Ballad of Orin ©Toho Co., ltd
NFAJ

Ballad of Orin

(Hanare goze Orin)

Masahiro Shinoda

  • 1977
  • Japan
  • Drama
  • 1h49mn
  • Original version with English subtitles
  • Color
Blind from birth, abandoned by her mother, Orin is taken in by a group of Goze, blind women who go from village to village to song and play the shamisen. Her only obligation: to remain a virgin all her life.
With this splendid and grievous portrait of a woman, Shinoda offers a Mizoguchian melodrama that borrows both from Oharu’s ordeal and Sansho the Bailiff’s social distancing. Orin’s splendor comes from the subtlety of the evocation of the heroine’s desire and sexuality, of her need to love and to touch skin, and her endless suffering. Shinoda’s feminist point of view confronts a male world where abusing women is a right, a formality. And where the only man truly in love and respectful is an outlaw.

Screenings

14/09 • 16h45 • Screen 300
Screening in partnership with the National Film Archive of Japan

Booking

18/09 • 21h30 • Screen 300
Screening in partnership with the National Film Archive of Japan

Booking

Credits

  • With : Shima Iwashita, Yoshio Harada, Tomoko Naraoka, Kirin Kiki, Toshiyuki Nishida
  • Screenplay : Keiji Hasebe, Tsutomu Minakami, Masahiro Shinoda
  • Production : Kazuo Miyagawa
  • Editing : Sachiko Yamaji
  • Music by : Tôru Takemitsu
  • Production : Seikichi Iizumi, Kiyoshi Iwashita