“Everything Everywhere All at Once”＜媽的多重宇宙＞

愛、生活、人生系列

“Everything Everywhere All at Once”＜媽的多重宇宙＞
第一部分：千生·萬事 (Part 1: Everything)
移民美國的華人女性王秀蓮(小蓮)，與丈夫威門，經營著一家自助洗衣店，因為稅務問題，被美國國稅局審計。在夫妻關係不再親密下，威門打算和小蓮離婚。此時，小蓮忙著照顧她那嚴苛並患有失智症的父親(公公)，適應美國生活，女兒喬伊亦正想把女朋友貝琪，介紹給爺爺認識。因為瑣事忙得焦頭爛額的小蓮，向父親介紹貝琪時，謊稱貝琪是喬伊的好友，喬伊因此負氣離開。下午，夫妻倆帶著公公前去國稅局，與稽查員包蒂垂會面。威門的身體突然被阿法宇宙(Alphaverse) 的威門接管，性格也發生了變化。阿法威門告訴小蓮，這世上有許多平行宇宙，人們每做一個選擇，就會分裂出另一個宇宙。在已故的阿法小蓮領導下，阿法宇宙的人民，發明出「宇宙搖」(verse-jumping)技術，只要戴上狀似免持聽筒的傳送器，同時滿足特定條件，人們就可以將意識，傳輸到另一個平行宇宙，獲取另一個自己的技能、記憶和情感。阿法威門解釋說，平行宇宙正受到神祕壞蛋「豬八土扒姬」威脅，小蓮是阻止「豬八土扒姬」的關鍵。小蓮在阿法威門指導下，善用其他宇宙的技能，迎戰宇宙搖傳過來的「豬八土扒姬」手下。小蓮在意識傳送過程中，發現自己在其他宇宙，過著光鮮亮麗的人生。在成為巨星的宇宙裏，小蓮拒絕與威門結婚，也沒有移民美國，開洗衣店，威門也在那個宇宙成為大展宏圖的企業家。還有其他宇宙，小蓮有和包蒂垂，是同志情侶，還有人類變成熱狗手指的宇宙等等。小蓮在意識傳送過程中，得知威門並不真的想離婚，只是想假裝離婚，吸引妻子注意，好好進行夫妻對談。當「豬八土扒姬」透過喬伊的身體，傳送到小蓮面前時，小蓮驚訝地發現「豬八土扒姬」，原來是來自阿法宇宙的喬伊。阿法喬伊用超出物理法則的手段，殺死多位大樓警衛，還宣稱她集合了平行宇宙中的萬事萬物，創造一個如黑洞般的「萬能貝果」。這種貝果，可摧毀平行宇宙。千鈞一髮之際，阿法公公趕到，擊退「豬八土扒姬」。阿法威門說，阿法小蓮曾為了研究宇宙搖技術，走火入魔，不惜拿親生女兒做實驗，瘋狂讓阿法喬伊經歷宇宙搖，最終導致阿法喬伊精神崩潰，獲得上帝般的能力，可以不受任何條件限制，進行宇宙搖。獲得神力的阿法喬伊，也企圖將憎恨已久的母親殺死。小蓮因中年失敗，無一技之長，人生空虛，恰好符合開通神力的潛能，便擁有神力，對付「豬八土扒姬」。阿法小蓮連結不同宇宙的自己，有擔任鐵板燒廚師的宇宙，有善於旋轉廣告牌的宇宙，有成為盲人歌手的宇宙，也有和爸爸感情融洽的宇宙。通過這些平行宇宙的技能，阿法小蓮順利擊退「豬八土扒姬」的部隊。
第二部分：碧落·黃泉(Part 2: Everywhere)
阿法小蓮在各個宇宙間游離，試圖回到原本的宇宙。同時，阿法喬伊在浩瀚的多重宇宙中，找不到幸福快樂，因此，她了解到世上萬物都不重要。阿法小蓮與阿法喬伊來到一個未遭攻擊的平凡宇宙，在那裏，阿法小蓮於洗衣店的新年派對裡，情緒失控，不把催繳稅務的包蒂垂放在眼裡，且簽下離婚同意書。母女倆又跳到石頭宇宙，化身兩顆石頭，開始對談，阿法小蓮終於明白女兒長久以來的壓力跟孤單。阿法喬伊坦承，萬能貝果並非用來毀滅宇宙，而是摧毀自己，並說服母親能伴她一同解脫。同時，巨星小蓮和企業家威門在暗巷中談心，威門雖知世界的殘酷，但依然選擇相信事物美好的一面。平凡宇宙中的普通威門，一樣情況一團糟，仍心存善念。普通小蓮被兩個威門的話語打動，在新年派對上，與威門和解，並利用多重宇宙的能力，找到幸福的人事物。小蓮為挽回女兒，驕傲地向公公揭露喬伊的性向，喬伊誤以為母親只是想證明自己，便憤而離開。小蓮明白喬伊內心真正渴望的是愛跟關注，而她情願待在破舊洗衣店的宇宙裡，永遠陪伴喬伊，珍惜微薄的快樂。喬伊被小蓮感化，回歸母親的懷抱。
第三部分：此生·此世 (Part 3: All at Once)
小蓮更加珍惜親情、婚姻，貝琪也成為家裡的一份子。一天，他們再次回到國稅局處理稅務。當包蒂垂宣布王家的資產報備，已經順利通過時，小蓮的注意力被其他時空的自己吸引。在包蒂垂的呼喊下，小蓮的意識，重新回到自己的宇宙。
Michelle Yeoh said, “Evelyn deserves her own story to be told. This is a very ordinary mother and housewife who is trying her best to be a good mother to her daughter, a good daughter to her father, a wife that’s trying to keep the family together.” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The plot centers on a Chinese-American immigrant who discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse. The film has received universal acclaim for its imagination, visual effects, costume design, humor, direction, editing, and handling of themes such as existentialism, generational trauma, nihilism, absurdism, and Asian-American identity. The performances have also received ubiquitous (無處不在) praise, with many critics calling them among the best of the year.
In China, Evelyn Quan Wang falls in love with Waymond Wang and, against her father’s objections, elopes to the United States. The couple opens a laundromat (自助洗衣店) and has a daughter, Joy. Years later, the laundromat is being audited (查帳) by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS國稅局). Concurrently, Waymond is trying to serve Evelyn divorce papers, Evelyn’s demanding father, Gong Gong, is visiting for a Chinese New Year party prepared by her, and Joy wants her mother to accept her non-Chinese girlfriend, Becky, whom Evelyn lies to Gong Gong.
At a fractious (暴躁的) meeting with IRS inspector, Deirdre Beaubeirdre, Waymond’s body is briefly taken over by Alpha-Waymond, a version of Waymond from the “Alphaverse.” Alpha-Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternate universe. The Alphaverse, led by the late Alpha-Evelyn, developed “verse-jumping” technology, which enables people to access the skills, memories, and bodies of their parallel-universe selves by performing bizarre actions that are statistically unlikely (統計上的不太可能). The multiverse is now threatened by Jobu Tupaki, the Alphaverse version of Joy, whose mind was splintered (分裂) after Alpha-Evelyn pushed her to extensively (密集地) verse-jump. Jobu now experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter at will; she has created a black hole-like “everything bagel” that threatens the multiverse.
Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu’s verse-jumping minions, who are now converging (會合) on the IRS building. She discovers other universes where she made different choices apart from going off with Waymond and flourished, such as becoming a movie star, while also learning of Waymond’s plans for divorce. Alpha-Waymond believes Evelyn, as the greatest “failure” of all Evelyns in the multiverse, has the untapped (未開發的) potential to defeat Jobu. Alpha-Gong Gong instructs Evelyn to kill Joy in order to stop Jobu. While Evelyn is chased by Alpha-Gong Gong’s soldiers, Jobu locates and kills Alpha-Waymond in the Alphaverse.
Evelyn’s detached consciousness begins to verse-jump with Jobu. Rather than fighting, Jobu explains that she has been searching for an Evelyn who can come to believe that nothing matters. She brings Evelyn to the “everything bagel,” explaining that it can allow herself to die. Evelyn is about to enter the bagel with Jobu, but pauses to listen to Waymond’s pleas for stopping fighting and be kind. Evelyn has an epiphany (頓悟). She repairs her damage in the other universes and neutralizes (抵消) Alpha-Gong Gong and Jobu’s fighters. In her home universe, Evelyn tells Gong Gong of Joy and Becky’s relationship, talks with Deirdre, and reconciles with Waymond. Evelyn says that even if she could be anywhere else when nothing makes sense, she would always want to be with Joy. Evelyn and Joy embrace as the universes are restored.
Sometime later, with the family’s relationships improved, Evelyn and her family return to the IRS building to refile their taxes. As Deirdre talks, Evelyn’s attention is momentarily drawn to her alternate selves and the multiverse before she grounds herself back in her home universe. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” explores the concepts of the meaning of life and nihilism. Our lone (唯一) hope of recourse (依靠) is to embrace all the love and beauty surrounding us, if only (要是) we’re present enough to see it.
In the movie, the center of it is Evelyn Wang. Her life is its own small universe of stress and frustration. Evelyn’s father, who disowned her when she married Waymond, is visiting her. Waymond is filing for divorce, which is the only way he can get his wife’s attention. Their daughter, Joy, has her self-esteem issue and has a girlfriend named Becky. Evelyn doesn’t know how to deal with Joy’s teenage angst (焦慮) and her sexuality. The multiverse may lie beyond Evelyn’s control, but she possesses free will and responsibilities for her own actions and obligations to the people around her. Nobody is alone in the multiverse, which turns out to be a place where families can work together on their issues. Joy carries the weight of Evelyn’s fractured relationship with her father, and her disappointment of an American dream. Joy’s queerness is even more foreign to Evelyn as well. These are our failures. However, our present reality is a kind of an illusion, and there’s a higher reality out there, if we can wake up (i.e. become enlightened). Once we become enlightened, we can use our minds to bend our present reality. Evelyn realizes that her reality is not just one. There is an endless number of realities out there. According to Buddhist sutras, there are “a billion realms” where “their locations, shapes, sizes, durations, and arrangements are inconceivable (不可思議).” There are also “infinite links, continuums (連續體), oceans, and flower-filled worlds.” Furthermore, “In some realms, there are no Buddhas; in some realms, there are many Buddhas.” It’s like an ocean, and the many bubbles represent many different worlds in the universe, or many universes, the multiverse. We’re just one of the bubbles in the ocean. One person can live many different lifetimes. There can be multiple variations of the same universe due to different particle arrangements, and there are an infinite number of parallel universes. The multiverse is the what if’s (要是) in Evelyn’s life. It is all of the roads that Evelyn could have taken. What if (要是) she had stayed in China, instead of going to the United States? What if (要是) she had fulfilled her potential, instead of settling? What if (要是) she had succeeded, instead of failed? And Evelyn is longing for those what ifs. She is dissatisfied with her current reality where she is only a laundromat owner. Evelyn is able to access the multiverse not through her body, but through her mind. Using her mind, she is able to tap into her other lives, see what they are doing. She just needs to focus on where she wants to go, and then she can see her other selves, even if she is physically still in her original universe. In other words, only through the practice of concentration, we can attain our mind. We don’t have to go anywhere because anywhere is in our mind. Simply put it another way, everything, everywhere, all at once is in our mind. In the movie, Jobu can concentrate and experience all of her different lives at the same time. But, because the universe is so big and infinite, she concludes that nothing really matters. Evelyn is initially tempted by Jobu, plans to enter the bagel and be destroyed as well. But she is pulled back by Waymond, remembering the happy life they had together. While that life was filled with struggle, it was also filled with small joys. Evelyn has become enlightened. She sees all of her lives simultaneously, and instead of making her feel sad, she sees the joy and beauty of those lives. And she learns how to fight not with her fists, but with love. Evelyn tells Joy. “No matter what, I still want to be here with you. I will always, always want to be here with you.” We don’t know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth have to face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. At the end of the film, Evelyn is enlightened. She can still hear the whispers of her other selves in those other universes. But she is now able to foster a better relationship with her family, and thus able to truly be happy in her present reality.
It doesn’t matter how many universes are out there and how many people are out there. We have no control over that. What we can control is our own mind. We don’t have to do anything or to run after that. What we have to do is return to ourselves. At the end of the film, after hearing the voices of the different realities, Evelyn comes back to herself with a smile. We don’t go chasing the multiverse. We only need to look for love and connection in the universe we’re used to.

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