Details

Release year: 1999

Storyline

A widower has his film producer friend organize a fake audition as a means of helping him find a new girlfriend, but the woman he selects is not who she appears to be.

Top credits

Directors

Takashi Miike

Writers

Cast

Ryô Ishibashi — Shigeharu Aoyama
Eihi Shiina — Asami Yamazaki
Tetsu Sawaki — Shigehiko Aoyama
Jun Kunimura — Yasuhisa Yoshikawa

See all 27 credits →

Did you know

• When the film was screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2000, it had a record number of walkouts. One woman, who had actually sat through the entire film, immediately walked out of the ensuing Q&A session past the stage, and hissed "You are sick!" at director Takashi Miike, much to his amusement and delight. At the Swiss premiere, someone passed out and needed emergency room attention.

• Takashi Miike wanted to end the film at the onset of the torture scene that the film is now famous for. However, one of the producers told him to "be a man and see it through to the end." In the original novel by Ryû Murakami, Aoyama (Ryô Ishibashi) loses both feet; in Daisuke Tengan's screenplay, he loses no feet. For the movie, Miike settled on Aoyama losing one foot.

• The film's horror elements were meant to be a plot twist, as they don't really occur until the third act of the film. Until then, an unsuspecting viewer would believe they're watching a romantic drama. Despite this, the marketing and even the posters completely give away that this is a horror film, which has led to viewers who watch the film expecting horror to be confused by the romantic drama setup.