克里斯汀娜·里奇(1)

Christina Ricci has been acting most of her life after making her movie debut at age 10 opposite Cher and Winona Ryder in "Mermaids." But aside from the occasional project, such as "Sleepy Hollow," "The Man Who Cried," TV's "Pan Am" and now "Bel Ami," the new adaptation of Guy De Maupassant's 1885 novel, she rarely has had the opportunity to play in period pieces. That's a shame, because she loves them.

"I think what's so interesting with period stuff is that the second you put on the costume and the makeup and everything, you immediately lose a sense of yourself, and that can be incredibly helpful," the 32-year-old actress says during a recent phone call. "In some ways, it makes a performance easier. I'm one of those people who likes to get in costume and likes to play with hair and makeup and just completely get lost in a world that's make-believe. I think it's more fun."

"Fun" might not be a word one normally associates with De Maupassant's story of Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson), a poor boy from Normandy who lands in Victorian-era Paris after military service in Algeria. Georges is a climber who uses a tabloid newspaper and a bevy of society beauties to facilitate his rise to the top. Among the women he seduces is Clotilde de Marelle, the lonely wife and mother Ricci portrays.

克里斯汀娜·里奇（Christina Ricci）年龄不大，资历却颇丰。她10岁时就首次登上荧屏，与雪儿（Cher）、薇诺娜·瑞德（Winona Ryder）合作电影《美人鱼》（Mermaids，另有译作《浪漫俏佳人》、《风情妈咪俏女儿》，译者注）。但这么多年来克里斯汀娜演过的历史题材作品只有寥寥可数的几部，如《断头谷》（Sleepy Hollow）、《纵情四海》（The Man Who Cried）、剧集《泛美航空》（Pan Am）以及如今这部改编自莫泊桑小说的《漂亮朋友》（Bel Ami）。这实在是有些遗憾，因为她很爱历史片。

“我觉得演这类电影或剧集的有趣之处就在于，一旦你穿上戏服化上妆一切准备就绪，你就会立即忘掉现实中的自己，这确实对表演大有帮助，”这位32岁的女演员在近期一次电话采访中表示，“在某种程度上，这些元素都让人更容易入戏。我就属于那种喜欢那种感觉的人：那些旧时的戏服、假发、妆容等等都让我彻底融入了情节中，认为那就是我所存在的世界。这能带给我很多乐趣。”

“乐趣”这一词通常不会被用于形容莫泊桑的作品《漂亮朋友》。故事的主角乔治·杜洛瓦（Georges Duroy）是个来自诺曼底的贫穷男孩，于阿尔及利亚服役的生涯结束后来到维多利亚时期的巴黎。乔治凭借自己漂亮的外貌引诱上流社会的女人们，以达到自己向上爬的目的。克里斯汀娜在片中扮演被乔治引诱的名媛之一：克洛蒂尔德·马莱尔夫人（Clotilde de Marelle）。

克里斯汀娜·里奇(2)

"In the book, she's much more sort of greedy, a little slovenly, kind of a grotesque character in a way. She and Georges keep coming back to each other because they're two of a kind," Ricci says.

"They changed that (for the film). I think they wanted him to have somebody the audience could really empathize with and have somebody who gets dragged in, who was fairly normal and just kind of innocent in the whole thing. To see that person deal with someone like this I feel helps the audience connect, especially when the main character is such an antihero."

The way screenwriter Rachel Bennette transformed Clotilde from a kind of female counterpart to Georges to someone far more innocent intrigued Ricci. This was a character she sensed might be bored in her gilded cage and lonely with a husband often away, but who is nevertheless basically content.

"I just thought that it was interesting to play one of those rare people who really has had a happy life," she says. "This is really the first time that she experiences unhappiness. It's because of Georges, and we get to see that.

"Why does she keep going back to him?" she adds. "I realized that she's probably very, very naive. She's almost like a teenage girl in her first relationship, not realizing that this person who hurt you so badly is not going to change. If you've always been sheltered and this is your first encounter with someone who's dysfunctional or a relationship that is unhealthy, you don't have the sort of wherewithal to just end it. You kind of keep going back a little bit."

“原著中的克洛蒂尔德（比电影版）更贪婪、有点懒散，可以说还有些可笑。她和乔治分分合合多次只因为他们根本是同一种人。”克里斯汀娜说。

“但在电影里这一角色的形象有些改变。我觉得编剧是希望在乔治的女人们中有一个能够让观众感同身受的存在，她是一个被无辜卷入的局外人，一个普普通通的女人。克洛蒂尔德作为旁观者见证乔治的所作所为，这种视角能够给观众一些共鸣感，尤其当主角是个令人反感的人物时。”

正是剧作家蕾切尔·贝奈特（Rachel Bennette）对克洛蒂尔德一角所做的改编让克里斯汀娜产生了兴趣。由此，她感受到这一角色光鲜的生活和孤寂的内心。

“我觉得扮演这样一个过着人人羡慕的生活的女人很有趣，”她表示，“她年轻美貌有名有利，初尝悲伤的滋味是因为乔治，在片中你会看到这些的。”

“为什么她会一次次重回乔治的怀抱？我想大概是因为她很傻很天真。她就像个第一次恋爱的十几岁女孩，根本没有意识到那个曾伤害她的男人永远都是本性难移。如果你是那种没受过挫折的温室花朵，当你第一次遇见某个不值得的人或某段不健康的感情，你根本没有能力去果断地结束这一切。你会念念不忘，再一次一次吃回头草。”

克里斯汀娜·里奇(3)

Directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod are longtime theater veterans who make the jump to film with "Bel Ami," and Ricci credits a habit they carried from their stage work with helping her and Pattinson develop their characters' relationship. Not every film allows for much preparation, but rehearsals were extensive on "Bel Ami." For the two actors, it was a chance to define their characters and their relationship and also to get to know one another, crucial to the way Clotilde and Georges' relationship begins, almost in fun during a game between the two and Clotilde's young daughter.

"It's got to be light and fun and silly," Ricci says of that scene. "It was great that we got to spend so much time at rehearsal, because we just developed that silly, goofing-around relationship.

导演德克兰·多纳兰（Declan Donnellan）与尼克·奥曼罗（Nick Ormerod）都是资深的戏剧导演，《漂亮朋友》是他们首次执导的电影。克里斯汀娜表示，她确信两位导演执导舞台剧时形成的风格大大帮助了她和男主角罗伯特·帕丁森（Robert Pattinson）的对手戏进入佳境。并不是每部电影都有足够的时间来给演员热身，《漂亮朋友》正式拍摄前却有过大量的彩排。对于两位演员来说，这是各自揣摩角色和彼此磨合的大好时机。戏中克洛蒂尔德和乔治的关系开端、两人与克洛蒂尔德的小女儿嬉戏的情节都因此而酝酿得更加自然圆熟。

“那个情节是轻松愉快又有点傻的，”克里斯汀娜谈到那场戏时表示，“能够事先花足够的时间彩排才能找对感觉，因为那场戏多少有点像在隐喻乔治和克洛蒂尔德之间的关系：有点傻，又很胡闹。”