1961 | Japan | B&W | 91′ | DCP Director: Masumura Yasuzo Screenwriter: Ide Masato Original Story: Maruyama Masaya Cinematographer: Kobayashi Setsuo Cast: Wakao Ayako, Kawaguchi Hiroshi, Ozawa Eitaro In Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles 1962 Best Actress, Kinema Junpo Awards, Japan 1962 Best Actress, Blue Ribbon Award, Japan What is being confessed in The Wife’s Confession? This astounding work by the maverick director Masumura Yasuzo is a courtroom drama that, through proceedings of a murder trial, exposes the tension between a woman’s sexuality and the institution of marriage. At the end of the trial, the confession becomes an indictment. The titled spouse is played by Wakao Ayako, who went on to become one of Japan’s biggest stars. She confronts the camera with a nuanced and calibrated performance, conveying the innocence, desires and contradictions of a woman caught in the repressive culture of the nuclear family. Masumura and scriptwriter Ide Masato powerfully capture the complexities of her dilemma, exploring gender politics and societal practices in the early 1960s, a time of dramatic reshuffling of beliefs and values, in Japan specifically and worldwide in general. Masumura paints the cultural and cinematic landscape of the time with expressive mise-en-scene, animating noir imageries and genre conventions of the melodrama to tell the story. The result is a provocative challenge to traditional family values and the subtly overpowering rule of the patriarchy.

27/09/2025(Sat) 14:00

$75