SIDONIE IN JAPAN Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Elise Girard
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Tsuyoshi Ihara, August Diehl.
Sidonie Perceval (played by iconic French actress Isabelle Huppert) is a widowed author, who has not written anything since the death of her husband Antoine and has instead been living a reclusive lifestyle. She is drawn out of her isolation when she travels to Japan for a book tour to accompany a reprint of her deeply personal debut novel L’Hombre Portee. She is met at the airport by her Japanese publisher Kenzo (Tsuyoshi Ihara, from 13 Assassins, etc) who accompanies her on the book tour.
Japan is described as “a land of ghosts.” And fittingly, as she moves between eerily empty hotels, she finds that the ghost of Antoine (August Diehl, from Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, etc) accompanies her. She is the only one who can see his spectral presence though.
Over the course of nine days Sidonie and Kenzo grow closer, drawn together by shared trauma and unhappiness. Sidonie slowly reveals details of her past and tragic childhood, while Kenzo reveals that his marriage is an unhappy one. Sidonie comes to realise that in order to move on with her life she must somehow dispel the ghostly presence of Antoine. And as she and Kenzo grow closer together Antoine’s ghostly presence slowly begins to fade.
This slight, supernatural romance set in Japan comes across like an underdeveloped French variation on Lost In Translation. The film is something of a love letter to Japan from French filmmaker Elise Girard, who was inspired to make the film following her visit to Japan to promote her film Belleville-Tokyo. This is her third feature, and it has a wistful, melancholy feel to it as it explores themes of loss, grief, moving on. The script was written by Girard, the late Sophie Fillieres (This Life Of Mine, etc) and Maud Ameline (Camille Rewinds, etc) but it fails to deliver much in the way of insights or emotional depth.
There is a nice chemistry between Huppert and Ihara. Huppert delivers a quiet, sublime and reflective performance that also taps into Sidonie’s vulnerability. Ihara brings a quiet and restrained quality to his performance as the reserved Kenzo.
Sidonie In Japan is a slow-paced, almost soporific romantic drama that explores the familiar trope of a stranger adrift in a strange land and also explores the differences in Japanese and French culture. Girard depicts the culture of Japan through a sympathetic lens. The film also has something of an eerie quality as there is a lack of other people giving even the hotels a spooky, empty and haunting quality. (Sidonie In Japan was shot during the epidemic but this lack of people effectively gives the film its slightly unnatural quality.)
The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Celine Bozon who captures plenty of Japan’s landmarks and gorgeous scenery. This works as a travelogue which may make many in the audience begin planning a trip to Japan as soon as they exit the cinema. There are some stylistic touches as Bozon uses still photography when Sidonie and Kenzo consummate their relationship. The film is accompanied by a beautiful and elegiac score from Gerard Massim, with additional music from Riyuichi Sakamoto and Bach that adds to the atmosphere.
★★☆
