Double Suicide
– Successful and married with children, paper-mill owner Jihei knows better than to contradict the str..
Successful and married with children, paper-mill owner Jihei knows better than to contradict the strict social and moral codes of 18th-century Japan. But when he meets the lovely courtesan Koharu, he becomes a man obsessed. Koharu returns his love, even foregoing other customers while Jihei schemes to somehow buy her freedom. His efforts yield ruinous consequences for his business and his family life, and Koharu is meanwhile purchased by another client.
11 Feb 1970
Japanese
Masahiro Shinoda
Monzaemon Chikamatsu (play), Masahiro Shinoda, Tôru Takemitsu, Taeko Tomioka
Kichiemon Nakamura, Shima Iwashita, Shizue Kawarazaki, Tokie Hidari
In 18th Century in Japan, the paper merchant Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) falls in love for the courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita), but he can not afford to redeem her from her master and owner of the brothel, since he spent all his money in the place with Koharu. Jihei's wife Osan tries to keep her husband with his two children and asks Koharu to leave him. The two lovers make a pact of double suicide to escape from the rigid rules of the Japanese society of 1720 and stay together after death.
7 wins.
Criterion Collection