KYOTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The masterpiece feature film Appassionata (Jo No Mai) depicts the tumultuous life of Shoen Uemura, a painter who took the world by storm with her paintings of beautiful women from the Meiji Era to the early Showa Era, and was the first woman to be awarded the Order of Culture. Veteran director Sadao Nakajima has completely adapted the 17th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature-winning novel by female writer Tomiko Miyao into a literary epic.
Set in the Meiji Era (1868-1912) in Kyoto, an ancient capital that respected old customs, the film features Shosui Shimamura (Tsuya), an unmarried mother and strong female painter, and depicts her love and hate with her mother Sei, as well as her life as a Japanese painter who achieved great success while being involved with three men, her master, her former teacher, and an art school student. The heroine Shosui (Tsuya) is played by Yuko Natori, who plays a leading role for the first time in this film.

Yuko Natori
Morio Kazama
Aki Mizusawa
Kunihiko Mitamura
Ayako Kobayashi
Kei Sato
Mieko Takamine
Yoshiko Mita
Mariko Okada

Director

Sadao Nakajima

Written by

Hiroo Matsuda

Original

Tomiko Miyao

Cinematography

Fujio Morita

Music

Toshiro Mayuzumi

Country

Japan

Year

1984