Stupeur et tremblements
France,
2003, 107 min
Shown in 2003
CREDITS
- dir
-
Alain Corneau
- prod
-
Christine Gozlan, Alaine Sarde
- scr
-
Alain Corneau
- cam
-
Yves Angelo
- editor
-
Thierry Derocles
- cast
-
Sylvie Testud, Kaori Tsuji, Taro Suwa
- source
-
Wild Bunch, 99 rue de la Verrerie, Paris 75004, France. FAX: 33-1-50-01-50-49. EMAIL: lkalmar@exception-wb.com.
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Alain Corneau in person.
OTHER
Alain Corneau is a director who loves both challenging and surprising his audience. In his brilliant adaptations of Antonio Tabuchi (Nocturne indien), Pascal Quignard (Tous les matins du monde) and Jim Thompson (Série noire) he plunged us into other worlds. In this adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical novel, Japan is seen through the eyes of a young Belgian woman who, after having spent her childhood in Tokyo, wants to go back to the country of her fondest memories as an interpreter in a big company. As a woman, and as a foreigner unable to grasp the codes of a strict hierarchical society, she fails miserably. Scorned and humiliated, her life spins into a downward spiral that is both tragic and hilarious. The film has to be seen as a purely subjective experience, Japan viewed from an individual western perspective, Corneau’s frontal and unadorned direction enhancing the violence of the confrontations. Sylvie Testud (who learned her Japanese dialogue from scratch) is stupendous, as well as newcomer Kaori Tsuji (Amélie’s superior) and the ensemble acting of the rest of the Japanese cast. In our time of political correctness, Fear and Trembling is a welcome experience—controversial, original, moving and funny.
—Michel Ciment
FACTOID #107
Incubus, the only known film made in the Esperanto language (at least the only one starring William Shatner), played the 1966 San Francisco International Film Festival.
