Sidonie In Japan (Sidonie au Japon)

I suppose I've missed the plane to Osaka. Is it too late?

No, it's delayed.

By three hours. You're lucky.

Did you forget to take something out?

- No, I'm no longer sure I want to leave. - Oh, really?

It's an 11-hour flight.

- Have you been before? - No, it's my first time.

SIDONIE IN JAPAN

This.

Hello.

Welcome to Japan, Sidonie San.

Hello. Do you work with my publisher?

No, I am your publisher.

I'm Kenzo Mizoguchi.

I'm sorry, didn't expect you to be so... tall.

I pictured you to be very old.

I mean, either that or very young.

Pleased to meet you.

I would rather carry my own handbag.

I'd rather if.

Thank you.

The room isn't ready. They're sorry.

Ah, Is that all? I was scared...

But that doesn't matter at all! I'm not tired,

...even if for me, it's six in the morning.

You mustn't bow, Sidonie San.

I'm not doing it properly, is that it?

- Could I offer you a tea? - Yes.

Are you related to the famous filmmaker?

Not at all. Mizoguchi is quite a common name in Japan.

This afternoon, we'll start the interviews.

Then, we'll visit a temple.

You'll have more time tomorrow.

Perfect, I'll go for a walk alone.

You will never be alone, Sidonie San.

I'm used to being alone. It doesn't bother me, quite the opposite...

No. I will always be with you.

Europeans wear perfume, especially the women.

Japanese women do not.

- Does it bother you? - No, not at all.

I love the perfume of western women.

It reminds me of my studies in France.

Is that why you speak French?

Among other reasons. Yes.

What did you study in France?

I studied French literature for three years.

I lived in Motte-Picquet.

- Were you at the Sorbonne? - Yes.

Sidonie San, please let me introduce Noriko Tamaguchi,

who will be your interpreter today.

Hello. Pleased to meet you.

Pleasure to meet you too.

I admire you a lot.

I've read all your books

and I've even seen your play La Femme de Papier ,

first in Paris and then in New York.

Does it represent the cherry blossom?

Yes, maybe.

Why did you choose to tell this story in particular?

I lost my parents and brother in a car accident.

I ended up alone, in total solitude, as if I had fallen down a hole,

I was scared.

But even though the book was inspired by my story, it isn't an autobiography.

It's fiction.

Would you say that writing heals?

It doesn't heal but perhaps it helped me survive at that time.

I read that you don't want to talk about your books anymore.

So, why did you agree to come

to Japan today, for the new edition of L'Ombre Portée ?

Mister Mizoguchi wrote me a wonderful letter that convinced me...

and also, this book occupies a special place for me

because it is the very first book I wrote.

As a child, I used to walk in the marshes with my parents on Sundays.

We have the same birds in France.

They're everywhere in Kyoto.

I didn't want to wake you up, you seemed so tired.

You have lovely hands.

My wife also tells me they are special.

Is that your trademark?

Trademark? I don't understand.

A trademark is what characterises you.

It's what makes you the person you are.

For example, if you were a Lacoste polo shirt,

your trademark would be a little green crocodile.

But I'm not a piece of clothing, I'm a man.

Dad! Mum!

Guillaume!

My Sido!

I thought I'd lost you.

I can't sleep.

Are you okay, Kenzo?

I'm sorry.

I've drunk a bit this evening.

We like drinking whisky, without ice.

It's my wife.

Do you know why

it never worked out between me and my wife? Sidonie San?

It's because I am absent and boring.

And do you know why, Sidonie San?

Because you work too much?

Yes... and when we are together,

we hardly speak.

It's been a long time

since we've had anything to say to each other.

Nothing.

Zero.

What's all this mess?

How did you handle your fame at such a young age?

I was lucky enough to meet the man who would become my husband very early on

and he protected me a lot.

Please, Noriko, do you think I've got time to go get a breath of fresh air,

or do we have to resume now?

You want us to carry on, is that it?

Sidonie San, do you need anything?

Sorry, I...

No, no.

Thank you.

These are special cakes that we eat at full moon.

- Is the moon important in Japan? - Yes, very important.

Your book gave me the strength to live after my entire family died

and to leave my husband

because he wanted to stay near Fukushima.

My daughter and I left to move to a safer area.

What about your husband?

We are separated.

That's a sad story.

It's a climatic separation.

Have you always wanted to write?

No. Writing is what happens when you've nothing left.

There's just despair.

But sometimes, there isn't even that.

There's just nothing.

You disclose everything, Sidonie San.

No, not everything.

But I try to.

We're not used to that.

In Japan, we keep our feelings to ourselves.

Not always.

You confided in me yesterday night.

Yes.

But we were alone.

What do you think? Do they suit me?

If you like them, that's what counts.

Oh, yes, I love them. I've never seen a pair like this in France.

It's almost unreal, my being here.

I really hesitated before accepting your invitation.

I was scared, I think.

Of the unknown.

I don't know what's happening to me.

Maybe it's because I haven't been as far for a long time.

And because I recognise everything here.

The lifts, the lights, the roads.

And yet, nothing works the way it does in Europe.

Everything is strange,

even the consistency of what we eat is different.

I feel modified.

All this newness is overwhelming me.

Please don't cry, Sidonie San.

They're tears of joy, not sadness.

Why do you no longer write, Sidonie San?

After the death of my husband Antoine,

it gathered all my strength just to try to keep standing.

Time passed and I didn't even realise I was no longer writing.

The years flew by.

But did you try later on?

Yes, I tried, but I'd plunge back into the repetition of my life and

of a book already written for me, L'Ombre Portée ...

The same words, the same...

I found it unbearable.

How did your husband die?

The same way as my family.

We had a car accident.

My husband died on the spot and once again, nothing happened to me.

I woke up scotch free, not even a mark.

Intact.

You are alive, Sidonie San.

You have to accept it. You have no choice.

Do you have children?

No. And you?

No. I don't have any and don't want any.

I find the world absurd.

Your words are like a secret echo to my story.

Have you lost loved ones?

My father's family died in Hiroshima.

Only my father survived that day.

He had gone to see a friend in another town.

Later, my brother and his wife were living in Kobe.

I had just left Kobe

when the earthquake that killed them occurred.

It's like a story

that keeps repeating itself.

So, that's why you wrote that people like us share a secret land.

This is the tomb of Junichirō Tanizaki and his wife.

It's very minimalist.

I didn't know he was buried in Kyoto.

What does it say?

" Nothing "

and " silence ".

All those wires are crazy.

In France you never see that many, they bury them.