Fear & Trembling

[Andrew Grant]

Hello all --

Has the Alain Corneau film "Fear & Trembling" been discussed on the list? I just saw it yesterday, and was bothered by it.

For those unfamiliar, the film is based on a novella by Belgian author Amelie Nothomb. Nothomb, who was born in Japan (she left at 7, I think), returned to Japan in her early 20's as an interpreter for a large Japanese corporation. The novella is based on her experiences, and is clearly described as autobiographical. Though Ms. Nothomb is a talented writer, the portraits of her bosses were exaggerated, to say the least. Exaggerated stereotypes, in my opinion. From her immediate superior, a woman with whom she has an almost Hegelian master-servant relationship, to the department boss, who is portrayed as a bit of a buffoon as well as a tyrant, to the vice president, an obscenely obese monster who screams, shouts and even physically harasses Amelie. I can sort of understand her creating them to that degree in the novella, but to see those characters writ large on the big screen was cringe-worthy.

Briefly, Amelie is hired as an interpreter, but never gets a chance to do the work she's hired for. She is punished for showing initiative, and her responsibilities become more and more demeaning until she ultimately winds up in the toilets (literally). Her goal is to "become" Japanese -- therefore she stands the humiliation because "that's what a Japanese person would do".

I don't wish to make any knee-jerk reactions -- I'm not simply going to condemn it as racist, but there's something about this French eye on Japan that left a bad taste in my mouth. I'd love to hear some other opinions.
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