Double Suicide

Osaka in the eighteenth century. Jihei, a paper merchant, is in love with a courtesan named Koharu. His wife Osan knows and is trying to save him. Debt, family honour and social obligation press all three into the same corner. The only exit left is to die together. Masahiro Shinoda directs. Kichiemon Nakamura plays Jihei; Shima Iwashita plays both Koharu and Osan. The source is a play Chikamatsu Monzaemon wrote for bunraku, the puppet theatre. Rather than hiding the adaptation, Shinoda makes it visible: at the start we see the puppeteers preparing the stage, and the black clad handlers stay inside the frame throughout the film. They touch the characters, steer them, and intervene directly in the final scene. That is the idea of the film. Jihei and Koharu believe they are making their own choices; the handlers on screen carry them as the visible form of social obligation. Toichiro Narushima shot it; Kiyoshi Awazu designed the sets, with walls covered in writing, in black and white and entirely artificial. Toru Takemitsu wrote the music. Who it is for: viewers who like the Japanese New Wave, films where theatre and cinema intersect, and formal experiment. Who it is not for: the narrative is heavy, the manner is cold, and the film deliberately blocks emotional proximity.