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Odd Obsession

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Odd Obsession
Theatrical poster
Directed byKon Ichikawa
Written byKeiji Hasebe
Kon Ichikawa
Natto Wada
Based onThe Key
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
Produced byHiroaki Fujii
Masaichi Nagata
StarringMachiko Kyō
Tatsuya Nakadai
Nakamura Ganjirō II
Jun Hamamura
CinematographyKazuo Miyagawa
Edited byHiroaki Fujii
Music byYasushi Akutagawa
Production
company
Distributed byDaiei Film
Release date
  • 23 June 1959 (1959-06-23) (Japan)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Odd Obsession (鍵, Kagi, lit. 'The Key') is a 1959 Japanese satirical[1] comedy drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It is based on the 1956 novel The Key by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.[2][3][4]

Plot

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Art historian Kenji Kenmochi is married to the much younger Ikuko. Due to his waning virility, he has his doctor give him hormone injections. In addition, he tries to awaken the interest of his daughter Toshiko's fiancé, assistant doctor Kimura, in Ikuko, convinced that his jealousy will bring his manliness back. Ikuko agrees to the plan, as she has developed a genuine interest in Kimura. However, Kimura's main ambition for becoming part of the Kenmochi family is financing his continued studies with Kenji's money. Kenji eventually dies of a heart failure, an effect of his hormone injections.

After the funeral, Ikuko, Toshiko and Kimura plan to live together, although it isn't clear with which woman – or both – Kimura will be sleeping. As they begin their new life with a post-funeral meal, Toshiko tries to poison her mother's tea, not realizing that the poison insecticide powder had been switched with harmless household cleanser in their respective containers. As Toshiko awaits her mother's death from the poison tea, the family maid Hana poisons them all using the actual insecticide. Later the detectives read Ikuko's diary and, thereby discovering the incestuous love quadrangle, ascribe all three deaths to suicide, despite Hana's confession.

Cast

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Production

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For the film, Ichikawa and his co-writers Natto Wada and Keiji Hasebe added a character not in the book, housemaid Hana, who in the finale (again not in the book) poisons Ikuko, Toshiko and Kimura.[5]

Awards

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Odd Obsession was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.[6] It also received the 1960 Samuel Goldwyn International Award.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hale, Mike (15 October 2015). "Japan Society Reintroduces the Filmmaker Kon Ichikawa". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. ^ "鍵" (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. ^ "鍵" (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  4. ^ "鍵" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  5. ^ McDonald, Keiko I. (2000). From Book to Screen: Modern Japanese Literature in Films. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 9780765603876.
  6. ^ "Kagi". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Odd Obsession". The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
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