Furin / 不倫 (1965)

Obscure Japanese Film #126

Ayako Wakao

 

Saburi (Keizo Kawasaki) is a writer who has just won the Newcomer of the Year Award for his book ‘Sexual Aesthetics’. Despising marriage and thinking monogamy unnatural, he has ongoing sexual relationships with two women and has arranged it so that they visit his apartment on different days. The two women are the traditionally-minded Seiko (Ayako Wakao), who would like to get married but is too deferential to insist on it, and Maki (Kyoko Enami), a more modern type who usually wears Western clothes and is considering getting married to an American. The two women soon become aware of each other’s existence; when they finally meet, Saburi is disconcerted to see them getting on like a house on fire instead of fighting over him as his ego would prefer… 

Kyoko Enami

This sex comedy eschews obvious gags and opts instead for irony – the more Saburo gets embroiled in this ménage à trois, the more of a conservative hypocrite he’s revealed to be. For all his preaching of emancipation, he still feels the need to lie and is no more immune to feelings of guilt and jealousy than anyone else. At one point, he begins to suspect that Seiko and Maki are having a lesbian affair – an idea he finds quite shocking.

 

 

Furin was based on a just-published novel of the same name by the prolific Koichiro Uno (just turned 90 at the time of writing). It’s a well-made and well-acted movie, especially by the two women, with Kyoko ‘Woman Gambler’ Enami making a strong contrast to Wakao’s more demure, but also more manipulative, character. The classical-style soundtrack and crisp black and white photography also lend considerable class, while the direction by forgotten veteran Shigeo Tanaka (see also Mikkokusha) is hard to find fault with. 

 

The one slight bone of contention I have with this film is that Saburi’s life bears no resemblance to that of anyone I’ve ever known (though perhaps I don’t move in the right circles). He seems to do very little work, yet has no money worries whatever. It’s hard to understand why Seiko and Maki are interested in him as, not only is he rather nerdy and plain-looking, he has no particularly positive personality traits to make up for it. And Seiko does all his cooking for him, too – this is one dweeb who’s really got it made!

Keizo Kawasaki

 

The title is sometimes translated as ‘Adultery’ in English, although it’s a poor fit as the protagonists are unmarried. Furin can also mean ‘impropriety’ or ‘immorality’, but these sound too judgemental given the context. For these reasons, it’s understandable that, when Daiei screened it in English at their then recently-opened New Kokusai Theatre in Honolulu, it was retitled ‘Strange Triangle’. 

 

 Thanks to AK.