kiri kiri kiri kiri - Audition (1999)
girl, put that needle down so help me god
Welcome to our August mini series! It’s a closer look at a year often cited as “the best movie year ever”! But what was happening in the world of horror movies? Well, for starters, she was…
(Spoilers, trigger warning for mentions of abuse, gore and icky stuff with needles. Also, I link to the Wikipedia page for Takashi Miike’s Masters of Horror episode and I strongly advise you only read that page if you feel you can stomach Miike at his most twisted. Otherwise, don’t click, don’t ever click, trust me bro).
Audition (1999)
Directed by: Takashi Miike
Screenplay by: Daisuke Tengan (based on the 1997 novel Audition by Ryu Murakami)
Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Jun Kunimura, Tetsu Sawaki, Miyuki Matsuda, et al.
Running time: 113 minutes
Original release date: October 2nd 1999 (premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival), March 3rd 2000 (Japan)
the plot, in brief
A young boy named Shigehiko makes his way through a hospital corridor, with a present for his sick mother in hand. In the mother’s hospital room, the boy’s father - Shigeharu - despairs as his wife is unresponsive, heartbeat monitors showing a slowing rhythm. By the time the boy makes it to the hospital room, he finds his father slumped onto the ground, wrecked with grief. He is too late.
Seven years later. Shigehiko, now a teenager, suggests to Shigeharu that he should find a new wife. Shigeharu - who works in film/ad production - moots the idea with his friend and colleague Yasuhisa, who comes up with a bizarre suggestion: hold a fake casting call for a non-existent movie. The “role”? Shigeharu’s future wife.
While rooting through the applications, Shigeharu is immediately intrigued by a young woman named Asami, and once they meet at the “audition”, he is so enthralled that he pursues her further. But there is more to Asami than meets the eye, and while Shigeharu falls head over heels for her, Yasuhisa suspects something is very wrong…
but first
Look at that fucking poster. Such an instantly iconic image - even if you don’t know anything else about this movie, you will probably be able to say “ah yes, Audition” from that image alone. She’s an icon, she’s a legend, and she is the moment.
the dictionary definition of “whoa nelly” reads…
What nobody tells you about Audition is that this movie will proper break your heart several times over. The opening scene, in which teeny angel baby Shigehiko makes his way to his mother’s sickbed, carrying a great big paper mâché construction he’s clearly made at school along with a “get well soon” card, only to find his dad doubled over in grief as his mother has died just minutes prior, will fuck you up properly even before Takashi Miike sends you on a slow burn rollercoaster into hell.
I will confess to you now, dear THTH readership, that I am brand new to Miike’s work - but I’m very acutely aware of his reputation. This is after all the man who made the notorious Masters of Horror episode Imprint, an episode so fucked up that even series creator Mick Garris said it was hard for him to watch it (fun fact, it was the only episode in the series to be pulled from broadcast, and has still never aired in the US).
Audition certainly tests the limits of its viewers. Miike plays one hell of a trick by having the first half unfold like a normal romantic comedy/drama, but with a sinister undertone forever on its shoulders. Shigeharu is a mourning widower, yes, but he also has a considerably sexist streak in him, which is on full display during the world’s most uncomfortable bar chat with his colleague Yasuhisa. Yasuhisa wants to help his friend, but he is possibly even more sexist and also the one who pitches the idea of doing the “audition” (god, I’d say it’s like The Bachelor’s Wario but that show is already evil so). Shigehiko is concerned about his father, but talks to him about his friend like she’s an object. The tonal shifts between the way these characters talk about finding Shigeharu a new wife and the Nora Ephron vibes are deeply uncomfortable but manage to lull you into some sense of security.
Even the audition scenes themselves are played for comedy… ish. Yasuhisa and Shigeharu see a number of applicants, asking them a range of bizarre questions (my absolute favourite is “have you seen a film by Tarkovsky”, yes, please do pick your future wife on the basis of whether or not she’s seen all three hours and three minutes of Andrei Rublev) and getting a series of bizarre answers in return. Shigeharu is distracted, however, because in the process of sifting the candidates’ applications he has become enamored by one in particular and is impatiently waiting for her number to be called.
words create lies. pain can be trusted.
When Asami enters the audition room, Shigeharu immediately sits up a little bit taller. She is the only one who has him engaged, asking questions (up until this point, it’s mainly Yasuhisa who’s been asking). Asami is a striking figure even in those first, innocent-seeming moments. Shoulders up, walking tensely, speaking very softly. You immediately want to know more about her, even if you suspect you may not like the answer.
To Shigeharu, she is the one - ticking all of his (there are many and they are all ridiculous) boxes. Yasuhisa tells him not to move too fast, and later shares his concerns as he’s unable to reach any of Asami’s stated references. Shigeharu, however, despite managing to not call her for four days, finally caves and rings Asami.
The phone rings. And rings.
Asami, sitting perfectly still, her face covered by her hair.
The phone still rings.
How long has she been sitting like this?
The phone rings.
Four days. Completely still. Almost like she has dissociated.
The phone rings.
A smile spreads slowly across her face.
Then you, the viewer, notice the bag in the background. And before you even have time to process, to finish you thought of “what the hell is in that bag”….
the bag moves. And makes the most guttural, unhuman sound you have ever heard. A sound that will burrow deep into your head, so sudden and primal that you will be carrying it with you for some time after you watch.
It’s one of the most bone chilling scenes in horror cinema, and it’s a wicked teaser of what’s to come. Because this is when the true intentions of the movie start bleeding in. Shigeharu and Asami go on a number of dates, and finally he takes her on an overnight stay at a seaside hotel. Asami - a former ballet dancer who we know had to quit because of a hip injury - reveals to him a number of burn scars on her body, before she asks Shigeharu to promise to love only her. Shigeharu agrees, and they consummate their relationship. To Miike’s credit, his camera doesn’t leer; instead, a neat bit of trickery with a twisting duvet swings us into Shigeharu waking up alone some time later (we will ignore the fact that it does look a little bit like a Sims Woo Hoo moment).
Asami has disappeared, and Shigeharu spends a number of days trying to track her down. He quickly discovers that Yasuhisa was right; all the contacts on her application are dead ends… in some cases quite literally. Shigeharu begins to hallucinate in fear.
Meanwhile, Asami breaks into Shigeharu’s house, and is infuriated to find the picture of his deceased wife on his desk (earlier in the film, when Shigeharu is sifting CVs, he briefly stops and decides to turn the photo around, presumably so she can’t judge him for being a fucking idiot). She drugs his booze, and when Shigeharu returns home from work, one drink leaves him drugged on the floor, and as he further hallucinates, we find out some very crucial information about Asami. For one, her burn scars stem from how she was tortured by her ballet teacher when she was a kid. For two, that ballet teacher (who we meet earlier on, a deeply unpleasant man) now no longer is in possession of a head thanks to some… wire related sawing by Asami.
We also are presented with an interesting wrinkle - in a replay of their first date, we find out that Asami did actually talk to Shigeharu about the abuse she suffered when she was a child and that it is entirely possible Shigeharu just did not listen to her as it did not fit in with his narrative of her as a perfect wife for him. We also find out what that mysterious unearthly bag in her apartment contains and I’ll not spoil it but if you’re not okay with vomiting I would suggest you look away from your screen in this section because JESUS FUCK.
This is the kickstart of one hell of a final act, spawning some bone crunching torture, things done with sewing needles and the defining line of the film (kiri kiri kiri kiri, meaning deeper deeper deeper deeper). And while Asami’s end seems somewhat sadly inevitable, her dying moments will break your heart all over again as she repeats what she said on their first date.
The film ends on a poetic note
It's hard to overcome that experience, but, someday you'll feel that life is wonderful.
A brief flashback to Asami as a child, putting on her ballet shoes, takes us to credits.
because i have been unhappy all the time
There have been plenty before me that have unpacked Audition in granular detail. I can only unpack it through the lens in which I unpack everything on this Stack - from a storytelling point of view, Miike mostly manages to pull off his audacious vision. The slow burn transition from romantic drama to full blown horror, the drip feed of the horror elements until the dam finally breaks in that final act, the sense of unease which is always just there, like a spec in your vision that ultimately becomes too big to ignore. It’s impressive and a testament to him as a filmmaker - there’s a reason why Audition is still a high watermark for horror directors today because it’s a tightrope act of horror and humanity.
There has been much discussion on whether this film is feminist or misogynist - I think the truth occupies a grey area in between. It has misogynist characters, yes, and those characters see women in a misogynist light (there is a mostly untapped story between Shigeharu and his assistant which I would have liked to have seen more of - we do get the implication that something happened and that it wasn’t necessarily a good time had by all). It has Asami be a twisted avenging angel, yes, but it also doesn’t quite do the work in exploring how her trauma (please do imagine me pronouncing it exactly like Jamie Lee Curtis) may have led her there.
But on the whole, I think Tim Coleman from Moving Pictures Film Club said it best when he described it as a profound, philosophical meditation on human loneliness. While Miike doesn’t quite do that work to explore Asami’s trauma, we do know enough to know that she’s been warped forever. And Eihi Shiina plays it so devastatingly beautiful that on more than one occasion it’s difficult to watch her.
There is a scene in the middle of the film, when Shigeharu and Asami go to the seaside resort. Shigeharu watches as Asami stands, perfectly framed, on the balcony of the hotel room staring out at the sea. It is the only time she seems truly at peace.
Thank you for bearing with me as I got this one over the line - I am on holiday for the next week or so, and after that we’ll be back to our regular Sunday schedule. Meanwhile, I am going abroad to touch grass, be back in a bit babes.