Film Review: Wife Of A Spy

Set in Japan in 1940, in the beginning of WWII, Wife Of A Spy follows Satoko Fukuhara (Yū Aoi), who is the friendly and soft-spoken wife of Yūsaku Fukuhara (Issey Takahashi), a businessman working in international imports and exports while also being an amateur filmmaker in his free time, even having his wife and nephew star in them and screening them for his co-workers. Given his business and the circumstances surrounding the war, the government is keeping a watchful on on Yūsaku. Through this, we meet Taiji Tsumori (Masahiro Higashide), a childhood friend of Satoko, who went from a shy and kind-hearted kid to being in a leadership position for a powerful military police unit.

Taiji tells Satoko that her and Yūsaku are too heavily influenced by western culture, especially in how they dress, bringing unnecessary attention to them. Making the situation go worse is the suspicion that grows on Yūsaku following his return from a business trip in Manchuria. There’s mysterious people, things being hidden, and suspicions being placed on Yūsaku that he might be a spy. Satoko is forced to consider whether there may or may not be truth to the accusations, and what she will do about it if it turns out to be true.

This is the latest film from the prolific Japanese filmmaker, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ryūsuke Hamaguchi and Tadashi Nohara. It was made as a television film, first broadcast in summer of 2020 before being remastered for a theatrical release after premiering the new version in the 77th Venice International Film Festival just a few months after the broadcast. You can’t really tell that this was something intended for the small screen because Kurosawa utilizes the space well and clearly has enough money put into this to give the film real scope and a sense of place in its time period.

The film moves very methodically, almost old fashioned in its restrained approach. You never quite get a grasp on what the truth is for a vast majority of the film, and despite its relatively low-key nature, it keeps this underlying tension just under the surface that is waiting to explode, metaphorically speaking. Other reviews have called it Hitchcockian, and I wouldn’t argue against that assessment. And I will say, without giving anything away of course, that the payoff is very satisfying, but maybe not in the way you might imagine. There isn’t really any action in the film, and what little bursts of violence are present are done in a way that is tasteful, yet deeply effective.

At it’s heart, the film is more of a romantic drama that just so happens to be in the framework of a thriller. It explores the relationship between Satoko and Yūsaku, and how they both handle the situation their in. Yūsaku is an outspoken guy, he doesn’t hold allegiance to the government of Japan simply because he’s a citizen, and he’s more than willing to call out atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese army. Meanwhile, Satoko is more concerned for their own safety, and believes in the greater good for the country. Though, she does not stay that way for all of the film.

The film is definitely driven by the details in its writing and in the performances, which are great across the board. However, this is truly a vehicle for Yū Aoi, who has such a strong grasp on her character that her journey has an impact that leaves an impression on you, especially as it gets into the final act. And her dynamic with Takahashi and Higashide is played with a lot of nuance, and there’s some solid chemistry between the three of these actors. The whole ensemble really gets you to buy into the drama.

There’s a lot to really like in Wife Of A Spy. It’s a thoroughly compelling portrait of a marriage tested by war and politics, and acts also as a way of reckoning with the atrocities committed under Japanese imperialism, confronting that history, and how a regime can lead people astray, and manipulate them. It’s a simple film on the surface, but there’s a lot of complex ideas that Kiyoshi Kurosawa is trying to tackle here, and I think he does justice to these themes. The pacing might test the patience of anyone expecting a conventional thriller, but if you go in with an open mind, you’ll find a really interesting, evocative, and haunting picture that really gets under your skin, and it shows that Kurosawa has more to him than just the horror entries he’s largely been known for. Between this and last year’s terrific To The Ends Of The Earth, it’ll be interesting to see where he takes his career.

Wife Of A Spy is currently out in select theaters.