French silkworm trader Hervé is married to the beautiful Hélène. When an outbreak of disease ravages European silkworms, Hervé must travel to Japan to retrieve healthy eggs. After a long journey, Hervé finally arrives at a village where he can buy them. He becomes infatuated with a young concubine and goes to great lengths to see her again. But, when war breaks out in Japan, the concubine flees, forcing Hervé to return home to his wife.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a museum painting you want to live in.
Score
Ryuichi Sakamoto's strings will haunt your dreams appropriately.
Director
François Girard
Keira Knightley
Hélène Joncour
Michael Pitt
Hervé Joncour
Alfred Molina
Baldabiou
Koji Yakusho
Hara Jubei
Sei Ashina
The Girl
Miki Nakatani
Madame Blanche
Kenneth Welsh
Mayor Joncour
Callum Keith Rennie
Schuyler
Mark Rendall
Ludovic Berbek
Martha Burns
Mme. Joncour
Naoko Watanabe
Japanese Girl
Tony Vogel
Café Verdun Man #1
Toru Tezuka
Japanese Guide
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film adapts Alessandro Baricco's novella, which was originally staged as a theatrical monologue with live music.
Girard deliberately left the concubine's interior life blank—she's pure surface, which is exactly the film's point about exoticism.
CA
