The casting
The casting ( Japanese オ ー デ ィ シ ョ ン , Ōdishon [= audition] ) is a novel by Ryū Murakami . It was first published in Japanese in 1997, and in 2013 in a German translation by Septime-Verlag.
content
Shigeharu Aoyama, 42, wants to go back to work seven years after his wife's death. He has built a small video production company professionally. First he tries to meet women he knows and even visits a business partner in Wittenberg. After these attempts were unsuccessful, he got the idea of getting to know women under the pretext of a film casting.
He particularly noticed Asami Yamasaki among the entries for the casting. He arranges to meet her for dinner, in which she tells him about her difficult childhood and the abuse of her stepfather. It was only when she was admitted to a ballet school that she had a purpose in life again. At a meeting, Shigeru Asami confesses his real intentions, whereupon she breaks off the meeting.
Asami later apologizes to Shigeru and meets with him again in a hotel. The two of them have sexual intercourse, but Shigeru faints because Asami has given him medicine. When he comes to, Asami has long since left. Shigeru sees a note on which Asami accuses him of lying. She also breaks off contact with him for a long time.
When Shigeru hears music in his house, Asami visits him. She plays sadistic games with Shigeru and kills Shigeru's dog. Finally, Shigeru orders his son to kill Asami, which Asami does.
filming
The casting was filmed in 1999 by Takashi Miike under the title Audition .
criticism
“Murakami discharges tension with excessive brutality. But it is precisely with this schematic discharge that Murakami makes himself part of the culture of extremes that he criticizes. The journey into the abyss does not turn into a nightmare, as indicated on the spine of the book, but a dive with a hard landing. "
literature
- Ryu Murakami: The casting. Septime, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902711-15-1
