白灵接受Times Online采访
燝凝胡
Online的网站上刊登了对白灵的采访，原文标题是：The
riddle inside a Chinese puzzle——The actress Bai Ling both beguiles
and bewilders Wendy Ide，以下是全文（稍候会有中文翻译）
At 13 the actress Bai Ling joined the Chinese People’s Liberation
Army and spent three years entertaining the troops in Tibet. She was a
star in her native China by the end of her teens. She claims that an
involvement in the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989
hastened her move to America by the age of 20.
She quickly secured her first role in a Hollywood film, The Crow, then
was temporarily banned from returning to China after co-starring with
Richard Gere in Red Corner. She claims that her small role in Star
Wars: Episode III was excised from the film after she was photographed
nude for the cover of Playboy.
At 36 she’s as well known for trashy celeb-reality shows and
gynaecologically short skirts as for her roles in acclaimed art-house
pictures. She claims that deep down she is still a shy Chinese girl,
but during the 2005 Berlinale film festival, her privates were revealed
with such monotonous regularity that the German tabloids nicknamed her
“die Berlinackte” (the Berlinaked). She’s an explosion of
mismatched accessories and contradictions.
But although Ling is quite possibly as mad as a bag of snakes, she’s
never less than thoroughly entertaining. We meet on a yacht during the
Cannes Film Festival. It’s hard to miss — it’s adorned with a
sultry picture of the actress doing her well-practised lens-melting
smoulder. This is not just an interview, it’s the Bai Ling show.
The morning’s look is retro-futurism by way of Andy Warhol’s
factory — a mini-dress that looks as if it was sliced out of a
Bridget Riley painting; sparkling earrings that dust her shoulders;
thick smears of emerald eye-shadow. She’s so slim that even at its
widest her body is no thicker than the average person’s thigh. Her
formidable work ethic is such that ten hours later she’s on her sixth
outfit, still flinging come-hither poses at any photographer within
striking distance.
She’s in Cannes for two reasons — to attend the premiere of Richard
Kelly’s Southland Tales (she has a supporting role) and to promote
her next project, a German adaptation of Wei Hui’s novel Shanghai
Baby that is scheduled to start production in the autumn. But our main
topic of conversation is a marvellously macabre satire of the beauty
industry called Dumplings and a role which has earned Ling a great deal
of respect and several awards.
Written and directed by Fruit Chan and shot by the legendary
Christopher Doyle, Dumplings was extended from a short film about an
enigmatic Chinese woman called Aunt Mei (Ling) who makes a living
selling special youth-giving dumplings to the vain and ageing of Hong
Kong high society. The active ingredient is aborted human foetuses.
Aunt Mei is a fantastically trashy mismatch of gaudy designer labels
topped with a knowing smile.
But according to Ling, this trafficker of illicit beauty is actually a
master of Zen Buddhism. “The best Buddhism teachers, they don’t
give you answers. They test you, they challenge you, like she did to
me. She doesn’t force people to take the dumplings. She says, if you
take it, it’s your own fault.”
The theme of the film — that women are encouraged by the beauty
industry to associate self-worth with youth and attractiveness — must
have a particular resonance for someone who works in an industry that
really does treat women as commodities to be regularly replaced by
newer models. Ling disagrees. “I don’t think like that. I think you
have your own journey, your own gifts to give and receive. If you’re
not worried, your beauty is in your spirit.”
Which is all very well as long as you’re a jaw-dropping beauty who
can (almost) get away with a bikini top and a couple of belts as a
red-carpet ensemble.
It may be a linguistic peculiarity, but Ling often seems to confuse
herself with her characters when describing both her own traits and
those of the women she plays on screen. Her theory about her own
multiple identities (“I realise I have these eight little spirits in
me”) seems defined by the roles she plays. “There are of course
modern, sexy, hip ones, like how I dress now, like the one I play in
Shanghai Baby, she’s a writer, she’s sexy, she’s open, I have all
these multiple lovers. Also I am very wise in a way, like the character
I play in Dumplings. Also innocent — I show my vulnerability, I show
my heart. I speak the truth.”
The character in Shanghai Baby is clearly one that Ling feels
particularly close to. And it is also the one likely to trigger another
run-in with the Chinese Government. The book was banned in China for
its decadence and sexually explicit material. Ling is resigned to
another stormy reception. “All my life I feel like I have been
writing apology letters — to my parents, to my schoolteacher, to my
army leader, to my government.”
The more conservative members of Chinese society have issues with
Ling’s more outré escapades. “They see the short dresses,” she
says, grabbing her skirt impatiently. “But they don’t know about by
spirit and my soul. There is intelligence there.”
If she’s defensive of her Shanghai Baby character, it’s perhaps
because the parallels with her own life are obvious. Ling, like her
character, is an aspiring novelist; both are perceived as being
“wild”.
“Normally, in western culture, a writer is conservative, serious,
boring sometimes. If you are a sexy, modern girl, you are an actress or
a rock star. Why does a writer have to be boring or an actress have to
be stupid? I’m doing all that together in the most intelligent,
intriguing, dangerous, charming, romantic, sexy woman in the world. But
also beautifully sensitive and vulnerable.”
PS：Dumplings is at the ICA, SW1, on June 16 and around the country
from June 30
原文链接：http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27870-2205027,00.html
燝凝胡
关于白灵的采访报道的全文翻译，仅供参考：
标题：中国神秘里谜一样的人物——诱惑人又使人迷惑的白灵
作者：温迪•艾德
白灵13岁时加入了中国人民解放军并在西藏军队待了三年。在她的故乡中国，当她即将告别年少岁月时，她已经是一个明星了。她声称是1989年被卷入天安门民主抗议游行这件事促使她20岁时来到美国的。
她很快便在好莱坞拿到了自己的第一个角色，“乌鸦”，之后，她又由于和理查•基尔合演“红角落”而被暂时禁止入境中国大陆。她说她在“星球大战3”中的小角色之所以被删除是因为她的裸体上了《花花公子》的封面。
36岁时，她因为在毫无意义的明星真人秀节目中的表现和在所谓的艺术照片中穿着妇科专用短裤而声名远扬。她说其实在内心深处她仍然是个害羞的中国女孩儿，但在2005年的柏林电影节上，她在单调沉闷的规则中曝光了自己的私处，这使得德国小报昵称她为“die
Berlinackte（赤裸柏林）”。她是各种错误搭配的饰品和自相矛盾的表达的混合体。
虽然灵很有可能有点儿疯狂，但她从没有失去丝毫娱乐性。嘎纳电影节期间，我们俩在游艇上见面，那真是不可错过的采访——这位女演员熟练地做到了使镜头闷燃的种种恐怖的动作。这不仅是次采访，这还是白灵的个人表演节目。
在Andy Warhol的工厂，穿着迷你裙的白灵好像是Bridget
Riley油画中的一个剪影：脸上涂着浓厚的翡翠绿眼影，闪亮的耳坠垂在她的肩膀上——这一切在晨光中给人一种回到未来的奇幻感觉。她看上去亭亭玉立,
十分苗条，即便她身体上最宽的部分也没有一般人的大腿粗。她令人敬畏的工作观念就是,
十小时后她将带着她的第六套这样的行头,
一如既往地冲到
任何一个摄影师的视线范围之内并摆出一个极度诱惑人的姿势。
她来嘎纳有两个原因——出席Richard
Kelly的“南方传奇（Southland
Tales）”（她是其中一个配角），另外宣传她的下一部电影：根据卫慧小说改编的“上海宝贝”，这部德国人投资的新片计划今年秋天开拍。但是我这次采访的主题是令人赞叹的讽刺追求美貌的惊悚电影“三更2饺子”，在这部电影里出色表演使灵赢得了众人的尊重和许多奖项。
由陈果编剧并导演、杜可风（Doyle）拍摄的“饺子”是由一部短片延伸出来的，故事讲述了一个谜一般的、高深莫测的中国女人媚姨（灵扮演）专门给香港上层社会里空虚的贵妇包可以使她们青春常驻的神奇饺子的故事。这种饺子的主要成分是流产的婴儿。媚姨是一个脸上带着诡异笑容，看上去懂得很多，而实际全都没什么用处的华而不实的空想家。
但白灵说这个干着非法美容生意的家伙实际上是个禅宗大师：“最好的佛教法师不会直接告诉你答案。他们会试探你，给你挑战，就像她对我做的那样。她并没有强迫别人吃那些饺子，她说，如果你吃了，那就是你自己的错。”
女人在现代美容工业的怂恿下将自身价值和年轻、具有吸引力紧密联系在一起——这部电影的主题一定已经引起了一批观众的共鸣，特别是那些在美容工业中工作的人们，他们就是那些拼命让女人们被更新的模特取代，将女人们视为商品的人。但灵并不同意：“我并不认为是这样的。我觉得每个人有自己的人生历程，你用自己的天赋去付出和索取。只要你不担心，你的美丽就在自己的心灵里。”
这听上去好像是说，如果你是一个下巴掉下来的美人，但你能把比基尼上装和两根带子当作是整套泳装一样穿着它走出门，那么一切就没事儿。
这样理解可能是因为她语言上的特色，但灵经常在描述她自己的性格和她扮演的角色时将她自己和她的角色混为一谈。她的多重性格理论（“我的身体里有八个小精灵”）看来由她演的人物决定。“当然有些人既摩登、性感，又聪明机灵，就像我现在穿的这样，就我即将在‘上海宝贝’里演的人那样，她是个作家，她性感，开放，我拥有所有这些多重的特点。而且就像我在‘饺子’里演的人物那样，在某些方面，我非常聪明。另外，我很单纯——我会表现出我的弱点和我的内心。我说的是真的。”
“上海宝贝”里的角色无疑是灵感觉最吻合自己的一个，此外这个角色也将成为另一个引发中国政府责难的原因，因为这部电影的小说曾由于内容颓废以及直白的性爱描写而被禁止出版发行。灵已经决心再次迎接暴风雨般的反应：“我感觉我的生活中始终在写道歉信——给我的父母写，给我的小学老师写，给我的军队领导写，给我的政府写。”
与灵荒诞的出轨行为相比，中国社会有许多更加保守的人对她的表现评头论足。
“他们看见我穿短裙，”她一边不耐烦地拽了一下衬衣一边说，“但他们并不知道我的精神和灵魂，那里有我的智慧。”
很显然，她自己的生活态度和“上海宝贝”里她的角色的一样是守势。灵，正如她的角色一样，是一个心怀抱负、充满热望的小说家，同时人们也能从她身上觉察到一种“野性”。
“在西方文化中，作家通常是保守的、严肃的，有时有些无趣，如果你是一个性感、现代的女孩儿，那你就是一个女演员或当个摇滚歌手。为什么作家非得令人生厌，或者女演员就得是傻瓜？我正在把这个世界上最有才智，最动人的，最危险的，最妩媚的，最浪漫最性感的女性形象结合到一块儿，但她们依然美丽、敏感、脆弱。”
附：“三更2饺子”六月16日在现代艺术学院(ICA,
SW1)上映，六月30日全英公映。
ICA“饺子”网页：http://www.ica.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=14931
Times Online：http://www.timesonline.co.uk/global/