The Japanese Wife (2010)

 The Japanese wife is a Bengali film directed by Aparna Sen. The storyline is based on the novel with the same name as the movie, written by Kunal Basu. The movie was initially named as "The Kite" but was later changed to the original title of the movie. 

The earliest memory I have of watching this film is during a lazy, Friday afternoon. It was during some festival; hence my parents and I watched it together. I was frankly not keen on watching it, as the premise of the film didn't quite interest me. My preconceived notion was that it's a boring, sappy, romcom movie. 

And oh boy, was I wrong.

The movie stars Rahul Bose as Snehamoy Chatterjee, a university student and a part time arithmetic teacher in the local school in the Sunderbans, and Chigusa Takaku as Miyage, a Japanese lady taking care of her ailing mother, and also working part time in a store in Yokohama. 

The story follows the beautiful relationship that Snehamoy and Miyage share, through letters. They are both pen pals, who found each other's contacts through a magazine. As time passes, these two eventually develop feelings for one another. After an attempt of Snehamoy's aunt setting him up for an arranged marriage, Miyage offers her hand in marriage instead. As interesting as it seems, they get married through the exchange of letters. Miyage offers a silver ring with her name engraved on it to Snehamoy. In return, he offers Miyage the customary bangles worn by married Bengali women made out of conch shell, and vermillion. 

Years pass by, and the married couple stay in contact through letters, and occasionally international telephone calls. During these calls, Miyage was unable to understand what Snehamoy was saying due to the accent, and he was having a hard time communicating with her as well as he was not good at spoken English. Soon, Sandhya, a widow comes to live with Snehamoy and his aunt in their house, along with her son. This makes Miyage slightly jealous, although she trusted Snehamoy, who did everything in his power to avoid the new guest and remain completely transparent about everything with his wife. Sandhya at first, avoided him like the plague, although further into the movie, she is shown to be slowly warming up towards him and also become interested in him romantically. Thankfully, the same wasn't reciprocated from Snehamoy, who remained nonchalant towards her. 

Due to Snehamoy not having enough money to travel to Japan, and Miyage taking care of her ailing mother, they weren't able to meet. 15 years pass by, and slowly, turns to almost 2 decades. By now, Miyage's own health was declining rapidly, and it was soon revealed that she was suffering from cancer. Snehamoy, being the devoted husband to his wife he has never met, tries everything in his power to cure her. He consults the local doctors in the Sunderbans, all the way to the hospitals in Kolkata. On his ferry back to home, he gets caught in a rainstorm. It is during the monsoon season. Earlier in the movie, it is mentioned that it is easy to get infected with malaria. Snehamoy has suffered from malaria thrice but recovered quickly each time. 

In the rainstorm itself, he decides to make an international call to Miyage. Surprisingly, they are able to hear each other properly this time without any poor connection or signal. Both the lovers are able to understand each other perfectly, and there is no miscommunication among them. Yet, the moment he communicates his anxiousness about her condition, the line cuts out of the blue.

Drenched, he finally makes it home. Seeing his condition, his aunt and Sandhya immediately rush him to the bed, where he is shown to be in a bad condition. He keeps on coughing and has no strength left in his body. His aunt and Sandhya, both are shown tending to him and taking care of him as high fever sets in. It is later revealed that he is suffering from pneumonia and is in dire condition. On top of all that, the post office was closed, due to which there was no mail coming in. Snehamoy still asked Sandhya's son to watch out for any mail, yet to no avail. 

During a stormy night, while Sandhya is tending to Snehamoy, he suddenly starts seeing things and yearns for Miyage's touch. Her voice replies to him, reassuring him that she is right beside him, and asks if he could feel her hand on his forehead. The scene then cuts to his aunt crying over the empty bed of his, which implies that he has passed away. (I deeply apologise for the spoiler).

The ending of the movie is what really started my waterworks. Miyage, draped in a borderless, white cotton saree, is shown sitting on the ferry that took her to Snehamoy's village. She chose to come to the Sunderbans despite knowing that he is no more. What matters, is their love for each other, which is much beyond the temporal and physical love. 

Earlier in the movie, when Snehamoy is telling her about the widow who came to live with them, he told her that when a woman is widowed, she wears a borderless white saree. Some go as far as shaving their hair off, depending upon how devoted of a wife she was to her own husband. 

In this ending scene, Miyage is shown to have shaved off her hair. She is welcomed warmly by Sandhya and Snehamoy's aunt. 

The lingering feeling of pain stays, and the fact that the lovers never got to see each other is something that is bittersweet. The love between them was so pure that despite not having the luxury of being beside each other, they were truly devoted to their relationship and held each other in a pedestal. This scene also portrayed how carefully Miyage read the letters sent to her. She gets to see Snehamoy's room, where we also get a detailed shot as to what kind of a husband Snehamoy was. The entire room was full of photographs and other things that reminded him of her. In the centre of the room, laid a huge wooden box containing traditional Japanese kites that Miyage gifted Snehamoy for their 15th anniversary. 

The unattainable love and devotion are something which makes it stand out among all the other romance films I have watched so far. Personally, I do not enjoy romance films, yet Aparna Sen created an absolute masterpiece. The movie was shot in the Sunderbans, a place my mother has long wanted to go to, and could be one of the reasons why she made me watch the film in the first place.

The opening premise of the movie was comprehensible, and a smooth ride through different stages as their relationship blossoms. Watching the movie for the third time to write about it, made me realise that it does seem a bit rushed, yet that is simply the limitation of fitting an entire life story of two lovers within an hour or two. As the movie progresses, it gets the viewers at the edge of their seats, almost expecting a plot twist which makes everything alright. Snehamoy and Miyage finally meet, they start speaking English fluently, and they live happily ever after. Had that been the ending, then it wouldn't have left the indelible mark, and would be overlooked as any other sappy lovey-dovey film. 

The scene in which Snehamoy flies the kites gifted to him by Miyage for their 15th wedding anniversary is symbolic of their love for each other. The kites symbolise his desire to fly and meet Miyage. Yet, at the same time, it is simply not possible. Hence, it takes a different flight to the sublime love, which is not confined by the conditions of the world and the bounds of the society. it begins with the reflection of his desire, but soon it becomes a symbol of pure love for his wife, whom he had never seen. The love, as we know, is not bound by anything. It is free. 

Moreover, their marriage was very unconventional. Their love is not conditioned by the social norms of love or marriage, so they found their own way of getting married, which is quite different from the ways of the world. A love that is pure finds its own way of fulfilment. Initially, the people around were a bit unaccepting of a relationship like this. Yet, the lovers were steadfast about their feelings for each other, which soon makes everyone around them accept it.

In this film, a subtle emphasis has been put on the river Malta. It is a very treacherous river, and Snehamoy has often expressed that he likes to sit by the banks. His parents drowned in the ghat. During his holidays, he likes to sit by the banks for hours and imagines that the sound of the water lapping is his mother talking to him. Moreover, he wishes to sail down this very river to see Miyage. When he wants to feel close to her, he seeks solace in the Malta river. Of course, he is simply building castles in the air, yet this shows how connected he was to the river Malta. The river has taken and provided him with solace. During times of loneliness, he often prefers to sit by the banks, instead of seeking the company of a person.

During the rainstorm, the river swells up. It is almost as if the river was giving out an omen; it wants to stop him from going to the town, yet he still goes through the treacherous journey. That alone symbolises that the fulfillment of love is not easy. Love is not an easy path, but this proves the immortality of love, even though the price is him losing his life. This in turn, makes his love for his wife immortal.

The importance of the tangible world diminishes, and his love takes a flight towards the intangible but more meaningful, pure love. Even if physical union was not possible for them, their souls were united.

This film is a celebration of the unconditional love between two human beings. 

An amazing thing to note, is that the Japanese actress does not speak nor understand English. She had to communicate with the director through a translator, yet as Sen later reveals in interviews, it wasn't that big of a deal. There was nothing getting lost in translation, and Chigusa is the perfect actress to play the role of Miyage. Other than this, it took Rahul Bose almost a month to properly master how to talk in English with a heavy Bengali accent. 

My mother once told me that she too, used to have a pen pal. She was French, and they used to often exchange letters. Just like Snehamoy, she found her pen pal through a magazine. She presented me with a beautiful, almond shaped locket, and told me that her friend had sent it to her. My mother eventually lost contact with her, and she moved away. I sometimes wonder if she misses her friend. I sometimes wonder if they too, made promises to one another, to meet one day.