Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

The film follows Yukio Mishima's last day, 25 November 1970, and lays three layers into it: flashbacks from his life and staged sections from three of his novels. The chapters are called Beauty, Art, Action and Harmony of Pen and Sword. Paul Schrader directed. Ken Ogata plays Mishima. The three layers are separated by colour: the scenes set in 1970 are in naturalistic colours, the flashbacks in black and white, and each novel section has a palette of its own. Eiko Ishioka did the production design, John Bailey photographed it and Philip Glass wrote the score. Its release in Japan was blocked for four decades. The executive producers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas backed the project, but a boycott by Mishima's widow and threats from right-wing groups opposed to his being portrayed as homosexual kept it off Japanese screens. It was finally shown there in October 2025. It won the Best Artistic Contribution award at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was praised for its avant-garde structure. Who it is for: viewers who like formal daring and writers' lives told unconventionally. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a straight biography. The film moves constantly between three layers and passes no clear judgment on Mishima's politics.