The writer and college professor, Alexandre Fayard, researches and gives lectures about the gruesome literary work of the mysterious Japanese writer Shundei Oe, considered by him to be the master of manipulation.
Cinematography
Kyoto's shadow-soaked alleys mirror the protagonist's fractured psyche.
Acting
Minamoto's ethereal menace keeps you guessing her every motive.
Director
Barbet Schroeder
Benoît Magimel
Alex Fayard
Lika Minamoto
Tamao
Gen Shimaoka
Ken Honda
Ryo Ishibashi
Ryuji Mogi
Shun Sugata
Inspecteur Fuji
Nishimura Kazuhiko
Inspecteur Matsumoto
Reika Kirishima
Kumiko
Kazuki Tsujimoto
Shundei Oe
Maurice Bénichou
L'agent d'Alex Fayard
Shiho Fujimura
Patronne de la maison de thé
Kana Harada
Haruka , jeune maiko
Shinji Ozeki
Ichiro Hirata
Shuichi Yamauchi
Jeune homme masqué
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Schroeder shot two endings — the theatrical release leans ambiguous, but the director's cut makes Tamao's role more explicit. Most markets never saw the alternative.
Shundei Oe is fictional, but the film riffs on real Japanese 'I-novel' traditions where authors blur autobiography with fiction — and the West's hunger for 'exotic' Japanese violence.
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