Double Suicide (Shinju ten no amijima, 1969)

Shinoda Masahiro

Japan

104 mins, black and white, Japanese (English subtitles)

An adaptation of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's famous The Love Suicide At Amijima, Double Suicide is a superb cinematic rendition of the beautiful 1720 Osaka tragedy.

This excellent film is a unique blend of theater and cinema. The elements of Japanese Bunraku theater, where actors are three-quarter life-sized puppets controlled by puppeteers dressed all in black (Kuroko), are intricately woven into the story. The film opens with the Kuroko getting dressed, the stage sets being prepared for the play, and the director discussing the location of the final suicide scene. The entire sequence is somewhat disorienting because it is hard to tell when the "real life" theater ends and the "imaginary" story begins. The Kuroko continue to appear throughout the entire narrative, yet as puppeteers they only help the actors to their ultimate tragic fate, not control them.

The story is very Shakespearean, and is about two doomed lovers. This time, however, Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) is married and has two children, while Koharu (Shima Iwashita) is a high-priced courtesan in the red light district. They have fallen deeply in love and Jihei brings financial, social, marital, and ultimately physical ruin to himself and his family in his desperate efforts to redeem (buy her debts out) Koharu. As his family collapses under the pressure of Osan's (Juhei's wife, also played by Shima Iwashita) father, Jihei is left nothing except his love for Koharu, now fatally out of reach because she has been bought out by the lecherous merchant Tahei. The two desperate lovers commit suicide immediately after declaring their desire to live.

Once the viewer accepts the theater elements in the story, the constant presence of the Kuroko, the staged mise-en-scene, and the additional narrative, the film flows effortlessly and mercilessly toward the ruin of the lovers. As we have seen the two dead bodies under the bridge at the very beginning of the film, and thus know the fate of both principal characters, everything Jihei and Koharu say is tinted by that knowledge, every emotion, and every false resolution are given a dark and ominous cast. Despite the strong erotic element in their love, the link between the two is not entirely physical, it is very much duty-bound, and a force that cannot be overcome despite Jihei's realization that his actions would cause his family to disintegrate.

Osan's reactions are also very interesting: she is hurt, jealous, but still hopes to help her husband, who appears very much like a lifeless, confused puppet. As a matter of fact, the husband-wife scene, where Osan reveals her communication with Koharu, directs viewer sympathies toward Osan, away from her weakling of a husband. The ambivalence is resolved in the end, when Jihei finds it in himself to administer the fatal piercing of Koharu's throat and his own hanging.

Double Suicide is definitely an experience that is at once beautiful, haunting, and thought-provoking. The story masterfully manipulates the spectator in shifting attention and sympathy between the various characters. The sparse musical score, all played with Japanese instruments, perfectly balances the sparse sets. The Criterion DVD is an excellent transfer with hardly any defects, great contrast, and detail in shadows and highlights. It is a pity there are no extras (a commentary would have been nice) but the disk is still the best we are ever likely to see. It is also severely cut by 40 minutes (what's that all about?).

March 20, 2001. BLS