Review: Inju, the Beast in The Shadow

In Inju, the Beast in The Shadow, my second French movie of the festival, director Barbet Schroeder brings to life a novel by Rampo Edogawa. Edogawa, whose real name was Hirai Taro, took his pen name from the Japanese pronunciation of the name Edgar Allan Poe. Schroeder claims that Edogawa was famous in Japan, but not elsewhere, because he was too dark for the rest of the world.


In this adaption of the novel, Schroeder made a couple key changes. First, the lead male character is French, whereas all the original characters were all Japanese. Second, the lead female character is not a wife, but a geiko, or geisha.


The movie opens with a movie within the movie, adapted from a work by famous Japanese author Shundei Oe. The movie ends, and we see that it was being shown to his class by college professor and author Alex Fayard, played by veteran French actor Benoît Magimel, who has a child with Juliette Binoche, for those of you keeping track at home. Alex, whose dissertation for his PhD in Literature was on the author Shundei Oe, has now penned a novel in Oe's style and is receiving rave reviews.


Oe is an author of dark subject matter, where evil prevails over good. A recluse in Kyoto, Oe is rumored to have never been positively identified, even by his own publishing company. When Alex accepts an invitation to appear on a Japanese TV show featuring discussions with authors, Alex not only accepts, but puts out feelers requesting a meeting with Oe. Not only is he rebuffed, which he expected, he is warned against coming to Kyoto. Alex, who believes this is all for effect, ignores the warning.


Once in Japan, Alex befriends a geiko he meets after an evening of entertainment hosted by his Japanese publicist. Soon, she comes to him, distraught. It seems that she broke the heart of a man 15 years ago, who she believes is Shundei Oe, and he is now threatening her life. She believes Alex is the only one who knows Oe's well enough to help her. Alex agrees to help and begins on a quest to find the real identity of Shundei Oe and protect Tamao. He succeeds in a shocking ending.

Schroeder manages to keep the level of suspense and intrigue high throughout the film, with many twists and turns. This was a great end to the festival for me and Schroeder has revived my faith in French cinema (with an assist from Phillipe Claudel). My imdb rating: 8/10.