The Idiot (1951)

A Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Kameda 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

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Akira Kurosawa in his autobiography describes this film - which was heavily edited from the director's original four-hour-and-twenty-six-minute version, by order of the studio, Shochiku - as "ruinous" to his career. Upon release, reviews of this film in the Japanese press were, according to Kurosawa, universally "scathing." ("It was as if [the reviews] were a mirror reflection of the studio's attitude toward me," he writes.) Not surprisingly, therefore, in the annual Kinema Junpo critics' poll for films released in 1951, The Idiot (1951) appears way down in the list, ranked at #18. Of all twenty five Japanese-language films that Kurosawa released from the end of the Second World War to the end of his career, this film is the only one that failed to place within the "Best Ten" list of films in the Kinema Junpo poll of its release year. In fact, it has been claimed that only the immense popularity of the film's star, Setsuko Hara, prevented the film from being a complete commercial disaster.

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Quotes

Ayako: Do you have any idea what sort of person Mr. Kameda is?
Taeko Nasu: I certainly do. I daresay I know far better than you.
Ayako: That's a lie! You couldn't possibly know.
Taeko Nasu: Why not?
Ayako: Why not? Because you only ever think of yourself. Drunk on your own misery, you don't see the grief you cause in others.

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Connections

Version of Idiot (2003)

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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

The imposed edit of this movie makes it impossible to rate.

Although severely mutilated, this film still distillates the genius of Kurosawa, unfortunately the artistic decisions are still made by the people who have the money, not by the people who have the talent.

For the people who have read Dostoievski's "The Idiot", I think this film will be an amazing experience. For the rest the movie probably won't be very clear, because the studio edited off over an hour of footage, which obviously crippled the movie.

That was the luck which Kurosawa's "The Idiot" ran. And many of other films too.

Regards