Wealthy Tatsuya Nakadai returns from war in Manchuria with a gimp leg. Hideko Takamine tells him she loves Keiji Sada, who is still at the front. Angered, he rapes her, and then forces her to marry him, They spend the next 29 years tormenting each other in that particularly demonic way that only the cinematic Japanese manage.
I don't know how younger movie-goers will deal with the relationships in this movie, but I saw marriages when I was a youngster where man and wife hated each other with a passion, and that led me to believe that perhaps the title was a mistranslation, despite the fact that this is the only Japanese movie I've ever seen with a flamenco score. Was the love that felt by Miss Takamine for Mr. Sada, despite the fact that he shows up later with a wife and son? Might the word in Japanese actually mean "Passion"?
All was revealed by the end, but in the meantime, the story, performers and cinematography by Hiroshi Kusuda certainly kept my interest going!
I don't know how younger movie-goers will deal with the relationships in this movie, but I saw marriages when I was a youngster where man and wife hated each other with a passion, and that led me to believe that perhaps the title was a mistranslation, despite the fact that this is the only Japanese movie I've ever seen with a flamenco score. Was the love that felt by Miss Takamine for Mr. Sada, despite the fact that he shows up later with a wife and son? Might the word in Japanese actually mean "Passion"?
All was revealed by the end, but in the meantime, the story, performers and cinematography by Hiroshi Kusuda certainly kept my interest going!