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English    Apr 09, 2010 (USA)

Verdict: Cool Movie. Watchable.
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2.9
9 reviews
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3.7
48 reviews
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Story


The Japanese Wife is a 2010 Hollywood drama film released on Apr 09, 2010. The film is directed by Aparna Sen, produced by Saregama Films Ltd..

The Japanese Wife highlights the love story of Pen pals who fall in love and finally decide to get married. They hope to carry-on a long-term relationship.

This is a haunting but improbable love story involving three shy people: Snehamoy Chatterjee (Rahul Bose), an Arithmetic teacher in a school in the interiors of riverine West Bengal; Miyage (Chigasu Takaku) the Japanese girl who became his wife through a strange sequence of letters, and Sandhya (Raima Sen), a widow forced by circumstances to take refuge in his home.

It had all begun when Snehamoy was a student in Serampore College, living in a hostel and preparing for his B.Sc examination. Too shy to make friends with his rowdy classmates, he had sent off a letter to a name found in a magazine under ‘pen friends’.

The answer had arrived a month later resulting in an abiding friendship between two people who did not know each other’s tongues and were forced to communicate with the aid of dictionaries in a foreign language – English – often with hilarious results.

It would probably have continued in this vein if it hadn’t been for Snehamoy’s aunt’s God-daughter Sandhya.

Sandhya is brought to their house because Mashi, the widowed aunt who had brought Snehamoy up, is trying to find a prospective bride for her nephew. When Snehamoy writes to Miyage about her as he does about every important and unimportant event, a letter arrives that changes the course of his life.

In the letter Miyage has offered herself to him as his bride. If he agrees, they will be married. After weighing the matter over for a month, Snehamoy finally agrees to Miyage’s proposal.

Tokens are exchanged between the two, making them man and wife – at least in their own eyes. She sends him a silver wedding ring with her name engraved on it. He sends her a pair of conch-shell bangles and a packet of vermillion powder – the traditional signs of marriage among Bengali women.

His aunt, outraged at first, comes in time to accept her absentee niece in-law in the same way that the neighbours’ taunts and jibes give way to an acceptance of the Arithmetic teacher’s Japanese wife. She sends him photographs, gifts…once even a huge box of traditional Japanese kites.

He sends her rain-drenched champak blossoms carefully wrapped in plastic with the hope that they will retain their fragrance until they reach her.

In time, the urge of a lonely letter writer gives way to the fullness of a lasting bond. Yet, even after fifteen years of marriage, the two have not met!

It is always a question of not having enough money or Miyage’s sick mother or Snehamoy’s Mashi’s health. But their physical absence in each other’s lives never comes in the way of their sense of belonging as a couple.

Snehamoy feels every inch a married man and Miyage takes her responsibility as a wife very seriously, admonishing her husband for not wearing socks in cold weather or tying an Ema at a shrine to pray for him when he is ill.

But, soon after the arrival of the kites on their fifteenth wedding anniversary, there is another arrival in Snehamoy’s home, subtly changing the course of his life a second time.

Sandhya comes back as a widow with an eight year-old son in tow, and no one to turn to after her mother’s death except Snehamoy’s Mashi – her God-mother. Even though Sandhya never crosses his path, she takes up the reins of the household in her own unobtrusive way.

Snehamoy’s room which had always been a mess of papers, unmade bed, discarded clothes and over-spilling ashtrays, is now tidy and fresh-smelling when he returns from school with his clothes folded neatly on the clotheshorse.

With Sandhya Snehamoy discovers a bond of domesticity as they gradually start sharing household chores. With her son Paltu he discovers the joys of fatherhood. Paltu becomes his pet and together they organize a fantastic kite fight in their village between the Japanese kites sent by Miyage and their locally made rivals.

Yet Snehamoy remains Miyage’s devoted husband at heart. When Miyage falls sick and has to leave her home to live with her brother, Snehamoy is frantic with worry. He would have flown to Japan had he the money to do so.

As it is, he takes six months’ leave (without pay!) from his school and spends agonizing days consulting a range of doctors with his wife’s symptoms. His proximity with Sandhya grows as well, as he becomes aware of her tragedy – living the lonely life of a widow.

The shy school teacher is caught between the pull of his marriage – a long standing intimacy devoid of domesticity -- and another undefined relationship that offers a comforting domesticity without any possibility of intimacy – thus becoming an unwitting partner to two solitary women.

As days pass by and Miyage’s health worsens, it becomes clear that Snehamoy will need to visit an oncologist in Calcutta to get a proper assessment of his wife’s condition.

A storm strikes as he makes his way over to the city and he returns disheartened and severely drenched. He tries to call Miyage on a local phone but a poor connection comes in the way of a proper conversation.

He falls sick with pneumonia and the flooding makes it impossible for him to receive proper treatment. The fever rages while their village remains marooned in the grip of a tormented Bay of Bengal.

The local homeopath prescribes sweet white pills that neither bring down the temperature nor ease the labored breathing.

Sandhya sits by his bedside pressing cold compresses on his forehead and massaging hot oil into his chest while his aunt prays fervently at the family shrine and the boy flits nervously in and out of the room.

The postman had come knocking once the ferry service was able to bring in the mail, but Miyage’s letter, which the boy had pressed into the patient’s hand, remains unopened. Snehamoy’s fevered brain imagines his wife’s letter: I am right there beside you Snehamoy…can you not feel my hand on your forehead…?

Far from his wife and desperately worried over her health, Snehamoy’s life hangs by the thread as he is tended by Sandhya, just as any beloved husband would be by a loving wife.

Will the widow find her solace with Snehamoy? Or, just as in their letters, will life finally unite Snehamoy and Miyage as husband and wife?

Snehamoy, a teacher in a school in the interiors of South 24 Parganas leads a lonely life with his Mashi. The only thing that keeps him going is his exchange of letters with Miyage, his pen friend from Japan. They have never met, yet they communicate to each other in a foreign language-English, a language in which neither of them is good at conversing. When Sandhya, his Mashi’s god-daughter is brought to him for her to choose her as his bride, a letter comes to him where Miyage offers herself to him as his bride. He accepts the offer. Fifteen years pass, still they have not met each other. Sandhya, now a widow comes to stay with her son Paltu. Though their paths never cross Sandhya takes up the reins of the household very well. Paltu too becomes very attached to Snehamoy. When Miyage falls very sick, Snehamoy tries to seek the help of every kind of doctor possible trying every possible treatment and even sends some medicines and herbs to Miyage who has got cancer. One day when Snehamoy goes to Kolkata to see an oncologist, there is a fierce storm. He gets caught in the storm and gets pneumonia. He falls severely sick and Sandhya tries to nurse him back to health and the doctor is also consulted, but nothing can be done. Snehamoy passes away without reading Miyage’s letter which had arrived after the storm saying she was a little better and on her way to India. She arrives in Gosaba only to find that Snehamoy has passed away.

Based on a short story by Kunal Basu, The Japanese Wife is a film revolving around Snehmoy (Rahul Bose) and Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) who are pen friends who exchange wedding vows through letters.
Fifteen years pass but they never meet. Yet the bond of marriage is strong between them. This unusual relationship comes under a cloud when a young widow, Sandhya (Raima Sen), comes to stay with Snehmoy along with her eight-year-old son (Shagnik Choudhury). Snehmoy and the little boy bond and the arithmetic teacher discovers the joy of palpable bonds and fatherhood. There develops an inexplicable thread of understanding with Sandhya too.
The Japanese Wife is an unusual story of a love that endures across continents and cultures.

Story is based on official sources.

Check out this page for more updates on The Japanese Wife.

Cast & Crew


Rahul Bose

Rahul Bose

Snehomoy Chatterjee

Raima Sen

Raima Sen

Sandhya

Kunal Bose

Kunal Bose

(Special Appearanc..

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Reviews for The Japanese Wife


Nikhat Kazmi

4.0

Nikhat KazmiTimes of India

If you really care about aesthetics and have been hungering for something that will satiate your finer sensibilities -- battered by now, by the relentless onslaught of kitsch -- y..

full review
Parambrata Chattopadhyay

3.5

Parambrata ChattopadhyayThe Telegraph

Quaint and pristine…The only words I could find to describe Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife. I imagine only a supreme understanding and belief in the subject on the part of the..

full review
Minty Tejpal

3.5

Minty TejpalMumbai Mirror

637 letters, phone calls, 17 years of marriage, but they have not met, read the poster lines of The Japanese Wife, ‘a love poem’ directed by Aparna Sen. Based on a novel by Ku..

full review
Taran Adarsh

3.0

Taran Adarshbollywoodhungama.com

An Aparna Sen film is always special. Like her previous endeavours, THE JAPANESE WIFE [a film in Bengali with English sub-titles] also looks at relationships. Only thing, this tim..

full review
Shubhra Gupta

3.0

Shubhra GuptaIndian Express

One of Aparna Sen’s best qualities is that she captures the rhythms of the life of her characters so well that you can’t imagine them doing anything else. `The Japanese Wifeâ€..

full review
Anupama Chopra

3.0

Anupama ChopraNDTV Movies

How much you enjoy Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife is directly proportionate to how patient you are. In the age of instant messaging, this is an old world epistolary romance. And..

full review

All Critic Reviews (9)

  • movielover4

    4.0

    A visual poem!

    movielover4, 9 years ago
    Super hit movie. I loved everything about this movie.
  • jeevan789

    4.0

    "Unequal Friendship............"

    jeevan789, 9 years ago
    Super hit movie. I loved everything about this movie.
  • kailashmisra

    3.5

    Story telling at its best

    kailashmisra, 9 years ago
    Super hit movie. I loved everything about this movie.

All User Reviews (6)

The Japanese Wife Movie Wiki


This page provides latest and updated information about The Japanese Wife (2010) movie which released on Apr 09, 2010. The Japanese Wife (2010) is directed by , produced by , starring .We have also provided 8 trailers and videos, 0 photos, 48 user reviews, and 9 critic reviews.The Japanese Wife (2010) has received 3.7 rating from user reviews.The movie has received 2.9 rating from critic reviews. The overall rating of The Japanese Wife (2010) is 62 and movie is 3.1.You can review, like, dislike this movie and also can add to favorites. You can also find information on showtimes, CDs, DVDs, online rental, online free watching.

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