Water does not ask for forgiveness. It has the potential to destroy things necessary to our survival and to take our lives, but it does not need our forgiveness because we are of the water; we need it to live and our bodies are tuned to the tides. In Kô Nakahira's Crazed Fruit - Kurutta kajitsu, everything occurs by the water side. The film follows a group of wealthy, young people in Japan during the 1950's. At no point do we see any of these people working, they spend their time water skiing, partying, and are preoccupied with sex. The narrative follows brothers that become infatuated with the same girl.
Haruji, the younger brother, first notices Eri at a train station and is instantly smitten with her. Haruji is innocent and it can be seen in his immediate devotion to this girl who he has yet to know; he is instantly blind to all others. The older brother, Natsuhisa immediately passes Eri off as too young and inexperienced looking, declaring that she is just like, and therefore perfect for, his brother. The morals and desires of these siblings contrast from the very beginning: innocence vs. experience, naivete vs. cynical, selfless vs. selfish. We are immediately aware of Natsuhisa's attitude toward and experience with women. In an early scene, the pair ride around on their boat and Natsuhisa jokes that he is only out on the water to pick up girls, sizing up a few that they pass by while Haruji shyly avoids the subject. His brother teases him for still thinking about the girl (Eri) at the train station. When they return to the shore, Natsuhisa declares that it was a boring day; it is obvious that Haruji enjoyed his brother's company on the water, as he seems disappointed by his brother's remark. The scene reveals Natsuhisa's jaded point of view; he is incapable of making the best of the situation because their is no one to desire, or way for him to be desired. To Natsuhia, everything beyond sexual desire is just passing time.
Throughout the film the ocean is the backdrop to many of the events surrounding Haruji. The water and seaweed dance as nervous sexual tension between Haruji and Eri plays out, visually painting the confused physical and emotional state for us. Later, the steady dance of gentle waters is focused on while the pair engage in sexual activities, revealing anticipation and celebration with its steady beat. The ocean is almost always calm, even as the tension escalates between Haruji, Natsuhisa, and Eri. And like Haruji, the water is unsuspecting and eager. It participates in and witnesses the affair from every angle and chooses only to react when prompted.
Haruji does just that when he finds out that his brother has taken Eri on a camping trip that Haruji had originally invited her on. For the first time, he is told directly that Eri is no good and that she has been seeing his brother for some time. With verbal confirmation of the affair that he had previously only had an inkling of before, Haruji borrows a boat and speeds out into the ocean to catch the pair in the act. He approaches their sailboat in a dazed exhaustion, circling it furiously for several minutes. The scene is shot from above and the viewer can see an angry whirlpool forming around the sailboat. This is the first time that we can see the extent of Haruji's anger. And with the aid of the circling water, it is obvious that the innocence which caused him to feel unsure, confused, gentle, and eager, has transferred into emotional fury fueled by anger. We watch him drive away from the scene, and Eri jumps into the water in a desperate cry for help, attention, or perhaps even sympathy, and Haruji makes a complete u-turn and races back to take his revenge.
I have to admit, I did not suspect that Haruji might kill Eri and Natsuhisa. His naive manner had tricked me to thinking he was a gentle soul, wronged and subsequently tainted by love, just like his elder brother. I assumed that love, as portrayed through his relationship with Eri, would destroy his innocence and that the end would reveal Haruji behaving as Nastuhisa did throughout the film. His short relationship with Eri would destroy his innocence and his relationships with women forever. Eri's motivations are difficult to figure out because her situation is only touched on. We know that she is young (around 20 years old), that she married young, and that a hope to experience what she claims to have missed when she married is the reason for her infidelity. It can be concluded that by dating a younger, inexperienced man, she hopes to experience, or regain, her own lost innocence. Eri is caught between three worlds: her reality (her marriage), her lost innocence (Haruji), and the truth of the lie (Natsuhisa). I say the truth of the lie because her relationship to Natsuhisa is just that: he knows the truth, that she is married and that she cheats on her husband, he knows that Haruji is innocent, and that his innocence is the reason why she is attracted to him and that he himself will never appeal to her in the same way. But, Natsuhisa realizes that the innocence that Eri longs for cannot be obtained through Haruji. By taking advantage of his knowledge of her situation, he becomes her mirror, and reflects what she actually is doing to the people around her. It is through Natsuhisa that we come to understand her motivations.
For Eri and Natsuhisa, desire trumps true love, friendship, and family; they never ask for forgiveness or permission, taking what they want and leaving debris in their path. In the end, Haruji is the victim of this selfish desire, his moral victory a tragedy: his innocence lost, his lover is dead, his family destroyed.
We know so little about Eri - I wonder, is she 20 years old? Remember, when Natsuhisa asks her, "How old are you?" when they are alone by the fountain?
ReplyDeleteI too found the end of the film very surprising. I expected Haruji to learn more about Eri and their story to continue in some way. Instead, all of the dissatisfaction and discomfort he seems to feel throughout the story comes to the surface in his desperate act of revenge.
I liked Eri and Haruji both, when they were introduced and shown together. Haruji didn't seem at all like a repressed version of his brother to me - it seemed as though his character was truly different, and I think I identified what Eri liked in him, as well. At one point in the film, perhaps in the same scene between Eri and Natsuhisa (remind me to find the quote!), she says that Haruji would never be forceful. The movie seems determined to prove her wrong, and Haruji's loss of innocence proves catastrophic.