Hacker Cinema
Fear and Trembling
Stupeur et tremblements
2003 · Film · 107 min
Directed by Alain Corneau
Amélie, a young Belgian woman, having spent her childhood in Japan, decides to return to live there and tries to integrate in the Japanese society. She is determined to be a "real Japanese" before her year contract runs out, though it precisely this determination that is incompatable with Japanese humility. Though she is hired for a choice position as a translator at an import/export firm, her inability to understand Japanese cultural norms results in increasingly humiliating demotions. Though Amelie secretly adulates her, her immediate supervisor takes sadistic pleasure in belittling her all along. She finally manages to break Amelie's will by making her the bathroom attendant, and is delighted when Amelie tells her the she will not renew her contract. Amelie realizes that she is finally a real Japanese when she enters the company president's office "with fear and trembling," which could only be possible because her determination was broken by Miss Fubuki's systematic torture.
4 positive1 neutralfrom 5 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
5 comments on Hacker News
On the general theme, I loved the book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling_(film)?wprov=sfti1#
Thanks, I’ll give that movie a watch. Personally I think Either/Or is more significant than Fear and Trembling, but Fear and Trembling was ultimately more influential. Personally I see stoicism and leap-of-faith style absurdism as being quite complimentary. I find the leap of faith to be the most appealing resolution to the absurd, but I don’t think the existentialists were particularly successful in addressing anguish. The stoics on the other hand, excelled in this regard.
I know many japanese people (I am a go player) and I am very interested in this culture. When I have read the books of Amélie Nothomb, it was perfectly in line with my discussions with these people. The movie and book "Fear and Trembling" are excellent illustrations of Japaneese society. I have never seen japanesse people as collectivists. I do not understant why it would be a common view in America. AFAIK, it is not a common view in France.
If you want to see this dramatized, there's a French film called _Stupeur et tremblements_ (_Fear and Trembling_) that is very well done.
Great novel (and movie) about cultural misunderstandings in Japan from prolific author Amélie Nothomb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling_(novel)