The Idiot (1951)

A Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Hokkaido where he soon enters a love triangle with his best friend and a disgraced woman.

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (novel), Eijirô Hisaita

Stars:

Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori, Toshirô Mifune

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Setsuko Hara	...	Taeko Nasu
Masayuki Mori	...	Kinji Kameda
Toshirô Mifune	...	Denkichi Akama
Yoshiko Kuga	...	Ayako
Takashi Shimura	...	Ono, Ayako's father
Chieko Higashiyama	...	Satoko, Ayako's mother
Eijirô Yanagi	...	Tohata
Minoru Chiaki	...	Mutsuo Kayama, the secretary
Noriko Sengoku	...	Takako
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Jumpei
Bokuzen Hidari	...	Karube
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Madame Kayama
Chiyoko Fumiya	...	Noriko
Mitsuyo Akashi	...	Madame Akama
Daisuke Inoue	...	Kaoru

Storyline

Kameda, who has been in an asylum on Okinawa, travels to Hokkaido. There he becomes involved with two women, Taeko and Ayako. Taeko comes to love Kameda, but is loved in turn by Akama. When Akama realizes that he will never have Taeko, his thoughts turn to murder, and great tragedy ensues.

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Plot Keywords:

love triangle | surrealism | idiot | blizzard | foreign language adaptation | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed as a two-part production running 265 minutes. Shochiku (the studio) told Akira Kurosawa that the film had to be cut in half, because it was too long; he told them, "In that case, better cut it lengthwise." The film was released truncated at 166 minutes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Kameda's cries in his sleep wakes himself up and others on the train, including Denkichi Akama]
Denkichi Akama: That was some scream.
Kinji Kameda: Forgive me. I was dreaming.
Denkichi Akama: Dreaming? Sounded like you were being murdered.
Kinji Kameda: I was - about to be shot. It's a recurring nightmare of mine. You see, I was convicted as a war criminal.

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Connections

Version of Jinsei no uramichi (1929)

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Soundtracks

Oh How We Danced
(uncredited)
aka "The Anniversary Song"
Music by Iosif Ivanovici, arranged by Saul Chaplin, lyrics by Al Jolson and Saul Chaplin
Playing on the music box when Ayako and Kamada visit Taeko and Akama

User Reviews

Dark, Disturbing, Haunting and Beautiful

One of Kurosawa's least-seen films is "The Idiot". The film is set in Hokkaido, the northernmost area of Japan. Deep snow covers the earth, and is shoveled into barriers, seeps in through the ruins of a warehouse in great drifts, piles up against the windows in crescents, howls fiercely as Toshiro Mifune's character and Matsayuki Mori's "Prince Myishkin" step foot off a train into a blizzard.

Dostoevsky's great novel is the resource material.The Prince Myishkin character is Christ-like in the novel, and, as transplanted to Japan may be seen as a Boddhisatva-like character (an Avalokiteshvara or Kanon-a saint of compassion). Matsayuki Mori does an amazing job of portraying a damaged but compassionate soul..one that feels deeply the pain of those he encounters, and who speaks the truth simply, with a pure heart and an awareness of suffering. In one scene, he holds Toshiro Mifune's face between his small, gentle hands, and there is such a tender sensibility, his hands seem to communicate love and absorb the pain of Mifune's character. It is a breathtaking moment.

Toshiro Mifune is brilliantly cast as the thuggish suitor who vies with Mori for the soul of the beautiful and doomed Taeko Nasu character played with uncharacteristic drama by Setsuko Hara.

This complex, rich, layered, frightening, deeply disturbing film has been under-appreciated from the outset-beginning with the studio, which cut the film drastically (Kurosawa was outraged! *see trivia). Japanese audiences didn't understand or like the film, and other audiences have found it weird. Some of this relates directly to Donald Richie's seminal work on Kurosawa and his conclusion that "The Idiot" was a failure. Unfortunately, Richie's conclusion seems to have put replaced the nails in "The Idiot's" coffin with screws. It's very hard to pry open the film.

Sure, it is a weird film...that's what is so interesting. Kurosawa has made one of the most powerfully strange films, while stretching the range of his actors (have you ever imagined you would see Setsuko Hara like this? She's terrifying in her desperation and pain!) giving the scenes a grounded reality, and allowing us to enter into the lives of these tragic, doomed souls.

This is one of the finest films of world cinema, although one of the least-viewed.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

30 April 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Idiot

Filming Locations:

Hokkaido, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku

Technical Specs

Runtime:

166 min 182 min (premiere) 272 min (original)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1