From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

People often say that the person who hurts you the most is often the one you love the most.

Because we are accustomed to being unreserved in front of those we deeply love, shedding our armor and exposing our weaknesses.

Also, because we care, only when we truly care can attacks leave the deepest wounds.

However, is this correct?

The person who truly hurts you is not the enemy, but the lover? Clearly in love, yet hurting each other?

Or rather, clearly the person you deeply love, why do they become so hateful in your eyes?

The scene freezes, only the sound from the radio echoes; but this scene intertwines with the image of the villa falling apart, evolving into a large net, slowly tightening, making it hard to breathe.

That kind of sadness is silent.

Finally, Clementine breaks the silence, "I wouldn't do that."

Joel closes his eyes in despair, "I don't think you would."

Everything originates from his own insecurity, inferiority, and fear, yet he refuses to admit it, so he uses the worst and darkest thoughts to blame others.

Clementine, "Because I wouldn't."

Joel, "I know."

Clementine, "It really hurts when you say that, because I'm really not that kind of person."

Joel, "I'm sorry…"

Joel tries to open his mouth to explain himself, but Clementine can't continue to sit down.

That glass of whiskey remains untouched, Clementine simply puts it aside, stands up, and doesn't even want to look Joel in the eyes.

Joel, "Goodbye."

Clementine pauses, a thousand words on her lips, but in the end, she swallows them down, "No matter what, I'm glad to have met you."

Clementine leaves, walking faster and faster, she just wants to escape here as soon as possible.

Joel stands at the door, looking lost—

Not just sadness, not just loss, but more of a complexity and a tug-of-war, words cannot describe the mood at this moment; and in the radio, his voice is still endlessly nagging.

He never knew he had so many complaints.

"…But I don't understand her at all. After spending so much time with her, I realized she's a stranger, it's such a pity…"

Clementine is running away, almost in a fleeing posture.

At the end of the corridor, Joel appears, panting.

"Wait!"

Clementine stops, turns to look at Joel, but can barely control herself, tears welling up in her eyes, that sadness, that despair, that anger, that pain is about to break, "What is it?"

Joel is also full of bitterness, "I don't know. I just wanted to call out to you…"

Clementine, "What do you want, Joel?"

Joel, "Wait a moment, I don't know, just wait a bit… I just hope… you… can wait… a bit… just a bit."

The two of them fall silent, without any sound, even the sound of breathing has disappeared, they just look at each other, quietly watching each other.

Almost suffocating.

The entire Angelica Film Center is silent, afraid to breathe, afraid to move, for fear that a little sound might break the peace before them.

The wind howls, causing the big screen to ripple gently, light and shadow stir in the field of vision, and emotions also ripple in layers.

So, what is the audience expecting?

A happy and perfect ending? Or an ending where everyone is well?

When the audience watches a movie, they often have expectations, a positive or negative ending, an ending where justice triumphs or evil retaliates, in the narrative process, the movie always silently guides, and finally ushers in an ending.

However, before them, they don't understand.

Unable to judge and unable to start, there is no answer.

Should they expect Clementine and Joel to reconcile? Or hope that Clementine and Joel stop hurting each other, say goodbye, and become strangers from now on?

If Clementine and Joel get back together, won't they repeat the same mistakes? Just like Dr. Howard and Mary, re-entering the same river?

Joel and Clementine seem to have cleared their memories and forgotten each other, but they find each other again and fall in love again as if by fate, is this a signal?

So, does love really have destiny?

Countless possibilities surge in the mind, full of bitterness, sighing unbearably, but unable to accurately distinguish.

Time, at this moment, pauses, only oneself and one's own thoughts accompany, traveling in the world of light and shadow.

Then.

Clementine couldn't control herself, panting heavily, tears welling up in her eyes, "Okay."

Joel also takes a deep breath, "Really?"

Joel comes to Clementine, keeps a distance, stops, and looks at Clementine with a slightly restrained and nervous expression.

Clementine barely regains her composure, "Joel, don't objectify me, I'm just a messed-up girl trying to find inner peace."

The corners of the mouths of thousands of viewers in front of the big screen rise at the same time—

In Joel's brain, Joel and Clementine's second meeting, Joel went to B\u0026N to find Clementine, Clementine had said exactly the same sentence.

Clementine doesn't know, she looks at Joel, looking a little tired, "I'm not perfect."

However, Joel doesn't know either, because the memories have been completely deleted, "I can't see any flaws in you."

Clementine, "But you will find them. You can't see them now, but you will eventually find them."

Clementine, "You'll start thinking. I'll start feeling bored and trapped, because that's me, I'm that kind of person."

Clementine pours out all her thoughts, because she knows that what she said in her tape is all true.

This is also her worry.

Joel doesn't interrupt, just listens quietly, until Clementine finishes speaking, and finally nods gently, "Okay."

No vows of eternal love, no self-help platitudes, no extravagant words.

Joel just says, "Okay."

Clementine is stunned, looking at Joel blankly.

Joel looks at Clementine quietly, attentively, and seriously, just standing there, the curve of his mouth naturally rising slightly.

The world quiets down, it seems that only the sound of one's own heart hitting the chest is beating, all the complexities, all the tug-of-war, all the hesitations all quiet down.

Then, Clementine looks into Joel's eyes, and also nods gently, "Okay."

You look at me, I look at you.

Clementine can no longer control herself, tears streaming down her face, sobbing, a smile blooming in the tears, nodding randomly, repeating constantly.

"Okay. Okay!"

Finally, Clementine looks at Joel, Joel looks at Clementine, the two of them are like fools, inexplicably bursting into laughter through tears—

Two lunatics.

After the smile blooms, it can't be stopped, they just stand in the corridor looking at each other, bending forward and backward, the smile can't be stopped at all.

Haha, hahaha.

Laughter echoes in the corridor.