A blind lawyer who smells lies? Scent of a Woman meets Suits, but make it Japanese.
Based on the writings of a true life, vision-impaired lawyer comes a story about a blind man who manages to pass the extremely difficult bar exam and earn his lawyer’s license. Long desiring to help the weak, Kensuke Okochi gets a job at an attorney’s office while he and his wife, also blind, look forward to their first child. When a plaintiff in a divorce case decides to withdraw from litigation, Kensuke worries at first that it has to do with his own perceived inadequacies as a lawyer, but a few days later, he is visited by the female plaintiff, Satomi, showing injuries to her body. While it appears an open and shut case of domestic violence with an audio recording as proof, Kensuke detects a “certain scent” coming from the plaintiff which gives him pause as to her real intentions.
Acting
Tori Matsuzaka's physically precise, never-mawkish blindness portrayal.
Writing
The 'scent' hook—sensory substitution as legitimate narrative device.
Direction
Suzuki's restraint; trusts audience to read what's unsaid.
Director
Kosuke Suzuki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on real blind Japanese lawyer Masahiro Fujita, who passed the bar in 2000 after the exam finally allowed Braille—previously, blind candidates were simply excluded.
The film quietly critiques Japan's 2019 legal aid reforms; director Suzuki reportedly fought to keep the ambiguous ending that mainstream distributors wanted 'clarified' for clarity.
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