The Idiot (1951)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The idiot |
| Original title | Hakuchi |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 166 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Akira Kurosawa |
| script | Eijirô Hisaita |
| production | Takashi Koide |
| music | Fumio Hayasaka |
| camera | Toshio Ubukata |
| cut | Akira Kurosawa |
| occupation | |
| |
The Idiot ( Japanese 白痴 , Hakuchi ) is a Japanese literary film adaptation from 1951 by the director Akira Kurosawa , based on the novel The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky .
Kurosawa increasingly grappled with the question of how the weaker members of his homeland fare in a post-war society that sought prosperity at any cost. This led him to the decision to film Dostoyevsky's The Idiot . Kurosawa relocates the plot to post-war Japan in wintry Hokkaido, in the milieu of a wealthy middle class. His intention was to show that the weaker members in particular have extraordinary empathy and kindness that are not recognized by those around them.
Shochiku , Kurosawa's production company at the time, considered the film's format unsuitable for cinema and, against Kurosawa's will, shortened it from four and a half hours to 166 minutes. Kurosawa had done everything possible to prevent the imminent cut and was extremely angry when the cut version was published. The Director's Cut is considered to no longer exist.
Plot and interpretation
Part I: love and agony
In contrast to Dostoyevsky, who divided his novel into four parts, Kurosawa divides Hakuchi into only two. The first part, entitled Love and Torment, begins with the crossing on a steamer, on which the two protagonists Kameda, played by Masayuki Mori , and Akama, played by Toshirō Mifune , meet for the first time. Kameda, a former soldier who has been released from a US Army sanatorium and has epilepsy, wants to visit his relative, the Ono family, in Hokkaido. The returning soldier is a recurring element in Kurosawa's films and can be found in Akira Kurosawa's Dreams , Angel of the Lost , A Wonderful Sunday and The Silent Duel , among others . Akama, on the other hand, would like to return to his parents' house after the death of his father in order to take up his inheritance and to win over the beautiful Taeko Nasu, played by Setsuko Hara . Kurosawa pauses after the first scene and explains:
“Dostoyevsky, the author of the novel on which this film is based, says that he wanted to portray a truly good person. Ironically, for this purpose he chose as a hero a young man who is an idiot. But in this world the really good seems somehow almost to be regarded as stupidity. "
The subtitle suggests the coming fate. In the first quarter of an hour of the film, more subtitles will follow to provide information about the relationships between the characters and their previous stories. The narrator's voice is off-screen.
After a train ride through wintry Hokkaidō , both arrive in Sapporo . Akama shows Kameda a picture of Taeko in a shop window. They both say goodbye and Kameda goes to see his relatives. After this scene Kurosawa shows documentary scenes of the poor street life of Hokkaido for a moment. In a heavy snowstorm it shows people wrapped up in thick clothes, a tram, a dog pulling a wagon, and a horse and cart. These are not extras and none of them have been paid. The use of documentary scenes is very unusual for Kurosawa and has not been used in any of his other films.
When Kameda arrives at the Ono family, the atmosphere is tense. The host Ono, played by Takashi Shimura , wants to help his friend Tohata get rid of his beloved Taeko. He offers his secretary Kayama ( Minoru Chinki ) 600,000 yen for a marriage to Taeko Nasu. He hesitates because he is in love with Ono's youngest daughter Ayako, played by Yoshiko Kuga . He writes her a letter with the request that she confess her love to him so that he can end the engagement. Kameda is chosen by Kayama to deliver this letter. Ms. Ono ( Chieko Higashiyama ) learns of the arranged marriage and asks Kayama to come and give him her opinion. Kayama now believes that Kameda blackened him on Ms. Ono. Kameda receives a letter back from Ayako with the answer: “There is no bargaining for friendship.” Mr. Ono asks Kayama to accommodate Kameda in Kayama's mother's pension. Both Kayama and Kameda set out to get there.
A short time later, after both of them have arrived at the pension, Taeko Nasu shows up. A little later, Akama joins them, followed by a horde of drunkards. After Kameda says he has seen Taeko's eyes before, the whole of society is in an awkward silence. A solid scandal develops in which Kayama slaps Kameda in the face. In contrast to Dostoyevsky's novel, in which Prince Myshkin, the literary counterpart to Kameda, appears unexpectedly at the later birthday party, Kameda is invited by Taeko in Hakuchi. After she has invited Kameda, she and Akama leave the pension.
Taeko wears a floor-length black cape at her birthday party, which draws all attention to her face and which she will not take off the entire film. While the festival is in full swing, Kameda appears in a shabby suit and accidentally smashes a precious Japanese vase right after his arrival. Kurosawa prefers this scene, which takes place much later in the novel at the evening party of the Jepantschins, to demonstrate Taeko's feelings towards Kameda by smashing the second vase and defending him. She only talks to him. Kameda notes that Taeko's eyes remind him of those of a soldier when he was executed. On that day, he was also almost shot as a supposed war criminal. Kameda describes every detail, although it obviously causes him pain. In the background you can hear threatening music and the sound of marching boots. When Kameda reports about the soldier placed at the pole, the marching noises are replaced by military drums and trumpets. When he talks about the fatal shots, shots can also be heard in the background. The acoustic background is intended to illustrate the terrible trauma the execution left on Kameda and that it triggered his epilepsy. Kayama can no longer bear this overwhelming topic of conversation and tries to interrupt Kameda. Taeko asks Kameda if she should marry Kayama, to which the latter answers with no. A terrible horror spreads across the entire birthday party. Akama and his entourage arrive next, with them a million yen promised to Taeko at the Onos house. Kameda surprisingly makes Taeko a serious marriage proposal. Mr. Ono announces to society that Kameda is rich, whereupon Akama begs him to withdraw his marriage proposal. However, Taeko has already chosen Akama because she has no intention of ruining Kameda with her bad reputation. The next fade-in of a house sunk in deep snow announces that it is February. While the Ono family is sitting at the lunch table, the viewer learns that Kameda followed Taeko and Akama to Tokyo and that Taeko cannot choose between these two men. The masses of snow in this scene, which lie on the house, have a symbolic role. Mr. Ono admits that this triangular relationship worries him when a roof avalanche breaks up amid a loud roar and the entire Ono family startles. The falling snow is a visualization of the foreboding and a metaphor for destruction and downfall.
Thick snow is present throughout the film. Snow is an element of transformation, it unifies the scenery and gives it a strange, hallucinatory character. In Kurosawa's Hakuchi he has the task of corresponding to the soul landscape in Dostoyevsky's novels.
In the next scene, Kameda, who appears absent-minded, can be seen with Karube, a henchman, in the streets of Sapporo. He has returned to find Taeko and is on his way to Akama's house, where he hopes to find her. It is an old creepy-looking house, which is also covered with thick masses of snow, which seem to herald an impending disaster. Akama lets Kameda enter and silently leads him through the dark house. Although they talk for a long time, Akama does not provide any clear information about Taeko's whereabouts. Before Kameda sets off again, both exchange lucky charms.
Kameda begins to wander aimlessly through the streets. He feels persecuted and goes mad. Kameda seems to perceive Akama again and again in his immediate vicinity. A hectic sequence of images makes the viewer part of Kameda's madness and feels just as disoriented as he does. Kameda flees to Kayama's mother's pension. Behind the garden gate he is exposed to a knife attack by Akamas and has an epileptic fit. Kurosawa ends here with the first part of the film.
Part II: love and hate
Hakuchi's second part, entitled Love and Hate , no longer adheres as strictly to its literary model as the first. Rather, it is an independent part that takes up and reinterprets some aspects from the last three parts of Dostoyevsky's novel.
This part begins with a sick visit from Ms. Ono at Kameda. She asks him about a letter he wrote to Ayako if he was in love with her. He evades this question, but you can tell from him that he at least likes it.
The snow festival takes place on the same evening. It is a kind of ice carnival festival, which today enjoys great fame under the name of Yuki Matsuri . In 1951 this snow festival, in which large sculptures are formed from masses of snow and all kinds of masked fellows do their jokes, took place for the second time. Kurosawas Hakuchi has a historical value that should not be underestimated as a witness to this event. Kayama joins the Ono ladies. Shortly afterwards, Ayako sees Kameda and walks over to him. Kayama wants to go after her, but he is stopped by a woman in a black cloak and black mask who says to him: “Did you forget what you meant to do for 600,000 yen?” Everyone present hears this too and Ms. Ono tries to listen to her daughters order to come home with her. Ayako whispers to Kameda that he should meet her the next morning on the bench in front of the carnival ice statue. Due to the creepy masks and the gloomy accompanying music, the entire scene seems gloomy and threatening. The next day, Ayako tells Kameda that it pains her when other people laugh at him and that he is a good person. On the way to the house of the Ono family, Kameda learns that Taeko had written letters to Ayako asking that Ayako should marry Kameda after all. Ayako is very upset about this, whereupon Kameda tries to protect Taeko. After Ayako asks Kameda to visit him at her home without secrecy in the future, he becomes a daily guest.
One day Kameda brings red carnations with her. Since red carnations represent love, everyone present starts to laugh. He didn't seem to know this and surprisingly asked for Ayako's hand. The Onos reluctantly consent.
Ayako asks Kameda to accompany her to Akama's house, where Taeko now also lives. The meeting ends in disaster. Taeko secretly worships Ayako and is offended by her snooty behavior. Ayako, on the other hand, accuses Taeko of selfishness and forbids her to write letters to her. Ultimately, Taeko gives Kameda a choice: she or Ayako. Ayako's hesitation disappoints and she runs away. Taeko faints and Akama promises to take care of her, whereupon Kameda rushes after Ayako.
He can't find her anywhere. When he wants to look for her in the Onos house and she cannot be found there either, the Ono family break up the engagement and throw him out of the house because he has left Ayako alone.
Kameda returns to Akama and finds him half insane next to the stabbed Taeko. Both wait together, by candlelight and wrapped in heavy blankets, for the next morning and lose their minds in the process.
In the final scene in Onos' house, which is supposed to replace Dostoyevsky's epilogue, we learn of Ms. Ono, who has just returned from a visit to Kameda in the mental hospital, about his condition. A snow storm is raging outside. Everyone is very concerned. Ayako regrets her behavior towards Kameda and the film ends with a close-up of her crying face.
Motifs
The misunderstanding
An important motif of the film is the misunderstanding of Kameda. He was misunderstood as a supposed war criminal, which nearly led to his execution and triggered his epilepsy. Because of his stay in the sanatorium, the Ono family fails to recognize him as having a weak mind. Kayama believes he blackened him on the Ono ladies, and Akama has feelings of hatred and jealousy towards him. Ultimately, this misunderstanding at the end of the film robs him of his psychological and spiritual life.
The triangular relationships
Another important motif are the triangular relationships in Hakuchi. The triangular structure between Akama, Kameda and Taeko is visualized right at the beginning of the film when the two gentlemen arrive in Sapporo. Kameda and Akama stand in front of the Taekos photo, which is in a display. The camera image was set up in such a way that Taeko's image is centered while the two men are positioned below the image, reflected in the pane, and have to look up at the image. The triangle between the faces is accompanied by a Russian folk song. Another love triangle is that between Ayako, Kayama and Kameda. Kayama is in love with Ayako, but Kameda wins her trust. Kayama's jealousy leads him to the point of slapping Kameda. These figures meet several times in the spacious stairwell of the Onos. The two men always have to look up to Ayako, who is either standing on the landing, the upper step or the balustrades. Finally, there is the triangular relationship between Kameda, Ayako and Taeko. The two women stand close together at the meeting in Akama's house. Kameda, turning to one and then to the other with pleading eyes, was positioned between them. For both, he is the object of their desire. Just before Taeko asks Kameda to choose between the two women, Kurosawa uses a close-up of Akama, Kameda and Taeko, from the waist up. A cut follows and Taeko, Ayako and Kameda can be seen. In a few seconds, the two most important triangular structures are compared here.
The knife
Another motif is the return of the knife. Kameda unintentionally fiddles with a butcher knife in Akama's house, which he uses to open his letters. Kameda sees a similar looking knife in his paranoia in a shop window in the streets of Sapporo. The knife flashes as Akama tries to stab Kameda with it, and it is ultimately this knife that Akama stabs Taeko with.
literature
- Dunja Brötz (2008): Dostojewski's »The Idiot« in a feature film, Bielefeld
- Donald Richie (1996): The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Berkeley
- Akira Kurosawa (1989): Something like an autobiography, Berlin
- Karsten Visarius (1988): Hakuchi (the idiot) In: Peter W. Jansen (ed.) & Wolfram Schütte (ed.): Akira Kurosawa. Film 41 series, Vienna, pp. 129–136
- Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro (2001): Kurosawa. Film Studies and Japanese Cinema, Durham
- Fyodor Dostojewski (2007): The Idiot, Cologne
- Akira Kurosawa (1951): Hakuchi. The Idiot, Japan: Shochiku Co. Ltd., (2003) Hong Kong: Panorama Entertainment Co. Ltd.
Web links
- The idiot in the Internet Movie Database (English)