A Wife Confesses

During a mountaineering excursion, young Ayako is faced with a grueling dilemma: in order to prevent an accident that threatens to send everyone to the grave, she will have to choose between sacrificing her husband or her secret lover, by cutting the rope that connects either of them to her. She picks the former and she is soon on trial for his murder. If she is released, she will collect millions from his insurance. Is her action a premeditated plan to share the money with her lover, an impulsive act of survival or a desperate attempt to be freed from the shackles of an oppressive marriage? Through elaborate flashbacks, Masumura adopts an elliptical narrative, reminiscent of Alain Resnais’ formalist masterpieces. A sublime existential melodrama along the lines of Douglas Sirk, a study of a crumbling marriage and a noir psychological thriller, the film is one of most thematically and stylistically complex works of the Japanese auteur.

Original Title: Tsuma Ha Kokuhaku Suru

Director: Yasuzo Masumura

Screenwriter: Masato Ide

DoP: Setsuo Kobayashi

Music: Riichiro Manabe

Editor: Tatsuji Nakashizu

Principal Cast: Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Eitarô Ozawa

Country: Japan

Year: 1961

Running Time: 92’

Language: Japanese