Fear and Trembling

I ran­domly step­ped into my local art house cinema today after a social mee­ting that I had plan­ned to attend, was not where I thought it was.

The film sho­wing at that very moment, just about to begin, was: “Fear and Trem­bling” or Stu­peur et trem­ble­ments as it is known in french. It is a film adap­ta­tion of the popu­lar book with the same title.

Win­ner of the Grand Prix de I’Academie Fran­caise and the Prix Inter­net du Livre, this taut tour-de-force of a novel crea­ted a sen­sa­tion in France, where it has sold nearly half a million copies. FEAR AND TREMBLING tells the story of Ame­lie, a young Wes­tern woman who spends a year wor­king at a Japa­nese cor­po­ra­tion. She soon learns that at the Yumi­moto Cor­po­ra­tion hie­rarchy means everything. Keep to your place and you sur­vive; break ranks and you will be bro­ken. The deter­mi­ned but hapless Ame­lie makes mis­take after mis­take, not least of which is deig­ning to sym­pathize with her imme­diate supe­rior, the beau­ti­ful, eff­cient and ice-cold Miss Mori. A per­verse pro­cess of ritual humi­lia­tion follows. But even as Amelie’s life at the Yumi­moto Cor­po­ra­tion spi­rals ine­xo­rably and hila­riously down­ward, what she learns about her­self and her collea­gues in this bri­lliant novel will alter­na­tely delight and outrage rea­ders. Not since Mar­gue­rite Duras has a nove­list so inde­libly mar­ked the dif­fe­rence bet­ween East and West, and with such seduc­tive honesty.

This film is about dif­fe­ren­ces in cul­ture. Sadly the camera work, fil­ming and screen­play are sub stan­dard. The story and thought behind the wri­ting is awe ins­pi­ring yet the movie is dull. Read the book and if you are inte­res­ted in repre­sen­ta­tions of japa­nese cul­ture, watch the film as well.

Saying that, the film did have its moments and I enjo­yed it in part.

5/10.