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on qidian.com with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)