A film with a premise that reads like something straight off
the Pink Eiga or Roman Porn racks, THE PASSION features a young woman committed
to the chaste path of a nun who regularly communes with a constantly berating
otherworldly presence that has taken up residence in her vagina, and has a
tendency for continual self castigation, at one point even flogging
herself. Yet this satirical comedy actually plays like a lighthearted and
mostly innocent comedy, the premise having much to say about the trials of
being a woman in Japan who does not fit the typical mold. With no name given to
protagonist Francesco (Frances-KO)’s covenant and little talk of religion, it’s
safe to say the notion of being a nun is a sly way of tackling issues of
women’s self image, in society in general, but particularly Japanese, where
desires to be typically feminine run contrary to perceived pressures to be
self sacrificing and virginal. Interestingly, you can switch the words
‘desires’ and ‘pressures’ in the previous sentence and it would still hold true
in relation to Frances-KO’s inability and unwillingness to make herself
attractive to the men around her.
It is a fresh and amusing concept, based on a novel
shortlisted for the award for Japanese literary award the Naoki Prize, though I
found the constant dialogue between Frances-KO and her unexpected passenger to
be a wearying after a while. At some point, the lark takes on a positively fairy
tale-esque turn, and like most fairy tales, it is populated by a fair share of
insipidly 1 dimensional characters that can wear on the nerves.
Credit to Mayuko Iwase for her commitment to the role of
Frances-Ko as unflappably self sacrificing heroine, and for credibly
wearing a slow and subtly moving transformation from homely to radiant.
Espousing a point of view rarely found in Japanese culture that is pro female
sexuality, THE PASSION is a lively, though at times a tad tedious, bit of
cinematic mischief.
THE PASSION plays at the 2014 JAPAN CUTS festival of contemporary Japanese cinema at 6:30, Friday, July 18 at the Japan Society. Click here for more information or to buy
tickets.
Me on twitter = @mondocurry
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