Double Suicide of Sonezaki (1978) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1978 · 112 mins · Japanese

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Directed by

Yasuzō Masumura

Starring

Hisashi Igawa, Ren Yamamoto, Meiko Kaji, Ryudo Uzaki, Kazuyo Aoki, Jun Haichi

Set in 1703 Japan, the film depicts a society where samurai values are eroding under the rise of a powerful merchant class. A wealthy merchant gives his impoverished clerk an I.O.U. instead of wages; when the clerk asks for payment, the merchant denies the debt, accuses him of fraud and orders henchmen to beat him. The story shows how suicide served as social protest during the collapse of the old order.