Why are you leaving?
I don't understand why you are angry.
Do I really have to answer you?
- But they just happened to be there! - Like hell they did!
You could have told them to go away.
You didn't let me know you were coming, either.
Oh, no, I didn't foresee it.
You're lying. You always do only what you like.
I'm married. That's the best I can manage.
The same old excuse for running away.
Only this morning, I thought you had betrayed me once again.
When they arrived,
I was mad.
I yelled at them that you were coming.
Then, they started placing the bets.
No! You're laughing! All of you!
A married woman, coming to fulfill her perverse fantasies!
You, you were also laughing!
He's still there.
He's photographing us
I hate being photographed without being told
I’m actress, and I’m 26 years old
When did I start acting?
Now, the camera's running Everybody's watching me
Eyes, countless eyes, are watching me
Look! The sea's different.
The light has faded away, and the clouds
Yes, I have to cay To cry
It's been so long ago, I don’t ever remember anymore
It's since then...
The clouds are darkening It will rain.
ASAOKA Ruriko
KIMURA Isao
HARADA Yoshio
AKAZA Miyoko INANO Kazuko
KUSANO Daigo KODAMA Taiji
MINEGISHI Ryunosuke KAWAZU Yusuke
“I've suddenly lost my voice!”
'So, unfortunately, I can’t be in the shooting anymore,
«because it starts the day after tomorrow '
That's a movie that'll make history!
KAZUMORI Shoko plays an aphasic woman in «Confession, Theory, Actress»
a movie that brings together three great actresses!
'You think it's only one of my whims!
But I assure you I've really got no voice anymore!
I’ve lost my voice! I can’t speak anymore!
I can’t say anything anymore to the man I love!
What can I do?
I’m a little bird, raked, and without wings
a rabbit that can no longer leap!
I...»
Step aside!
You don’t like your part?
'Call the producer immediately!'
You don't like the other actresses?
- «Kazumori Shoko can’t act» - Is it because of Kaido Aki?
- 'No' - Is it because of ISAKU Makiko then?
«No. No.»
There's a problem with the director!
For once, I like the director '
Is it about the money?
«I’ve never complained about money. '
That does it!
The morning classes are over, miss drama student!
Exquisite
Passionate...
Mountain...
Forest...
Gla-sses...
What has that to do with glasses?
- A white... robe - I got it!
You want a holiday because you’re tired!
A glittering sea.
An ardent sun...
A week-end in a quiet mountain lodge. The robe: summer holidays
And the sun glasses!
All wrong! I was thinking about my childhood!
When I lost my voice because of diphtheria
The glasses, it's the teacher who took me to the infirmary
Come on, get out! I have to change
If you're so sick as not to be able to speak,
it'd be better you stayed in bed
«As I have lost my voice,
I'll buy some good glasses so that I can, at least see»
'Ah! In fact, it's about sun glasses
Stars are oftenly gazed upon with sun glasses.
There has to be a change once in a while '
OKADA Mariko
MIKUNI Rentaro
TAICHI Kiwako
SUGA Kantaro
HAYANO Hisao NAKANO Seiya
It seems there's no taxi.
Who could guess there’d be clients on such a day?
Or that great star ISAKU Makiko come in this town?
You still want to wait? Let’s get back with the same plane!
- There's another flight in the evening. - Stop it!!
If that’s found out, the traffic will be stopped
Of course! We'll take a driver!
Do you mind asking the airport staff?
Do whatever you want!
But, at least, tell me why you came here for!
Why?
It's because...
I was born here.
I thought you were from Tokyo!
Well, I must have got it wrong
It's been a longtime we've been friends
You’re an excellent costumer,
but, all of a sudden, you're only interested in the surface of things
Today,
I want you to know who I really am
- Where were you calling? - Tokyo
Not at my house, I hope! I haven't told my mother anything!
At the workshop! They know nothing about me, since you kidnapped me!
They'll worry if I don't call
- Is it true? - Why?
I rater think you’ve called Karasawa
He's your lover
But he also is your friend
I might get it wrong
You called him because you're worried about me
He’s raving mad this very minute
I had a date with him.
You're out of your mind doing this!
Well, have you called a driver?
Yes.
ARIMA Ineko
TSUKIOKA Yumeji
KUBO Mazuruka ITO Go
KANEUCHI Kikuo MIKI Toshihiko
HOSOKAWA Toshiyuki
Could you, please, send my agent a medical certificate?
He refuses to believe I'm sick.
You thought you had lost your voice, but it was only a dream
Describe the scene accurately for me, please
What did you see?
My husband, it was my husband.
How strange for my husband to be there!
'There'? Where, exactly?
At my house
Is noting strange in finding your husband there
I’ve been living in that house since we've separated
He's never set foot in there.
Who else was there?
Rie, a girl who wants to be an actress
But of course, Rie doesn’t know my husband!
And still, my husband was talking to her
Tell me what you’re feeling
You must be feeling something
Everything seemed extremely natural
It’s only now that I find it strange
No, you must have felt something
In your dream, you wanted to speak to your husband
Isn't it so?
I know that KAZUMORI Shoko is here.
- And you are ? - Her agent
So, it's you.
I was going to send you her medical certificate
Please, don’t be shy, invent her a sickness!
- Where’s she? - In the next room
Dr. TOYAMA is treating her with narcoanalysis
Narcoanalysis?
While she’s asleep, the barricades of her unconscious are
Stop it!
What do you expect, rummaging an actress’ feelings?
She's the one who wanted this treatment.
KAZUMORI Shoko is a star, a high value ware.
And you intend to destroy everything?
The feelings of an actress are of no importance whatsoever
If she has them, when you’re an actress,
only what can be seen on the exterior is real
Wake her up. I'll take her home
She’s not sleeping
We’ve just given her some vitamins.
You can enter the doctor's office.
KAZUMORI Shoko is full in a session of narcoanalysis,
but it's only a comedy
the scene is incomplete.
What’d you say is missing?
- A man - Who is he?
MINAMIKAWA, my agent.
Is this man meddling so much into your intimacy?
He’s always around me
Now, as well as the other times
Why? I’ll ask him that
But we’re only talking about a dream, and nothing more
MINAMIKAWA is even present in my dreams
Good. Try visualizing once more that scene
In your house, a young actress
talks with your husband, whom she definitely isn’t acquainted with
Nonetheless, they seem intimate
You don't feel anything watching them.
How intimate were your husband and this young woman?
He's coming near her, takes her hand.
No! They’re holding hands
They are undressing
They are caressing one another.
That’s how men and women express their love
They're making love!
It really is a beautiful town
That's because in the old quarters,
everything they didn’t want seen was hidden away
Only those living here know this
'We think about our native place when it's far away ‘
But I was not born in this town.
I was born in Manchuria,
before being repatriate to this unknown town
Did you know my mother was an actress?
Who? Your mother? No, I didn’t know it
It was before the war.
A theater actress, totally unknown
After she had been dumped, she gave birth to me in Manchuria
I was a fatherless child.
But thanks to the defeat, I gained a father
My mother remarried a man
who had helped us when we were repatriated
A much younger man than my mother,
a communist driven away from Japan during the war
This town, it was his town, wasn’t it?
We were really very poor
But I was yet too young to understand it
My father worked at the Municipal Library
He had a frail health.
Because in Manchuria,
he had sacrificed himself, so we could eat
That’s what my mother said
Your father die in this town, didn’t he?
What do you want to show me in such a landscape?
It’s in this very forest
that we've tried to commit suicide.
You?! A double-suicide?!
Yes, I wanted to die with someone
And whom did you try to commit suicide with?
My late father
ran a theater group in this town
It was with a boy I had met there
You went a little too far...
When I think at what we did,
it almost feels strange
You must have had a reason...
I don't really know very well anymore
Surely, a too big gap between our families
That’s how poor we were
- Such a reason for dying - The times demanded it
Times that make you want to commit double-suicide
And he?
He died.
I’m the only one that survived
Stay here! Don't go!
Stay by me!
I’m being watched.
Someone’s watching me
I’m sure! I’m being watched!
No! I heard them laughing!
It’s you who has laughed!
You’re mocking me!
Yes...
Such eyes...
Their eyes rape me!
I have won!
I’ve won my bet!
You're here.
In my arms
You are here.
No, it's not you who has won!
It’s me who has lost, because I was too sure of myself
Hold me, hold me tighter!
I'm ashamed!
Ashamed of myself!
Just to think about it,
I feel like losing my mind!
Make me forget!
Make me forget everything!
Cut
It's good? OK !
It was your last scene
I was so absorbed, I didn’t know what I was doing anymore
It was my own body,
still I couldn’t move in the way I wanted
I'm being watched
Someone’s watching me
I’m sure I’m being watched
No! I heard them laughing!
It’s you who has laughed
You’re mocking me!
Yes...
Such eyes
Their eyes rape me!
I have won!
I’ve won my bet!
You're here.
In my arms
I feel embarrassed.
Wait!
You are KAIDO Aki, aren’t you?
Yes.
I know you well
It's a gargling.
From the German Rivanol laboratory
It’s a very efficient medicine
What did you think it was, sulphuric acid?
Who are you? What are you doing here?
I came to give him this
I was thinking I’d use the situation to meet you
Who's «he»?
Are you Mrs. NOSE?
You say you don't want make this movie anymore
But even you don’t know why
It's because you're jealous
Whom do you think I'm jealous of?
ISAKU Makiko. She had an affair with your husband
It's long gone. He has married me since
You can also be jealous of KAIDO Akiko
Now she’s shooting with NOSE,
with whom you used to team up
Now I’m beginning to understand why you have brought me here
It was 17 years ago, in full summer, under scorching sun
I’m wondering if the place has changed since
It’s here that you bathed.
There were no bikinis then.
The camera was on those bleachers.
It was the first time I was seeing a film camera
NOSE was the director.
He was sitting by the camera with a tanned face
But, of course, you were here also, somewhere around there
You had brought me here, after taking me away
from that shabby theater ensemble
Back then, I was controlling KAZUMORI Shoko
You behaved like I told you to
You're laughing that day, you seemed happy
Not necessarily
All this time gone by, and you still don’t know anything about me
I was having my period that day
When you asked me to bathe laughingly,
I despised you
Do you regret becoming an actress?
It's been too long now.
It seems like I've been doing this since I was born
You'll still be an actress when you’ll die
Dying like an actress would come most natural to you
I understand. As a matter of fact, I also didn’t know it!
Until then I thought you were the reason
I didn't want to make this movie.
But no, this was the reason!
This plastic balloon!
In my dream, I had it in my throat, and it prevented me from speaking
So this balloon really existed, and what’s more in this very pool!
Some kids must have forgotten it!
It's a sign! An extraordinary sign!
I don’t want to be an actress anymore!
The answer was in this balloon!
And it was floating in the pool I had made my debut in!
- Stop raving! - I’m sure!
I must tell it immediately to Dr. Toyama!
I found out what that plastic balloon meant!
If you don’t hurry up, you’ll be late for the party
And if you went alone? NOSE'd be happy
It’s a queer thing to say
How'd you want me to go without you?
It kind of bothers you, eh
What they're saying about you and NOSE
Wasn’t it you saying that scandal
is an important accessory for an actress?
I saw NOSE's wife today
When?
When I returned alone at the hotel.
That middle-aged woman, all spruced up.
You don’t understand why I’m not going to this party
And what did she tell you?
We just measured one another sourly
And still...
This woman’s convinced the rumors are true
For her, it’s a real drama
But, no, it’s a comedy
Kyoko, you’re in your baby-doll!
Obscene? What do you mean?
Exactly what I’ve said.
And what has this to do with KAIDO Akiko?
I’m not speaking about the present KAIDO Akiko
But about the one she was before becoming an actress.
And just what do you pretend knowing about her?
That I'll tell her in person
Kyoko!
Who was it?
The man we saw by the sea today
What does he want?
He was hired by NOSE's wife
Maybe it's a private detective?
Yes, he must surely be one
I told him to go away, that you didn’t have anything to do with that
Welcome home. You’re late!
Don’t make me anything I’ve eaten before coming home
- KARASAWA is waiting for you - Mother did you tell him to come?
You had a meeting with him this afternoon
I’m asking you if you have told him to come!
I knew nothing about you, I was dead worried
KARASAWA wanted to come here.
Stop doing only what you want!
It's you that does only what you want!
You’re eight hours late!
I'm tired.
Go back to your place, will you?
What came over you, going away like this?
- Nobu called you after all - No, it was not her
Then, who?
Someone from back there called your mother
But who?
Someone kind enough
to let me know you had returned to the old town.
A man's voice?
I didn’t see anyone
Someone who knows you from the old days
And what else did he say?
Yes.
He just said he had seer you
Your mother got worried, so she called me.
Them, aren’t you going to explain it?
Why did you go back to that town?
You have behaved strange today
Ask Nobu if you want to know
She’s waiting at your place.
I'd have like to hear it from you
You always put Nobu between us I don’t like it!!
But it’s the only way
There are certain things I can’t tell you
You look tired. I'll come back tomorrow.
You need patience to be with such a capricious actress
It's me!
It should have been me!
It's him! Hurry and open up!
I'm sorry for coming so late
I had a meeting with am old mate from the lab
and I got home rather late
I saw Dr. TOYAMA's wife had called
to tell me to go at your place as soon as possible
I was waiting for you
I told myself you must be having am insomnia
and I came right away
I have asked you to examine me
because I have dreamt it.
You’d rather need a medicine against dreams
Unfortunately, nobody has yet discovered it!
And this dream that told you to consult me
- what was it about? - Wait a little longer
Very soon another character from my dream will arrive
Who?
My husband
It's that famous dream you have told Dr. TOYAMA about
I've heard the recordings
You are Rie, aren't you
Your name was also mentioned.
I feel he won't come.
Why?
Just a premonition
Rie! He did say he'd be coming this evening, didn’t he?
- Yes - No, he won’t come
You told him not to come, didn't you?
- Of course not - Yes you did!
You called him when I wasn't aware.
If you didn't believe me, ask Rie
It'd be useless.
Rie and you, together with my husband, are playing the same hand
You have leagued to keep me prisoner
Tell me, professor,
this type of raving wouldn't it be the sign of a neurosis, would it?
No, this type of thing happens to anyone
And the difference between a sane and an ill spirit is very slight
WATARI Hayato, my husband, will surely not be coming
But that doesn’t make me give up
Until I won’t have understood the significance of this dream
I won't be able to sleep
I’m sorry, but I thank you for staying till the end
But no, my husband is also here!
Mr. HATA would you like to be my husband?
Do you agree to play the role of WATARI Hayato?
- I can only be myself - Everything will be all right
All men feel the same thing
That’s true even more when repressed desires are involved, isn’t it?
You' have been a psychoanalyst!
Will you?
I don't have any choice
Allow me to ask you a few questions
What kind of a man is your husband?
What are the salient features of his character?
You'd better ask Mr. MINAMIKAWA.
Who among the present knows best WATARI Hayato, in your opinion?
Come on, answer him!
Explaining my private life that’s the job of my agent, isn’t it?
WATARI Hayato, 36 years old
An avant-garde composer, among the best,
but not quite young anymore.
Medium built and height No character
A too poised man, in everything
The circumstances surrounding his marriage is complex enough
The circumstances are simple enough
A scandal involving KAZUMORI Shoko and ISAKU Makiko,
two cinema stars loving the same man
But KAZUMORI Shoko had no intention of going thus far
What happened is simply
that she got married so that her rival wouldn’t win.
Is that so?
Something’s missing
It's him that arranged the whole thing
So that I could live free,
you took advantage of his kindness and good breeding,
and manipulated him shamelessly!
- You can talk - I loved him!
It's you that imposed him this separation!
What did you reproach him?
I’ve got it
Well, now
let's project ourselves in the scene you have dreamt
Where from were you watching the scene?
In short, where were you?
There!
Go where you were
Where did you catch us, Rie and me? I mean, your husband
Well be taking our positions
We don’t see you anymore
From here, we can only see your feet
Of course, from where you are, you can’t see our faces
That means that, in your dream,
it was impossible for you to know
that it really were this girl and me, well... your husband
who were kissing
And still, though you could only see our feet
you concluded they were Rie and yon husband
and, more, that they were kissing
Is it correct?
Dreams often comprise this kind of incoherence
In our present case, this can have an important significance
Now, you're living alone
Even if your husband is in no way responsible,
you have imposed him this actress' caprice
To escape remorse’s,
you’ve begun hoping he’d make a mistake
An affair, and more with a young woman:
your husband is kind enough to oblige you and makes an unpardonable error
So, without any blemish on you,
you can ask for divorce and lie alone
I conclude you want a divorce
That's what your dream means
All this is only your imagination!
There are, of course, opposite explanations
Your husband really had an affair
But the force of your desire,
supported by pride and jealousy,
forbids you to acknowledge the truth
But in your sleep tensions have eased,
and the reality you were refusing to see was acknowledged
If this is the case, then you surely don’t want a divorce
Another possible explanation: the conservation instinct
It's up to you to choose the version that suits you best
Thank you
I think I’m also beginning to understand
And you, what'd you choose?
As a doctor, I can’t tell you that.
But as a man I can answer.
You should divorce.
This apart, there is another enigma to be solved him this dream
After all,
why did you imagine Rie as your husband’s lover?
Mrs.,
when you found out who they were, what were they doing?
You were embraced!
- Didn't she resist? - A little, in the beginning.
But, very quickly, she got off her dress, and was naked.
She was holding his hands that encircled her from behind.
It was Rie,
because the actress KAZUMORI Shoko is jealous of her youth
But even if this is the case,
what’s the direct connection between Rie and your husband?
We haven’t figured that out yet
Rie!
You're hiding something from me, aren’t you?
Speak. Make a clean breast of it,
this is the opportunity to understand each other better
Whatever you say, she won't hold it against you
Of course. I only want to know the truth
Madame, I’ll tell you the truth.
I’ve tried to, but was never able to go all the way
But now, I can.
I’ve known your husband from the beginning
Were we intimate?
Indeed.
Long before I came to you,
I had an affair with your husband
It's me who has seduced him.
And all this,
because of you!
I wanted to get close to the great KAZUMORI Shoko,
and use her to become an actress.
That’s why I slept with your husband
My youth, my body, so precious,
I wanted to devote them to being an actress
Not to a man like him!
Nonetheless, he came today. He tried to make love to me
Yes, on that very place
On this couch. I didn’t want it, but he forced me
He's a man, he's stronger He pushed me on this couch,
and there he... Without realizing, I cried
«I'm here to become an actress!»
My body is not for you!'
I don’t want to speak about it.
I don’t want to speak about it!
Is what she telling true?
She has surely made everything up
But, as an actress to be,
she has expressed very well her inhibited person
It's already midnight! Enough dream analysis for this evening
Not yet, there still are important aspects to clear up.
In Dr. TOYAMA's recording,
you also speak of Mr. MINAMIKAWA
Mr. MINAMIKAWA should
have been in your dream, but he wasn’t
It’s an interesting point
Let’s remake our experiments him a more rigorous way
Even if you couldn’t see them,
You have recognized Rie and your husband
What did you do then?
I was very close to them,
when I saw them kissing
So close that it seems strange they didn’t observe me
Please go where you were
You were close, but where?
Mr. MINAMIKAWA, what’d you do in these circumstances?
I'm not interested in her private life
Help us, instead of saying this!
You, who are always by my side,
why weren’t you there?
Go stay wherever you want
What are you doing?
If it was me, I'd do such as
KAZUMORI Shoko wouldn’t see this obscene spectacle
But you weren’t here. Where were you?
- Where were you hiding? - I was nowhere
Because you didn't need me
You know very well I wouldn’t have allowed that you saw that.
How could you know what I know?
I’m telling you that are you that wanted to see that obscene spectacle
What are you trying to tell me? Come on say it!
That I wanted to see such a scene?
Exactly! You did!
- It's not true! - And you must have seen something else!
Your dream was way longer, and went father
I'd very much like you tell us about it
Could that young professor question you?
It's the real Shoko who’s in this dream,
the one who doesn't need me at all!
Speak! We’ll know at last who you are!
- Mr. MINAMIKAWA! - Let him...
Let's see the continuation of my dream
Hadn't it finished?
Rie was in my husband’s arms,
without knowing I was there, right by them
She freed herself, and began laughing, bare breasted
Yes, she was looking at me as if provoking me
But of course! She knew I was there!
What did she do then?
She ran with her big breasts to her room
- Did your husband follow her? - No, I did!
I got near the room,
and I opened the door
Rie was sleeping Absolutely naked!
And then you approached her
No, not me. A man was already there.
Who was that man?
I didn’t really know
The man approached the bed. Also naked!
Naked like a worm!
Tell us that man's name! She has to know it!
I didn't know him. But he was tall!
Medium built, like my husband, but more muscular
His skin was tanned, and had a brutish smell
It's you!
It was KAZUMORI Shoko herself
that man was making love to!
No! It's her!
Let go of me!
I don’t know anything! I don’t know your husband!
I don’t know any man!
You rejected him, and ran away, completely naked
You got out of the room
You were laughing! Running, you were laughing!
With an indecent voice!
Come on! Tell us what happened in that dream!
Enough small talk! We've all seen the kind of woman you are!
Who is that man?
Tell us who kissed you while you were sleeping!
Yes...
The one that kissed you had long legs,
A man among the most agile in Japan
A man with prominent cheekbones
But this face...
is as sweet as is frightening
You always miss the point! You really have mo sensitivity at all!
The one that kissed me...
it's you
You.
No...Not you, but someone who resembled you a lot
Please, do as if it had been you
Embrace me.
Like in my dream
Of course, it’s him!
An intellectual with thin lips, and almond eyes
Yes.
Even if he hugged me, he continued to lower his eyes
And still
His arms were the strongest
Then, who hugged you?
The one you described
The fastest man in Japan
Well! Who's next?
That one? The young skyer you met in Hokkaido?
Or the airplane pilot you met in Paris?
Come on, say it!
I can recite the names of all those you have slept with
The first one must have been that actor with a tanned face,
the one smelling like an animal!
Then, a soccer player, a fashionable novelist
the skyer, the pilot, and there are more!
You can’t have remembered all their names
I can tell you exactly what their names were
Stop it! I don’t want to listen to this!
But you have to!
In your dream, it's you they were hugging one after the other
KAZUMORI Shoko!
You have reseen all your sexual adventures
It amused you to see all this again
A flock of men...
- All these men around you - Stop it!!
I don’t want to hear it anymore!
Mother! Who are you talking to?
Who’s on the other end of the phone?
Give me the phone!
Let me talk to him.
Hello!
Who are you?
Tell me your name, please
Hello?! Can you hear me?
If you can hear me, speak!
This person knows me
Say something, please
Let me hear your voice!
Hello?! Hello?!
It's father...
It's father!
He was alive, wasn’t he?
Father was alive!
But then why?
Why did you tell me he had died?
What a dreadful lie!
It's unfair! It's too unfair!
Hate me as much as you like
Anyway, the mother I am has had no choice.
For twelve years,
I thought that man was dead
What suffering A never ending suffering!
And you stayed there, watching, not saying anything
You're horrible!
I know.
But thanks to this lie, you stayed alive
And also became the actress you’re today
That's it...
Everything’s clear now!
I’ve been your prisoner
All my life!
But today, I’m sure you're happy.
No!
I wanted that man
I didn't want to lose him!
Stop it!
I forbid you to speak about him like this
I’m the one that gave you birth!
You’re jealous!
You're jealous because we tried committing suicide together
It's your father you have tried committing suicide with!
He’s not my father
But your lover, one amongst all the others
Why shouldn't I have had the right to love him?
A mother and her daughter fighting over the same man...
Why had we to go through all this?
There's nothing but hate between us
I should have better died that time.
Daddy!
Now I understand everything
As a matter of fact, I was the only one not knowing
I understand your wife goes mad
A man secretly sneaks into my house
Logically, everybody thinks he comes to see KAIDO Akiko
Your wife...
Poor victim, stringed along.
And not only her... Me also
I know it’s not very glorious,
But... even so...
I'll not start being afraid at my age
I've got no intention to reproach you your relationship
I'd only have wished you had had more respect for me
I'd have wished at least,
you had avoided seeing Kyoko at my house
By doing that,
you thought Id never notice it?
No!
I knew you’d catch us one day.
Why didn’t you go somewhere where I couldn’t have seen you?
We met here
to spend the night,
but it's me
who asked him to come.
Why did I do this?
I think you’ve already understood.
Because I wanted you to see us!
To understand,
to be surprised
Yes, I wanted you to see all that!
Aki... You have fallen the first
in the trap set by Kyoko
I'm also maybe a victim
But it's not the same situation.
Me, I’ve fallen knowingly
Me also, I was expecting surely
to find myself like this in front of you,
burning with an unbearable shame
I was most
certainly in love with KAIDO Akiko
What I’m saying seems ambiguous
But as I never brought it up with you
it surely was the only way for me to say it!
No as a matter of fact it’s the other way round
It's because I was sure
you wouldn’t understand me,
whatever I'd say to you
You're the actress KAIDO Akiko.
A transparent cinematographical object,
unable to resist or react.
Confronted with such things, a man feels like
suspended into the void, left on their own
KAIDO Akiko the woman, not the actress,
becomes, inevitably, the object of cruel thoughts.
All that ends in a stupid way.
That’s where we are this morning
Why must you force me to undergo all this?
Suffering a malaria attack when sleeping with me one evening
he called your name quite distinctly.
It's not true!
When I heard him, I shouted: «At last, I have won!»
«I took him from Aki!»
I had never been so happy.
Do you understand?
Why... Why?
Why must you have betrayed me?
Now you’re jealous of me
That's exactly the result I was hoping for
Oh, yes?
Are you sure it’s not the other way round?
It’s you who were jealous of the actress that Aki is
No...
As far as I'm concerned, KAIDO Akiko
never was an actress.
The KAIDO Akiko I hate
is not an actress.
The one I was friends with in high-school
You mean what happened that day
Yes.
That awful story
Obscene!
I could never tell anyone about it,
that's how ashamed I was
But now, I can tell everything!
We were in the 3rd year in high-school
Me and Aki,
we were the best of friends.
One day, together,
we paid a visit to our professor
You must also remember what happened that day
I remember everything much better than you do
It happened during the summer holiday
Under the hottest sun,
we visited our teacher.
He lived in a temple’s guest-house
Amidst the ran-down cemetery gravestones
I saw three giant sunflowers yes, three
they looked like painting in the sun
When I saw them, I had a bad omen
Our professor was not married
I leaned towards Kyoko and whispered it in her ear
She just laughed
He met us in white shorts.
Dazzled, we lowered our eyes,
unable to go a step further
He spoke to me
we wanted me to go to the kitchen,
and bring some orange juice from the fridge
I did what he had asked me to.
I was somehow embarrassed to be with him like that,
and wanted to get out of that room
The kitchen was deserted, everyone seemed to be away
I took the liberty of serving myself
Crossing again the temple garden,
I saw, far away, the tip of a cloud
He was shining in the sun-light,
a heavy, swollen cumulonimbus
«Is it going to rain?
Asking me that question,
I had, again, a bad omen
«Kyoko and the professor are alone in that room»
I approached without making any noise
Why?
Yes... I think I was sensing what was going to happen
And, suddenly, everything became real
Someone was fighting in the other room
I was like paralyzed
The first thing I saw,
was the white cloth the professor had in his hard
Chloroform... Yes!
He wanted to make Kyoko inhale it
She resisted.
But her strength was slowly wearing out
She collapsed on the tatami
Yes...
What did I then see...
When I recovered my senses,
I was standing in the temple garden, alone
The summer clouds, as cut of joint
Foolishly, deep inside,
I was praying rain'd come as soon as possible
You could have helped me,
as I couldn’t move anymore
But you did nothing!
Without saying anything, you watched me being raped!
And that's not all: when everything was over,
you sent an anonymous letter to our school
It was the talk of the entire school.
I understood it was you who had sent that letter
The professor was sacked
And me,
everybody looked at me like if I was a circus freak
It's been a long time since
I’ve been doing all I can to make up to you
You're talking about this life you’ve allowed me to have?
Do you think your compasson is enough to heal this wound?
I was waiting for such an opportunity,
to show you what you’re afraid to see, more than anything else
Exactly
Since you’ve seen me being raped,
men only make you afraid,
and sex has become a dread!
Stop! Enough talking like this!
You're afraid to make love to a man!
You are full of lust, but sex scares you!
It’s your fault if you’ve become totally frigid!
I imagine you’ve said all you wanted to!
You shouldn’t stay in this house
Go pack your things, please
As a matter of fact...
To keep things crystal clear between us,
I want to tell you that my relation with Kyoko isn’t only a game
I like making love to her.
At my age,
I’ve got no more scruples saying it
It's false! Everything’s false!
Nobody knows that! Not even Kyoko!
I’m the only one that knows it
After being chloroformed,
Kyoko collapsed like a rag
She was asleep, what could she have known?
Kyoko was asleep
Peacefully, ignoring what was going on.
The professor face was close to mine
A deformed face, as if he was crying.
«I love you»: I had the impression he was saying it a couple of times
«I thought you’d come alone»
He was furious I had come with Kyoko
He told me that was why he had chloroformed her
«No! Stop!». I shouted to him
He was getting paler, as if he was crying
His hand was pressing my shoulder.
I don't know why, but I suddenly tried to inhale
The chloroformed rag he had in his hand
I was so afraid, I wanted to lose my conscience
When I woke up, I was lying on the tatami
Yes, I distinctly remember the tatami touching my thighs,
when I was trying to bend my feet
They were really cold.
Once again,
when his face came close to mine,
I heard the distant thunder.
I so wished it had rained earlier,
had it rained...
But it was too late for everything
I thought I didn’t have to see you anymore
The little yesterday trip, was meant to be the last time
It was for our friendship,
the most beautiful of offerings
I’ve given up my lover to you
You really are heartless!
Coming to see the tears of who has given you her lover!
What a perverse curiosity!
Did you expect finding me in despair?
You must really be surprised, aren’t you?
You really are an actress!
These scissors are very ordinary,
but it can also be a dangerous weapon
For killing a man... Or
For killing oneself
Are you saying I'd be capable?
Being an actress, of course
You’ll have no problem faking a suicide
These scissors in exchange for the lover I've let you have?
Everything happens as you’ve foreseen
I couldn’t avoid the trap
hidden in your acting talent
Poor woman, only survivor of a double-suicide!
I told him everything, as you wished
No, I embellished the things for KARASAWA
A woman who in the past caused a man’s death,
doesn’t have the right to love anymore
We can’t say you have won, can we?
On the contrary
And still, I even confessed that shameful past
Quite so.
You can wrap up even the horrid in beautiful words
ISAKU Makiko thrives almost entirely
on her narcissism!
That's what KARASAWA has told you, isn’t it?
Your double-suicide story hasn’t surprised him at all
He sees you with very lucid eyes. No…
With very cold eyes, rather.
You have tried many times to die with… No…
You have also tried to commit suicide.
That double-suicide,
isn’t by far the only one!
Why didn’t you say anything? And besides they have all failed
KARASAWA has told me everything!
You have a suicide mania!
But you somehow manage to be the sole survivor
You're just playing a character. Don’t run away!
Just before shooting your first film,
you and an actor tried killing yourselves with gas
Come on, speak! I'm sure you'll make up quite a story!
You're wrong!
Don't leave me!
Don't leave me alone!
Let me go!
I want to die! I want to die!
Really? You want to die?
A star, what’s a star?
I’m not made for such things!
You have a good opportunity You must hang on
You don't have the right to care
about a woman like me, met by chance
Forget me
You must leave me.
«I want to die»
As if you had the guts!
Me, I could do it!
I can kill myself!
O. K...
I want to die with you
You will die with me
in this room.
I'm condemned to do it, sooner or later
But, then again, you couldn’t die
Before the gas had filled the room,
the employees of the production company broke the window,
and saved you
You had, maybe, foreseen
it would end like this.
A rising star, mixed in a scandal!
The studios made everything to stop you from you speaking about it
That’s why they gave you a small part
That's how a poor young girl
began her career thanks to a scandal!
Ironically, the actress ISAKU Makiko was born
when that great movies actor disappeared.
I don’t want you to get any false ideas
It's only what your beloved KARASAWA has told me
It' surprise me.
I then ask you: what about your third failed suicide?
You hate clothes without sleeves,
because of the scar you have on your left wrist
Painful memory of the fight that opposed you to KAZUMORI Shoko
for that musician...
It was simply a heartbreak.
I want to make things clear
As far as ISAKU Makiko is concerned,
I've never loved her.
It’s not only that I didn’t want her,
but there’s something in her that stopped me
It may be her mother
Her mother
permanently casts a shadow over her.
Maybe only a man can see that,
but, anyway, it’s sad for Makiko
You could say I'm obsessed by death
I took you there so you'd understand it
What's there left for a woman,
who has let a man die?
You can tell me anything you want on your past I don’t believe you anymore
KARASAWA made fun of you, calling you a suicide maniac
He?
He warned me not to believe what actresses tell
He.
You really are heartless!
What else do you want me to tell you?
How are you behave so arrogantly with me?
It was daddy! My father!
I’m telling you that the one I wanted to die with,
the one I killed, was my father! Do you understand!?
I've slept with my father!
I took away from my mother the man who was my father!
If ever a woman is unforgivable, I’m the one!
Quiet down!
Even if he knows your suicide mania, KARASAWA will marry you
He said that was part of ISAKU Makiko's charm
He’s not made for your little comedy
But be advised, I'll never trust you anymore
These women called actresses,
I'll never trust one of them again!
You're the actress KAIDO Aki, aren’t you?
And who are you?
We’ve met yesterday, by the sea
I must see you; I've got things to tell you
It’s out of the question. I’ve got no reason to meet you
Yes, you have
- Is it blackmail?' - It’s for your own good
Some old stories that involve yon
Are you alone now?
If you don't answer, it means you’re alone
Please, don’t come!
- Who are you? - The laundry man
The laundry man? But I didn't call you
What are you doing?
I know this house better than you doo
You're rude!
I’m the one who washes your dirty laundry even your underwear
And you call me rude?
Help me carry the milk
In the bathroom, like usually
I know very well that every evening,
you bathe naked in milk.
It's disgusting! Even the sheets are dirty!
What are you doing? Come help me!
You have soiled these sheets...
Come, it's ready! Get in the bathtub!
No!
Why don't you want today? You like bathing in milk!
Get out! Get out of here!
Do you think I don't know?
You never lock the door when you take your bath!
Exactly! That's the kind of woman you are!
It’s not true! It's Kyoko! Not me!
Please, come in
You wanted to talk to me about my past
Yes. About that obscene story.
I'm acquainted with one of those concerned
Kyoko?
The professor sacked because of you.
He and me, we’ve met
in a remote village, lost in Hokkaido
Supply teacher in a school
That's what he’s doing now
Like you, I was his pupil
What do you want to know?
His name was dragged in the mud,
and he was sacked for obscenity, but I don’t believe any part of it!
I want to know the truth.
This way, please
Come in this room, please
I will tell you everything,
quietly,
about this obscene story
Please, come in
I won’t be had anymore by anyone!
You also want the same thing
You’re one of those filthy men!
Come on, wash yourself!
As long as you wish
Rub off that vile filth
Please...
I beg of you.
Wash yourself.
I want you to be naked.
Where's my husband? I'm sure he's here!
NOSE didn't sleep at home last night!
I understood everything!
Yes...
Last night you say?
NOSE came,
and spent the night here
How sincere!
No, as a matter of fact, I think you don’t have even a drop of courage!
Come on! Tell me where he is!
He isn't on the first.
He is there.
You haven’t yet told everything
I’m listening
Maybe it's better I’m the one who says it
You intentionally missed your date
In the evening, you meet secretly
When you abandon the part of KAZUMORI Shoko the actress
The day you confess it to me,
you choose not to go
This man is waiting outside
Maybe you made sure he'd follow us
You knew, didn't you?
I came also to break up with you
Why?
Nobody knew about the two of us it was my secret
But I understood did that because of MINAMIKAWA
It's strange, isn't it?
I don’t remember if we met because I loved you,
or because I wanted to have a secret he didn’t know
You have broken up for good, so you don’t need me anymore
You’re leaving me, don't you?
What a coincidence.
I was thinking exactly the same thing
Since you’ve entered here,
I’ve been wondering when to tell it to you.
But I haven’t had the courage, and I’ve slept with you
Typical male hypocrisy, without any doubt
But for me, breaking up, doesn’t have the same meaning
To make it clear, I don’t want you to dream about me
All these men KAZUMORI Shoko the actress has known,
so many you can’t remember them all,
I don't want to be part of them
Only because I’m an actress,
people spied on me, even in my dreams
Now, I’m alone
Without haven’t been ever able to get used to seeing my pride trodden
We also,
when breaking up,
have nothing else to say to each other, but good bye
Today, you must listen to me
You must see him. It might be for the last time
You know, Mr. KARASAWA
He accepts your past, everything you’ve done. He forgives you
He came to tell you this
Accept? Forgive?
Who intends to forgive me?
Nobody has the right to
How can you say that?
Tell him to go home. And that I don’t want to see him anymore
Won’t you regret it?
As I'm an actress,
what does it matter if the people forgive me?
And if something must be proven to them,
it’s up to me again to do it!
Mr. KARASAWA, you can go see her
She’s waiting for you
What's the matter?
Anything wrong?
Makiko! Makiko!
She's trying again to kill herself!
It's me! KARASAWA!
Come on! Open the door and get out!
I know very well what you’re trying to do
You’re thinking again at it!
It’s when you’re thinking to kill yourself,
that you're the real ISAKU Makiko
Your mother has told me everything
You haven’t killed anyone!
When the next film will be over,
you'll take a real vacation, and you'll come back
Makiko! I'll go with you
You'll see again your father
There's nothing between us anymore
If not too much time spent together
You're ISAKU Makiko, the actress.
And even behind this beautiful make-up, you still are ISAKU Makiko, the actress
And if you really are an actress,
you can’t die
To you, even dying is acting.
I'm in love with this ISAKU Makiko.
I can't die. I can’t die!
You've been alive all this time!
Daddy!
I didn't know about you and the doctor
For an agent, this is a professional mistake!
When could you have so drifted away from me?
It as never before happened to us
I've been betting for a long time.
On the same and only woman
I believe more than anyone,
in the power of these fictions engendered by actresses.
I only have this means to really stay in touch with the world
I’m not young anymore
I'm too old to start from scratch.
I beg of you, give me another chance!
Only one.
You could never make love to me
because you dreamt of another one
Something
other than me...
Don't look.
Don't look at me.
You...
You are an actress.
An actress mustn’t see such horrible things
Don't look...
Don't look at me...
What does cinema mean for you?
It's the world I live in.
I can’t give you an objective answer
Why have you become an actress?
Because I wanted to live the lives of others
What part would you like to play?
A neglected lover
And the one you’d hate?
A happy woman. I don’t like comic parts
Which is the first person you have loved?
- I think it's my mother - The one you respect?
My professor. He taught me to speak.
T, O, L, O, V, E
To love.
- Your principles in life? - Not to betray the others
Tell us which is the secret of your beauty
I banish all thoughts!
For you, what does life mean?
Losing the ones I love, one after the other
Tell me a word you like
«No».
Having the courage to say no
A word you hate?
«Oblivion».
Also everything that preceded my birth,
I want to remember it, without forgetting anything
Have you yet thought about getting old?
- Yes - What image do you have of death?
Death comes from far away, with no warning
I await it with docility.
I'll change my question: what’s the meaning of an actress for you?
A job like any other
What have you loved most until now?
My father
Or rather the father I’ve imagined
Have you ever hated anyone?
Only once
Who was it?
Me.
My complexe
How many movies have you made?
I don't remember.
Count them, if you have the time, and then you'll tell me
Do you remember your first film?
I’ve forgotten it.
What has cinema given you?
Becoming an actress, being an actress,
continuing being an actress
When you’re acting, what happens to your 'self'?
When I’m acting, there’s nothing left in my 'self»
There’s nothing. Only the void.
What are you thinking now?
I hope you'll be ending your questions soon
I’m nervous before a shooting.
I'm sorry. In the end, tell me your favorite color
Mauve, ancient mauve
But today, it’s black
It's a sinsiter colour, tell me
A man died, a man I knew
- Who was he? - Nobody needs to know
Besides me.
- to read "The Tale Of Genji" - What do you think of free love?
- I recognize it exists. - And yourself?
People'd like an actress to say yes.
What do you think of marriage?
I don't know, I've never been married
Would you like to get married?
I'll surely marry when this shooting is over
Is it true? Whom with?
I'm going to look for him.
One last question: what does an actress mean to you?
The shooting begins
CONFESSION, THEORY, ACTRESS
A film by KIJU Yoshida
Screenplay by YOSHIDA Kiju, YAMADA Masahiro
Photography: HASEGAWA Genkichi Decors: ASAKURA Setsu
Music: ICHIYANAGI Toshi Light: KOBAYASHI Tetsuya
Sound: SEGAWA Tetsuo Editing: WATANABE Shiro
Produced by: YOSHIDA Kiju, OKAMURA Kiyoshi
KATSUMATA Junya ISODA Keiji
A GENDAI EIGASHA film