|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Shogo (Kenichi Endo) and Yasuko (Yuka Hanabusa) seem to be the perfect
couple, they're very much in love, are still passioneate after three years
of marriagbe, and they are stilltrying to concieve their first child - but
on their third wedding anniversary, things turn for the worse: Shogo is
disappointed that Yasuko is still not pregnant, is furious that she still
hasn't quit her job, and thinks she's spending way too much money on
cloths. So Shogo starts getting abusive, first only verbally, but soon he
starts playing not quite harmless pranks on her, like stealing her money
so she can't take the subway to work, or destroying all photographs of
her. He also starts to slap her and rape her, and finally she figures it's
best to really give up her job, just to please him and get him back to
normal. However, once Yasuko has quit, Shogo is everything but back to
normal: Now he knows he can make her do things if he only insists
hard enough, he gets more and more abusive, beats Yasuko up repeatedly and
badly, eventually injures her so badly that she starts fearing for her
life - but wherever she turns, be it the police or medical personnel,
everyone tells her to sort it out with her hubby herself, not believing
the danger she's in, despite physical evidence suggesting otherwise. Eventually,
Yasuko turns to a psychiatrist, who tells her some uncomfortable things
about herself and convinces her that things will never go back to normal,
as she has hoped - but he also encourages her to take things into her own
hands. Soon, Yasuko musters up the courage to hand Shogo divorce papers,
which he not only refuses to sign, he also beats her up badly - yet every
day she hands him the papers again, with the same result ... what Shogo
doesn't know though is that she has installed a surveillance cam connected
to the internet which makes her hardships instantly accessible on the web
- and eventually, she collects enough evidence to get Shogo behind bars.
This is where Yasuko's psychiatrist meets Shogo for the first time, to try
to persuade him to sign the divorce papers ... Shogo refuses, knowing
Yasuko is pregnant, which would immensely complicate the divorce process.
The psychiatrist convinces Sghogo though that Yasuko got an abortion ...
which finally breaks Shogo and makes him sign the papers at long last -
but which also was a blatant lie. Not an easy film to swallow. Unlike
other films about the same subject, which tend to get preachy, DV:
Domestic Violence does everything possible to remain as neutral, even
unattached, throughout its running time, neither making Shogo more a
monster than he really is, nor exaggerating Yasuko's hardship and pain -
which might make the film seem clinical and cold in the eyes of many -
butr that's the film's exact quality, it's not some kitsch opera about an
abused woman (without ever denying that Yasuko is indeed abused), but it
very soberly (and all the more shocking at that) offers insight into its
subject matter, the titular domestic violence, nevertheless. This
all makes DV: Domestic Violence anything but a pretty and
entertaining film, but in its own way a fascinating one and one that#s not
easy to forget.
|