Osaka Elegy, beg.and end

[Bernardi-Buralli]

Sarah and Jonathan,

Sarah's right on the money with the cigarette package. I went back to the
script (_Yoda Yoshikata shinario shu (2)_, Eijinsha 1984 ISBN4-87100-109-1,
p. 5-62) and here's the scene in a rough translation:

"On the bridge, same night
Neon lights in the distance. Passersby. Ayako leans on the railing. She's
taken out her cigarettes, but [the package] is empty. She throws it away. It
floats (lightly) on the dark surface of the water."

(the scene then continues with the doctor passing by and their dialogue, I
think pretty much as in the film--I didn't do a direct comparison but the
dialogue sounds right. None of the scenes are numbered, but this is the
final scene.)

 Here's the relevant part as written:

????????????????????????????????????
(p.61)


hope this helps (hope too that maybe a DVD subtitled copy might be available
some day in the US, but maybe the original print is also pretty "muddy."

This reminds me of something I get asked alot in class: is it clear to
anyone what exactly is the background of the opening credits (after the
initial illustrated title card)? The closest I can guess is that it's the
flickering of neon lights reflected on a wet pavement. Could be reflections
on water, but I don't think so. Yoda's script only has the opening scene
title (roughly): "Osaka. The glistening neon lights of the Dotonbori
district at night"--which I take to be the opening shot.

Joanne
> 
> I wonder if Joanne could help us by telling us what the screenplay does, in
> fact, mention--this only if it is readily accessible to her. . . .
Jonathan
 
>> Joanne,
>> 
>> It looks like a flatter piece of paper but it could be a cigarette
>> package.  
 Sarah
>>  
>>> I've never thought about this, but could it be her cigarette? I didn't check
>>> my copy but it looks that way in the script. . . .
>>> Joanne
 
>>>> From: Sarah Frederick <sfred at bu.edu>
>>>> Subject: Osaka Elegy
 . . .  Does anyone know with any certainty what it is
>>>> that Ayako, the main character of Mizoguchi's Osaka Elegy, throws into the
>>>> water at the end of the film? Or is this a matter of debate?  My print is
>>>> rather fuzzy.
>