Fear And Trembling

– Amélie, a young Belgian woman, having spent her childhood in Japan, decides to return to live there..

Type:
Movie
Rating:
7.10 / 10
Duration:
One Hour and 47 Minutes
Release Year:
2003
Original Name:
Stupeur et tremblements
Fear and Trembling (2003) - Also known as Stupeur et tremblements

Amélie, a young Belgian woman, having spent her childhood in Japan, decides to return to live there and tries to integrate in the Japanese society. She is determined to be a "real Japanese" before her year contract runs out, though it precisely this determination that is incompatable with Japanese humility. Though she is hired for a choice position as a translator at an import/export firm, her inability to understand Japanese cultural norms results in increasingly humiliating demotions. Though Amelie secretly adulates her, her immediate supervisor takes sadistic pleasure in belittling her all along. She finally manages to break Amelie's will by making her the bathroom attendant, and is delighted when Amelie tells her the she will not renew her contract. Amelie realizes that she is finally a real Japanese when she enters the company president's office "with fear and trembling," which could only be possible because her determination was broken by Miss Fubuki's systematic torture.

Producing Country:
Filming Locations:
Genre:
Release Date:

12 Mar 2003

Language:

French, Japanese

MPAA Content-Rating:
Unrated

Director:

Alain Corneau

Writer:

Amélie Nothomb (novel), Alain Corneau (scenario)

Main Actors:

Sylvie Testud, Kaori Tsuji, Tarô Suwa, Bison Katayama

Plot:

A Belgian woman looks back on her year at a Japanese corporation in Tokyo in 1990. She is Amélie, born in Japan, living there until age 5. After college graduation, she returns with a one-year contract as an interpreter. The vice president and section leader, both men, are boors, but her immediate supervisor, Ms. Mori, is beautiful and trustworthy. Amélie's downfall begins when she speaks perfect Japanese to clients. She compounds her failure by writing an excellent report for an enterprising colleague. The person she least expects to stab her in the back exposes her work. Thus begins her humiliations. What can become of her and of her relationship with Ms. Mori and with Japan?

Awards:

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Production:

The Cinema Guild

Ratings:
Internet Movie Database:
7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
91%
Metacritic:
75%