This is a difficult film on many levels.
Describing the plot is difficult for several reasons. One is that I should not give too much away. Another is that the plot is difficult to get a handle on. By the end of the movie, we are not sure what is going on. Like "Rashomon" and "La locataire" ("The Tenant," by Roman Polanski), I don't believe what the camera is telling me.
The gist of the plot is that Shigeharu Aoyama (played by Ryo Ishibashi) has been a widower for seven years, and his son has encouraged him to get a girlfriend. The fortyish Aoyama has no idea how to go about it, so he talks to his friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura). Yoshikawa is a film or television producer. They concoct a scheme to call in about thirty young women ostensibly to audition for a role. Among the thirty is Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), and Aoyama is quite taken with her. He asks her out, and the tale spins into a maelstrom.
The movie was directed in 1999 by Takashi Miike based on the screenplay by Daisuke Tengan. The movie is set in Japan, and some of my confusion is undoubtedly based on my unfamiliarity with that culture. For example, Aoyama is the owner of a successful company, and one of the women who works there walks him to the elevator to announce her engagement. Aoyama is surprised she's telling him and congratulates her rather awkwardly. She responds awkwardly, and he leaves. In another scene, it's clear she has some interest in Aoyama, but I never figured it out. Her character and reason for being in the film were never resolved as far as I could tell. I have no idea whether Miike was telling his viewers something or not.
Some of the time, I was reminded of Freud's concepts, but I have no clue whether Freud's ideas are cultural and limited to Europeans or whether they would apply to Japanese people as well.
"Audition" starts out as a straightforward flick about a man who loved his wife; she died in his arms in the hospital, and he raised his son alone. Aoyama and Yoshikawa have a conversation about loneliness in general and the loneliness of the Japanese in particular. Aoyama is urged by his son and by Yoshikawa to get a girlfriend. Yoshikawa's scheme of auditions for a movie strike Aoyama as dishonest, and at one point he describes the plan as criminal. It's my understanding that Aoyama feels guilty for deserting his wife, even though she's been dead for seven years. And I believe Aoyama feels uncomfortable with Asami's age of 24; at one point he's referred to as an old fool.
The problem is that as we are sucked with Aoyama down the whirlpool; we can't tell whether the director is lying to us about what's going on. Is Miike commenting on Japanese mores and culture of submissive women (Aoyama calls Asami obedient)? Or is the movie about Aoyama's guilt over "leaving" his wife for the much younger woman? In the end, because I think Miike misleads us, I'm unable to tell. I think Miike intentionally makes the last third or so of the movie ambiguous, so feel free to insert your own meaning into the end.
Describing the plot is difficult for several reasons. One is that I should not give too much away. Another is that the plot is difficult to get a handle on. By the end of the movie, we are not sure what is going on. Like "Rashomon" and "La locataire" ("The Tenant," by Roman Polanski), I don't believe what the camera is telling me.
The gist of the plot is that Shigeharu Aoyama (played by Ryo Ishibashi) has been a widower for seven years, and his son has encouraged him to get a girlfriend. The fortyish Aoyama has no idea how to go about it, so he talks to his friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura). Yoshikawa is a film or television producer. They concoct a scheme to call in about thirty young women ostensibly to audition for a role. Among the thirty is Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), and Aoyama is quite taken with her. He asks her out, and the tale spins into a maelstrom.
The movie was directed in 1999 by Takashi Miike based on the screenplay by Daisuke Tengan. The movie is set in Japan, and some of my confusion is undoubtedly based on my unfamiliarity with that culture. For example, Aoyama is the owner of a successful company, and one of the women who works there walks him to the elevator to announce her engagement. Aoyama is surprised she's telling him and congratulates her rather awkwardly. She responds awkwardly, and he leaves. In another scene, it's clear she has some interest in Aoyama, but I never figured it out. Her character and reason for being in the film were never resolved as far as I could tell. I have no idea whether Miike was telling his viewers something or not.
Some of the time, I was reminded of Freud's concepts, but I have no clue whether Freud's ideas are cultural and limited to Europeans or whether they would apply to Japanese people as well.
"Audition" starts out as a straightforward flick about a man who loved his wife; she died in his arms in the hospital, and he raised his son alone. Aoyama and Yoshikawa have a conversation about loneliness in general and the loneliness of the Japanese in particular. Aoyama is urged by his son and by Yoshikawa to get a girlfriend. Yoshikawa's scheme of auditions for a movie strike Aoyama as dishonest, and at one point he describes the plan as criminal. It's my understanding that Aoyama feels guilty for deserting his wife, even though she's been dead for seven years. And I believe Aoyama feels uncomfortable with Asami's age of 24; at one point he's referred to as an old fool.
The problem is that as we are sucked with Aoyama down the whirlpool; we can't tell whether the director is lying to us about what's going on. Is Miike commenting on Japanese mores and culture of submissive women (Aoyama calls Asami obedient)? Or is the movie about Aoyama's guilt over "leaving" his wife for the much younger woman? In the end, because I think Miike misleads us, I'm unable to tell. I think Miike intentionally makes the last third or so of the movie ambiguous, so feel free to insert your own meaning into the end.