Original subtitles

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.

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