Page 13 - Cine Appétit Issue 01

Cine Appétit THE EASTERLY
PAGE 13

A LOOK BACK TO “THE

JAPANESE WIFE”

B Y
A D R I J A B A S U

middle-class village school master Snehamoy
We celebrate international cinemas with great
and his pen friend Miyage, who lives in Japan.
pride, but we often fail to acknowledge that
The well woven plot, outstanding
Bengal’s directors like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik
cinematography, well-structured screenplay
Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Aparna Sen, Rituparno
and definitely excellent performances by artists
stones
Ghosh, amongst others have left no
like Moushumi Chatterjee, Rahul Bose, Chigusa
unturned to make a vivid presence of Bengali
Takaku, Raima Sen, above all the direction of
all
films in the Atlas of world cinema. Let us
Sen makes the film a must watch.
look back to such a film by Aparna Sen.
Snehamoy, a very simple, young man, living
The Japanese Wife, released on 9th April, 2010
with his aunt in a remote village of Sundarbans,
is yet another creative wonder by Aparna Sen
who lost his parents in a flood of river Matla, is
which is an adaptation of Indian author Kunal
shown to be extremely shy and introvert. But
Basu’s story The Japanese Wife published in
he became very close with his pen friend,
2008 in a collection of thirteen short stories
Miyage, a Japanese young girl, who resides in
named The Japanese Wife. “It’s an improbable
Japan. Both of them, who are not good at
and hauntingly beautiful love story, almost surreal
socialising in real world, develop a very unusual
in its innocence. And I immediately knew that this
was the film I had to make” – says Aparna Sen in bond of trust, friendship and love over letters,
through a language medium (English), in which
an interview. The film is nearly two hours in
duration and it deals with the unusual love both are weak. With the plot revelation, various
story of a Bengali, lower social and emotional