Double Suicide

Double Suicide (1969)

心中天網島

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.

Date of release
1969-05-24
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (65)
Runtime
1h 45m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Masahiro Shinoda

Casting

Interesting facts

Double Suicide is a 1969 Japanese historical drama film directed by Masahiro Shinoda. It is based on the 1721 bunraku play The Love Suicides at Amijima by Monzaemon Chikamatsu.

Background

This play is often performed with puppets. In the film, the story is performed with live actors but makes use of Japanese theatrical traditions such as the kuroko (stagehands dressed entirely in black) who invisibly interact with the actors, and the set is non-realist.

Jihei's fatal love interest, Koharu the prostitute, and his neglected wife, Osan, are both played by actress Shima Iwashita.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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