.... what was the story? Who was guilty? Who was a spy? Why was innocent? Were the authorities right? Were they wrong? Who knows?

The film ends as a mystery because nothing is explained. Does the director wants us to guess who was what??

Oh well, the alm-ond eyed chick was slender and had a pleasant face. Too bad we don't see her body.

Summary

Remarkable espionage melodrama in Japan in 1940, which unfolds to the rhythm of the vicissitudes of the couple of the protagonist marriage, in a perfect combination of both plots.

Review:

Yusako Fukuhara (Issey Takahashi) is a wealthy cloth merchant who lives with his wife Satoko (Yu Ahoi) in Kobe. It is 1940, shortly before Japan joined the Axis with Germany and Italy at a time when the country is traversed by a nationalist and traditionalist wave, with surveillance of customs and which is suspicious of westernized Japanese, as they both are. On the other hand, Satoko intervenes as an actress in homemade crime videos that her husband films. Yusako and Satoko constitute a westernized marriage and he frequently deals with foreign clients. When a British client of hers is accused of espionage, the marriage falls in the crosshairs of the military, in particular Yasuharu Tsumori, a new squad leader (Masahiro Higashide),who was Satoko's youthful love. Yusako's immediate business trip to Manchuria will raise suspicions and trigger subsequent events.

Where does this spy melodrama actually begin? Where is the tip of his intrigue? This is one of the strengths of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film and one of his basic questions, since the story is developed from Satoko's point of view. It is not a complicated and overwhelming puzzle posed from the beginning as such, but rather a succession of veils of an espionage intrigue that delicately fall depending on the dynamics of the couple, to the rhythm of the distrust, jealousy and loyalties that Satoko is experiencing, who from a protected and childish role begins to play a more active role in the relationship, while the domestic placidity of the story can turn to horror. This structure and tone, added to the time in which the story takes place and its delightful reconstruction, bring the film closer to Hitchcock's universe.

Kurosawa leads us with his film to a kind of prodigious coda, where he gives an account of History with an admirable visual power.

Four minutes short of two hours, this was a film which made me despise the modern technology used in cinematography. Watch this film to see how the great screenplay, outstanding acting and potential for a masterpiece can be ruined by choosing something you are not fully familiar with, like electronic cameras! Kiyoshi Kurosawa agreed to make a movie on a limited TV broadcaster budget, so that was what we got! A colourless and dull looking cinematography which came half way for everything!

A part of the Japanese history not often visited by the Japanese filmmakers was just touched and never fully explored, slowly dissolving into a personal drama of trust and betrayal...

If you like dull colours, reserved directing, no outdoor scenes and very dark indoor rooms, some agony with few tears, no sex and maybe a kiss, bad acting from foreigners and excellent acting from Yû Aoi and Issey , sit down and prepare your snacks and drinks!