艺术的力量（2006）

the first Revolutionary I calls.
它是为了让你相信某些东西
and it tells you to believe.
其精妙之处在于事实上它是在告诉人们一个故事
Its genius lies in the fact that it's also a story for the people.
曾经以来 这位英雄并非罗马人 但他确实他们其中一员
For once, the hero isn't Roman, he's one of them.
对于高唱马赛曲的人们来说 这是第一幅称得上伟大的作品
It's the first great work for the faces in the crowd,
我们几乎能感受得到大卫当时的想象内容
You can almost feel David imagining whole families in front of this painting,
那就像是一个把面对这幅画的人群视为自己的孩子的父亲在诉说着 看吧 这里就是我的墨水池
a father saying to his children, ''Look, there's his inkwell."
还有阴险的科黛带来的那封信 上面沾满了伟人马拉的鲜血
''Look, there's the letter of the wicked Corday, stained with the blood of the good Marat.''
作品并没有展示马拉寓所面貌的意思
But David is not showing the letter that got Corday into Marat's house,
没有十字交叉挂在墙上的手♥枪♥ 也没有仿造的柱子
No crossed pistols hanging on the wall, no fake columns.
在画面整个上部代之以的是模糊松散的一笔
Instead, the entire top half of the painting is filled with loose, feathery strokes
那可以是墙壁或者仅仅是模模糊糊的空间
that could be wall or just indeterminate space.
那代表的是永恒
The space of forever.
但是那个盒子 带着木质条纹 显得很坚硬
But then that box, grainy, solid.
盒子仿佛在说 他是你们中的一员 他也很贫穷 也受过苦难
''He was one of you, '' the box says. ''One of the poor and suffering.
但是你们却不能达到他这样的高度
''But now you can't reach him.''
没有人可以 除非通过这幅画
''No one can, except through this. ''
但是当你看得入神的时候
But even while you're held spellbound,
你内心会发出另一个声音 别着急
another voice inside your head says, ''Hold on a minute,''
这是一种最纯洁的魔力
''this is the purest witchcraft.''
大卫的目的是去美化一个偏执狂
What David has done here is to glorify a paranoid,
这个偏执狂的最大满足就是去迫♥害♥那些
whose greatest satisfaction was the persecution of thousands of people
对政♥治♥冷淡的人
whose only crime was to be lukewarm about politics.
这无疑是恐怖的帮凶
This is an accomplice of terror.
当然 这永远不会发生在背叛了艺术的大卫身上
Of course, it never occurred to David that he was betraying art.
他也许会说 噢 不 我是在践行艺术最高尚的目标
''Oh, no,'' he would have said.'' I'm fulfilling its highest, noblest purpose,
即道德的再教育
''that of moral re-education.''
这与教堂里悬挂的那些祭坛装饰没有什么两样
''That's what all those altarpieces that once hung in churches did,''
但是那些东西都是谎言和童话
''but those were all lies and fairytales.''
我们现在有了一座新的‘教堂’ 那是关于革命的美德的
''We have a new church now, the church of revolutionary virtue. ''
那么我为什么会喜欢大卫呢
So why do I like David?
其实我并不喜欢他 他是个怪物
Well, I don't. He's a monster.
但是他能让信念的烈焰在冰中燃起
But he makes ideas blaze in dry ice.
而这一切的关键是什么呢
And what was the point of it all?
其实 这是对机智 闲谈和善意的玩笑的报复
Well, it's a revenge on wit, on chat and on banter.
而且还不仅仅如此
But it was more than that.
这是一种让那些观看这幅作品的人成为有道德的良好市民的艺术
This is art designed to make those who saw it virtuous citizens.
而且它是如此的完美 如此的富有悲剧色彩又富有诗意 以至于你几乎真的要相信了
And it's all so perfect, so tragic, so poetic you almost believe it.
但是如同许多增进人性仁慈的艺术技巧一样
But like a lot of art designed to improve humanity,
它也有反作用
it has the opposite effect.
因为它是一个谎言
Because it's a lie.
在马拉遇刺后过了三个月
Three months after the assassination of Marat,
1793年10月 玛丽.安东尼蒂被送上了断头台
on October 16th, 1793, Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine.
大卫看着押运她的囚车经过街道
David saw her tumbrel going down the street,
人们摩拳擦掌
while people spat in their hands
都使劲儿想往这个曾经的皇后身上吐唾沫
and tried to throw the gobs on the woman who'd been queen.
对于这位皇后 大卫无动于衷
He sketched her impassively.
但是在玛丽.安东尼蒂的命运中得到了更为重要的东西
But David's got more important things on his mind than the fate of Marie Antoinette.
他如今已是大革命宣传部主任
He's now the official director of revolutionary propaganda,
他全身心投入了工作 其它事情一概不管
to the exclusion of practically everything else.
当妻子对他这种热情表示不赞成时，他便与妻子离了婚
When his wife disapproved of his zeal, he divorced her.
如今大卫已经成了一个执行者 他坐在安全委员会办公室里
David has become an enforcer, sitting on the Committee for General Security,
他对那些革命立场不坚定者穷追不舍直至抓获 然后便签署他们的死刑授权书
hunting down the treacherously half-hearted, signing warrants for their execution.
恐怖蔓延开来
The terror had begun,
大卫也成了杀人机器的一部分
and David had become part of the great engine of killing.
而且随着杀戮愈发不可收拾
And as the tempo of the guillotine got faster,
大卫忙于筹划场面更为壮观的公众展示来教育民众
David busied himself with ever more extravagant spectacles to educate the people.
数千人一起高唱颂歌♥ 在巴士底狱竖立雕像
Casts of thousands, massed singing virgins, statues on the site of the Bastille.
一个“上帝”的庆祝日
Two women, then, the good mother and the bad Corday.
主角是大革命的大祭司罗伯斯皮尔
starring the high priest of the Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre.
最终 大卫为自己的成功付出了代价
In the end, David was a victim of his own success.
那个发动战争的精明人深谙枪炮和面包的才是主角
The hard-nosed men who were running the war knew that bread and guns mattered,
圣女和鸽子则不值一提
and virgins and doves didn't.
所以大卫并不仅仅是个娱乐而是个威胁（有些喧宾夺主） 所以必须得除掉
So David wasn't just a distraction, he was a menace. Get rid of him.
而且大卫的垮台与罗伯斯皮尔的命运也有着千丝万缕的联♥系♥
And David's downfall was inextricably linked to the fate of Robespierre.
渐渐的 人们不再认为罗伯斯皮尔是革命的救世主
Increasingly, Robespierre was spoken of
而是个暴君
not as saviour of the Revolution, but tyrant,
而大卫则是这个暴君的粉饰者 所以不可避免的要随着暴君灭亡
and David, the window-dresser of his tyranny, was going down with him.
罗伯斯皮尔在国民大会上受到攻讦 有人喊出了那个可怕的字眼 无法无天的
Robespierre was attacked in the Convention, the dreaded words ''outside the law'' uttered.
大卫此时对大家表明了
Incredulous, David made a spectacle of himself.
他叫道 哥们儿别怕
''Robespierre,'' he shouted.
如果你喝毒药 我就和你一起喝
''If you drink the hemlock, I will drink it with you. ''
但是他当然没有这样做
But of course, he didn't.
次日 大卫突然身体不适 所以错过了殉难的机会
The next day, David was suddenly indisposed, so he missed his own date with martyrdom.
当罗伯斯皮尔被送上断头台时 大卫并没有在他身边
He was not there beside Robespierre when he was guillotined
铡刀落处 人头落地
and the blade at last came down on the terror.
但是他们并没有放过大卫
But they came for David, nonetheless.
他被判定为艺术的暴君 大卫尝试为自己辩护
Vilified as tyrant of the arts, David tried to stammer a defence.
没有人搞清楚他在说什么 但是人们都注意到了他脸色的苍白
No one could understand what he was saying, but they noticed how pale he was,
冷汗浸透衣衫 滴到了地板上
how the sweat ran through his clothes and dripped onto the floor.
在监狱里他设法搞到了一些颜料 为自己画了一幅肖像
In prison, he managed to get hold of some paints and he painted this self-portrait.
你能看到那个著名的肿块 以及他那扭曲的脸庞
You can see the famous tumour and the twist it gives to his face,
但是真♥相♥远远没有结束
but that's as far as the truth goes.
因为我们看到的肯定不是那个宣传大♥师♥
Because what we're seeing is not the old propaganda master, that's for sure,
而是那个意气风发的年轻大卫
but young David, 20 years at least taken off,
一脸天真 头发飘扬
all innocent, hair romantically dishevelled,
敞开的外套 展示的是他那颗透明纯净的心
coat open to expose his pure, transparent heart.
他正在拨弄着调色板和画笔
And he's done himself with palette and brushes.
他仿佛在说 为什么是我呢
''Why me?'' it says.
我只不过是区区一个画家
''I'm just a painter. ''
是的 没错儿
Yeah, right.
入了歧途 是吧 难道只是尽了些本分
Led astray, were you? Just doing your job?
我不这么认为
I don't think so.
但是猜猜会发生什么事情呢 这种恳求手段奏效了
But guess what? The art plea worked.
大卫被释放了
David got out of prison,
然后他花了一整年时间去创作了这幅无可争议的肖像作品
and spent the next years doing spectacular, uncontroversial portraits like this.
这就是他的妹夫赛里齐阿特夫先生
Monsieur Seriziat, his brother-in-law.
这就是英勇的大革命现在的模样
This is what the Revolution of the virtuous had become,
共和国的三色旗变成了一个时尚装饰品
the Republican tricolour reduced to a fashion accessory.
而且当他创作历史题材的作品时 都是在恳求制止暴♥力♥杀戮
When he does do history paintings, they're pleas to stop killing.
大卫作品的政♥治♥意味渐渐淡去 对吗
No more politics, then, for Jacques-Louis David, right?
绝对错
Wrong.
那个内心深处的恶魔从来就没有离开
The old demon never really goes away.
一旦被权力所侵噬 你就会终生期待着被侵噬
Once bitten by power, you stay bitten.
既然能粉饰马拉 为什么就不能去粉饰拿破仑呢
He airbrushed Marat, why shouldn't he airbrush Napoleon?
当拿破仑于1805年被加冕时
When Napoleon was crowned emperor in 1805,
大卫马上就投靠了他
David was slavishly at his side, official glamoriser.
但是当拿破仑被击败后 君主政体又恢复了
But then, of course, Napoleon was defeated, the monarchy restored.
众多拿破仑支持者都被赦免了
Lots of Napoleon-lovers were forgiven,
除了大卫
but not David.
因为他做了一些不可宽恕的事情
He'd done something that could never be forgiven.
就是这个
He'd done this,
这是关于一个恐怖制♥造♥者的一幅声名狼藉的作品
the most notorious image produced by the terror.
法国已经受够了雅克-路易·大卫
France had had enough of Jacques-Louis David.
他被驱逐出境 最终客死布鲁塞尔
Banished from his own country, David ended up here in Brussels,
在那里他龙困浅水
where he did paintings of increasingly high-gloss weirdness,
以画些风景画和肖像为生
a big fish in a very small pond.
在法国 人们则把他当作一个老古董来谈论
In France, they mostly talked about him as a back number,
噢 大卫 就是那个“布鲁斯”是吧 他死了没有啊
''Oh, David, Brutus and all that. Isn't he dead?''
当他真的于1825年12月去世时
When he did die, in December, 1825,
法国政♥府♥禁止他的家人把尸体运回国内安葬
the government in Paris refused permission for his family to bring the body home.
弑君犯上者是不会受到宽恕的
No king-killers allowed.
如今尽管大卫的作品公开出♥售♥
David's paintings, though, were up for sale.
此前这些作品也都得以公开展览 但是唯独“马拉之死”这幅作品没有
Before that, they were put on public display. Not, however, the notorious Marat.
它被保存在大卫儿子的家里
That was kept under guard at the artist's son's house.
并由私家卫队看守
Admission by private arrangement.
如果你能看上一眼 你就会明白个中缘由了
And you take a look at it and you know why.
如果真有幅作品能够体现出那种致死的美丽的话
If ever there was a work of art that says that beauty can be lethal,
那无疑就是大卫的这幅作品 马拉之死
it's Jacques-Louis David's Death of Marat.