The Wife of a Spy
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Film description
Meeting with the director in the festival studio
Japan, 1940s. Satoko is a beautiful wife of a businessman dealing in exports. They lead a comfortable, cosmopolitan life in the port city of Kobe. But the dark shadows of war are looming on the horizon, and Yusaku's business and foreign dealings grab the attention of Satoko's old friend and high-ranking police officer. The husband's work trip to Manchuria becomes a turning point for the young woman, shaking her out of her carelessness and political unawareness.
This stylish, meticulously composed drama brought Kurosawa the Best Director award at the festival in Venice and an Asian Film Award for Best Picture. This is the first period drama by the master, famous for horrors movies (and, recently, also melodramas), but the way he is building up the tension and playing out the psychological game between the protagonists is equally skillful in the new convention. Yu Aoi is the undisputed star of the film – for years, she specialized in playing sensitive teenagers, but in the last decade she has been entrancing with her acting maturity. A cinephile herself, she studied numerous Japanese productions of the 1940s to best convey the character of her protagonist. This was the time when the status of women in Japan was changing dynamically, balancing between the modernist models of the West and the conservative Japanese traditions.
text:
Jagoda Murczyńska
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Born in 1955 in Kobe. He started 8 mm films already as a student. His 1983 debut "Kandagawa Wars" turned out to be a commercial success. In 1997, he grabbed the attention of international audiences with a horror film "Cure." He is a regular guest of the biggest international festivals, such as Cannes, Berlinale, Venice and Locarno.
1983 Kandagawa inran senso / Kandagawa Pervert Wars
1985 Do-re-mi-fa musume no chi wa sawagu / The Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl
1997 Kuracja / Kyua / Cure
1999 Charyzma / Karisuma / Charisma
2001 Puls / Kairo / Pulse
2003 Dopperugenga / Doppelganger
2008 Tokijska sonata / Tokyo Sonata
2015 Wyprawa na brzeg / Kishibe no tabi / Journey to the Shore
2016 Le secret de la chambre noire / Daguerrotype
2017 Zanim znikniemy / Sanpo suru shinryakusha / Before We Vanish
2019 Tabi no owari sekai no hajimari / To the Ends of the Earth
2020 Żona szpiega / Supai no tsuma / Wife of a Spy
