Double suicide and the 'fetishism of space'

Anne Rutherford

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    It is rare today to find a film as highly stylised as Shinju: Ten no amijima (Double Suicide) – especially one in which the stylisation is so exquisitely sustained across every level of set design, performance, sound and dramaturgy. Based on a bunraku theatre script written by the most famous premodern Japanese dramatist, Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Double Suicide is a period film set among the merchant class of Osaka. The inability of a merchant, Jihei, to pay out the debts of his lover, the courtesan, Koharu, leads to their decision to seek a shinju – a lovers’ suicide – so they can be together in the next world.
    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages2
    JournalSenses of Cinema
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • Chikamatsu, Monzaemon, 1653-1725
    • Japan
    • Shinju ten no Amijima
    • feature films

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