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Poster for The Brutal Hopelessness of Love

The Brutal Hopelessness of Love

2007 · 117 min

A slow, unsettling plunge into desire and despair, blending eroticism with violence in a way that feels both hypnotic and deeply uncomfortable.

Overview
Famous movie actress Nami is being interviewed by a magazine reporter about her new film in which the plot resembles her real life. Her actor husband Yosuke has an affair with a young actress Junko whereas in the movie, Nami acts as an actress whose husband has an extramarital relationship with a young girl, with Yosuke as the husband and Junko as the new girl friend. In the course of the interview, Nami falls into deep thoughts and flashbacks about her lascivious encounters with strangers in a night train, in the movie as in the reality. Despite whether her intention is to revenge her husband or to satisfy her own desires, Nami demonstrates bewitching charm in a series of intercourse with different men, positions and locations. Director Takashi Ishii attempts to explore female sexual psychology through perfect blends of aesthetic nudity and violence.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • bleakstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • identity
  • obsession
  • betrayal
  • sexuality
  • revenge
Places
  • big city
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex strong
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror3
Humour1
Realism6
Romance4
Tension7
Darkness9
Complexity7
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Takashi Ishii
Written by
Takashi Ishii
Starring
Mai Kitajima, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Kanji Tsuda, Naoto Takenaka, Yozaburo Ito, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Shun Nakayama, Akio Joe
Music
Goro Yasukawa
Cinematography
Rokurō Terada, Yasushi Sasakibara
Runtime
117 min
Country
Japan

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