Thirst For Love

This Japanese drama is from the 1960s. It is based on a book.

Etsuko is a young widow who lives in her father-in-law's home. I'm not sure if it is due to Japanese customs or something specific to this family, but Etsuko is her father-in-law's mistress and he hopes he can produce another direct male heir to continue the family line, as his first and surviving son is impotent; another child is a daughter with a son but he is not considered a direct line male heir.

We see Etsuko is numb to her existence, not reacting when her father-in-law makes advances on her--for her it is a duty to be endured more than anything else. One day she sees their young gardener Saburo watching her, but he claims he was innocently gazing on her, and not the sexual spying she subversively accuses of him of even though she herself was gazing on a naked statue and probably having sexual thoughts.

She continues to pursue Saburo in this way, not openly saying things, but always suggestive with her words which could also be interpreted innocently. Saburo is quite indifferent (or he appears to be) but when Etsuko faints when he is killing a chicken, he tries to revive her and while he is close to her body we get a sense that he has repressed sexual feelings for her (or perhaps he is a bit randy). When the family maid comes upon him he reverts back to his innocent behavior of reviving Etsuko.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family also is becoming aware of the different facets of Etsuko's situation, although they kind of accept how things are going--they accept that Etsuko is expected to produce an heir but don't really like the importance the father places on her. It seems there is a lot unsaid in this family, like the empty seat at the family dinner table that signifies the place that would have been taken by the dead son.

A lot of Etsuko's ideas of whether or not Saburo shares her feelings may also be of her own imaginings. She is an outsider in this family although her standing as the potential mother of an heir gives her some power (along with her youth and beauty). She becomes irrationally jealous when Saburo gets the maid pregnant, forcing the girl to get an abortion, but when Saburo is told he says could care less either way. Slowly Etsuko becomes quite mad and becomes a "woman scorned."

The movie is in black and white but the filmmaker chooses a couple shots to show in color, one in which a sky is tinted red, and another where Etsuko remembers how at a festival she dug her nails into Saburo's back as he performed a festival dance in a mob scene. Both elements show sexual desire or perhaps inner rage. Also, I am not sure if the filmmaker intended it or not, but often the "God view" is used at related moments, i.e. overhead shots looking down on the characters as if God was viewing/judging them.