【娛事者】《Barbie芭比》影評：超出預期！意料之外的好看－郭靖言

《芭比》的導演，是現年39歲的才女Greta Gerwig，曾執導《小婦人》和《不得鳥小姐》，之前拍的大都是冷門題材的獨立電影。 Greta Gerwig和丈夫Noah Baumbach一起編寫了《芭比》的劇本，Noah本身亦是一名好導演，作品有Netflix出資拍攝的《Marriage Story》。今趟Greta首次拍高成本的A級片，而且題材是Mattel的芭比，如成功的話，芭比電影將成為極具商業價值的IP，結果芭比在美國開畫的成績很理想，Greta Grewig更有機會成為荷李活女導演票房最高一人。

把結論說在頭，《芭比》是喜劇加音樂劇的片種，好笑，歌舞好看，難得是有訊息在內，且說得高明。單求娛樂的觀眾會看得開心，想追求深度的亦會滿意。雖然片種不同，若以整體完成度來說，我認為《芭比》比《奧本海默》優勝，這是我未看這兩部電影之前始料不及的。

其實芭比這題材絲毫不容易處理，若把握不好，隨時會成為一部胡鬧電影。《芭比》故事的脈落有點像《22世紀殺人網絡》，芭比玩具世界和真實世界相互交錯，有一天Margot Robbie忽覺有異樣，原本一直踮高的腳變回平放，又會忽爾想到死亡，為了回復原狀，他和Ryan Gosling演的Ken一起往現實世界，結果卻搞亂了秩序，令芭比玩具世界異變為男性主導，芭比要扭轉形勢，聯同一眾姊妹對付阿Ken為首的男人集團。

《芭比》故事觸及女權主義和性別議題，芭比玩具世界最初全由女人話事，男人只是附屬品，但這個世界一切卻十分虛假，芭比住的屋沒有樓梯和窗，也沒有真的水和食物，喻意女權世界只是一個虛假的烏托邦。當芭比進入人類世界，發覺社會仍是由男性主導時，見到公司管理高層全部是男性，顯得錯愕萬分。

同時阿Ken在現實世界初見到男人掌權，男人是知識的泉源，會興致勃勃向身旁的人講解電影《教父》，一切都激起Ken的權力慾，結果他返回玩具世界即奪權，一班芭比娃娃淪為被統治者。電影用滑稽搞笑的手法，反覆去寫女權和男權的世界，觀眾看到的是無論是女人或男人掌權，被統治者都遭受打壓，因為人的本質是沒有分別的。

電影最有趣的，是其中有一幕講述芭比要由玩具世界往真實世界，講述如何穿梭兩個世界時，情節極像基斯杜化路蘭的《潛行凶間》，當說到如何返回玩具世界時，竟說要倒後行，擺明是戲謔路蘭的《天能》。片首一場芭比玩具誕生的戲，亦是向《2001太空漫遊》致敬；芭比選擇去那一個世界，則是玩《22世紀殺人網絡》。

《芭比》的粉紅色調美術設計，異常出色，成功建構出來一個極具玩味的異世界，和戲中灰灰濛濛的現實世界形成強烈對比，單是看美術已目不暇給。有傳電影因為要用極多粉紅色的漆油，多的程度竟令到粉紅油全球缺貨，可謂十分誇張。

Margot Robbie演的芭比，形神兼備，不作他人選。最驚喜是Ryan Gosling演的Ken，Ken在芭比的世界從來都是可有可無的配角，他在戲中是悲劇人物，Ryan Gosling使出渾身解數，又唱又跳，且不乏內心戲，在看似荒謬搞笑的處境，演到真情真意，著實不容易。

但電影中處理得最出人意表的一個角色，是America Ferrara演的平凡婦人Gloria，全片寫得最精彩的一大段對白，便是由她說出，亦是因為這番說話，喚醒玩具世界中的一眾芭比姊妹。

"It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass.

You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people.

You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.

But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line.

It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know."