Summary
Beautifully shot and impeccably cast, Sode Yukiko’s third feature unfolds in bookish chapters to give a portrait of a life, well…lived.
“Tokyo’s compartmentalised. You only meet people from your class.”
Stereotypes persist about the role of gender, social class and relationship dynamics in western depictions of Japan. Yet the reality is that the social hierarchy is as complex there as it is anywhere else. Sode Yukiko’s ARISTOCRATS (あのこは貴族) picks at the edges of the invisible lines in Tokyo.
Based on novel by Mariko Yamauchi, Sode’s film is tale of two women. When we meet the fairly upper-class Hanako (Mugi Kadowaki), she has recently split with her fiancé. Familial and societal pressure have made her anxious to find a new man to marry. The provincially born Miki (Kiko Mizuhara), worked hard to earn a place in a fancy university but has since fallen on more difficult times.
Their lives intersect in many gentle ways, but the principle crossover point is inevitably a man. Hanako thinks she has stumbled into perfection with Koichiro, a man from a wealthy family with political aspirations. He also happens to be Miki’s lover.
Sode Yukiko’s third feature, following Mime-mime (2008) and Good Stripes (2015), is divided into bookish chapters. Using an incredibly measured pace, it slowly unfolds as a kind of slice-of-life film that sits somewhere at the juncture of Ryusuke Hamaguchi Happy Hour and Kim Do-young’s Kim Ji-young, Born 1982. There’s a sense of inevitability to proceedings but like life, it’s no less interesting for the living of it.
While the English-language marketing title hints at the class divide, the original Japanese title (‘Ano Ko wa Kizoku’) – which translates to something like ‘She is Noble’ or ‘That Girl is Noble’ – is more ambiguous in its view of noble nature versus nurture. Both women face their individual challenges, struggling to be understood as individuals with their own goals while trying to meet the demands of others.
The two female leads are remarkable, especially the quietly stoic Mugi Kadowaki (Farewell Song). Of course, it’s Tokyo that is arguably a fourth character here, with the sense of place and predetermined fit running as a strong theme in the back half of the film. “The vision of Tokyo we all aspire to.”
Cinematographer Sasaki Yasuyuki (Destruction Babies) makes this a beautiful piece of art to behold. Initially bathing the austere and salubrious confines in a mellowed amber light, the film is filled with beautiful establishing shots. In Tokyo, there’s a stunning picturesque snap of the river, framed by overhanging blossoms and dotted with rowers. Later, a mountain framed moment of Miki’s snow-capped hometown is nothing short of breathtaking.
ARISTOCRATS may not be be for all tastes: it’s wanders to the slow beat of its own drum. Yet its themes of belonging and expectation are universal, and one can’t help but feel that this is the kind of film that will reveal more of its subtleties on repeat viewings.
2021 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Sode Yukiko | WRITER: Sode Yukiko | CAST: Kadowaki Mugi, Mizuhara Kiko, Kora Kengo | DISTRIBUTOR: Tokyo Theatres, Bandai Namco Arts, International Film Festival Rotterdam| RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 2-5 February 2021 (NL)
