Izumi is married to a famous novelist but their life has become nothing more than a simple repetition of loveless gestures. One day, to escape the monotony, the woman agrees to let herself be filmed in the nude while she pretends to commit a sexual act. This is the beginning of her double life: the perfect housewife on the one hand, a prostitute on the other. When the police discover the remains of a murder victim in the red light district, Izumi’s life plummets ruinously. “Hate is the emotion that most includes love. It could even be considered its primal source. The feeling of paradox is, above all, a question of logic: aficionados of Satanism are more truly convinced of the existence of God than normal people are. In the same way, people who cultivate hate are much more aware of what love is. Thus, you could deduce that I am a member of this category. After all, it’s true that I harbor powerful hate inside myself. This film, therefore, is a genuine act of contrition toward the love that was generated by my feeling completely worn out by all the hate I have felt.”
Biography
film director
Sion Sono
Sion Sono (Toyokawa, Japan, 1961) is an internationally acclaimed Japanese filmmaker. His movies depict Japanese society in a provocative and violent way, amid a plethora of pop culture references. His most renown films include Suicide Club (2002), which is part of a trilogy on alienation along with Noriko’s Dinner Table (2005), winner of the Berliner Zeitung Jury Award, and Love Exposure (2008), winner of the FIPRESCI Award and the Caligari Film Award at the Berlinale. Love Exposure is also the first film of the “trilogy of hate,” which includes Cold Fish (2010) and Guilty of Romance (2011). He participated to the Venice Film Festival in 2011 with the feature Himizu, and in 2013 with Why Don’t You Play in Hell. The Torino Film Festival paid tribute to him with a retrospective in 2011. He participated in several TFF editions with his films Tokyo Tribe (2014), Love & Peace (2015), TAG (2015) and Shinjuku Swan (2015).
FILMOGRAFIA
The Room (1992), Suicide Club (2002), Noriko’s Dinner Table (2005), Strange Circus (2005), Hazard (2006), Exte: Hair Extensions (2007), Love Exposure (2008), Cold Fish (2010), Guilty of Romance (2011), Himizu (2011), Why Don’t You Play in Hell (2013), Tokyo Tribe (2014), Love & Peace (2015), Riaru onigokko (TAG, 2015), Shinjuku suwan (Shinjuku Swan, 2015), Antiporno (2016), Tokyo Vampire Hotel (serie tv/tv series, 2017).
Cast
& Credits
regia, sceneggiatura/director, screenplay
Sion Sono
fotografia/cinematography
Tanikawa S?hei
montaggio/film editing
It? Jun’ichi
scenografia/production design
Yamada Yoshio, Nakamura Akihiro
costumi/costume design
Hakamata Chiyoe
musica/music
Morinaga Yasuhiro
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Kagurazaka Megumi (Kikuchi Izumi), Togashi Makoto (Ozawa Mitsuko), Mizuno Miki (Yoshida Kazuko), Tsuda Kanji (Kikuchi Yukio), Kojima Kazuya, Iwamatsu Ry?, Kobayashi Ry?ju, ?kata Isako
produttori/producers
Chiba Yoshinori, Iizuka Nobuhiro
produzione/production
Django Film, Nikkatsu, King Record
distribuzione/distribution
Movies Inspired
vendita all’estero/world sales
Films Boutique