Customer Rating:
Summary: Be careful what you wish for . . . .
Comment: One of Ichikawa's first films, marred by a bad ending. Four characters are involved in a strange menage-a-quatre: an aging man who has high blood pressure and is worried about his virility; his dutiful wife; a young doctor he "uses" as an aprodisiac; and his daughter who becomes jealous of her mother.

The old man decides that seeing his wife dally with another man (the doctor) excites him, makes him feel younger; he talks her into continuing her philandering while he looks on. This "excitement" eventually kills him, but in the meantime his wife has come to enjoy her affair with the doctor and is not upset at her husband's death. Her daughter learns of the arrangement and becomes upset and jealous of her mother; this does little to alter her mother's behavior, however. At the end of the movie a maid suspects their wickedness and poisons all three of them - only the police don't believe her story and chalk it up as a triple suicide.

It's an interesting idea, and Ichikawa develops the ironies nicely. The fact that the mother, while at first acquiesing to her husbands wishes, discovers a hidden passionate need that she refuses to give up, is an idea much ahead of its time. We like to point fingers of blame but it's impossible here because all are just acting on natural impulses. The only misstep is the ending, which I found to be a letdown and somewhat unbelievable. The subtitles are sometimes confusing, bit it's a good movie; worth a watch.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Watch at least twice
Comment: This is a very good film Kon Ichikawa based on the famous novel in Japan. ("Kagi" by Jun-ichiro Tanizaki.) The story is about odd relationships with old connoisseur of classic arts, his faithful and attractive wife, his daughter and daughter's fiancé. Basically, Ichikawa's films are visually very artistic and enjoyable. (Another examples, Actor's revenge, Tokyo Olympiad) Combinations of beautiful cinema photography with very weird characters are so impressive. Since this film is so visually artistic, if you have to depend on subtitles you will miss a lot of great artistic atmosphere. (Probably, that's why critics did not give great reviews for Ichikawa's films.) To enjoy the film you have watch it at least twice. Don't try to understand at once. First time, read subtitles to understand the concept of the story. Second time, ignore subtitles as much as possible and enjoy the beautiful cinema photography and story. If you watch it more, it will be better. One critical point of this VIDEO (not film), subtitles are missing in very very important scene of the movie. But still enjoyable.

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