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L'Anguille

Original title: Unagi
  • 1997
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
6.7K
YOUR RATING
L'Anguille (1997)
FarceComedyDrama

A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After the release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking almost to no one except an eel he befriended while in pr... Read allA businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After the release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking almost to no one except an eel he befriended while in prison.A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After the release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking almost to no one except an eel he befriended while in prison.

  • Director
    • Shôhei Imamura
  • Writers
    • Shôhei Imamura
    • Daisuke Tengan
    • Motofumi Tomikawa
  • Stars
    • Kôji Yakusho
    • Misa Shimizu
    • Mitsuko Baishô
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.3/10
    6.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Shôhei Imamura
    • Writers
      • Shôhei Imamura
      • Daisuke Tengan
      • Motofumi Tomikawa
    • Stars
      • Kôji Yakusho
      • Misa Shimizu
      • Mitsuko Baishô
    • 31User reviews
    • 32Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 16 wins & 14 nominations total

    Photos64

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    Top cast47

    Edit
    Kôji Yakusho
    Kôji Yakusho
    • Takuro Yamashita
    Misa Shimizu
    Misa Shimizu
    • Keiko Hattori
    Mitsuko Baishô
    Mitsuko Baishô
    • Misako Nakajima
    Akira Emoto
    • Tamotsu Takasaki
    Fujio Tokita
    Fujio Tokita
    • Jiro Nakajima
    Shô Aikawa
    Shô Aikawa
    • Yuji Nozawa
    Ken Kobayashi
    • Masaki Saito
    Sabu Kawahara
    • Seitaro Misato
    Etsuko Ichihara
    • Fumie Hattori
    Tomorô Taguchi
    Tomorô Taguchi
    • Eiji Dojima
    Chiho Terada
    • Emiko Yamashita
    Shinshô Nakamaru
    Sei Hiraizumi
    Sei Hiraizumi
    Seiji Kurasaki
    Toshirô Ishidô
    Sanshô Shinsui
    • Doctor
    Kôichi Ueda
    • Keiji - A detective
    Ken Mitsuishi
    • Detective
    • Director
      • Shôhei Imamura
    • Writers
      • Shôhei Imamura
      • Daisuke Tengan
      • Motofumi Tomikawa
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews31

    7.36.7K
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    Featured reviews

    7DukeEman

    A little gem

    THE EEL borders on dark humour when a man, who after eight years in prison for the murder of his wife, is released from jail. He sets himself up in a barber shop by the river and trouble comes knocking on his door and he can not seem to get away from it. Simple, yet effective, a very mature piece of work and pleasing overall.
    7frankde-jong

    A film essentially about redemption, but with too much distracting comedy moments

    Before "The eel" I saw two other films of Shohei Imamura. "The ballad of Narayama" (1983), who won the Palme d'or in Cannes, and "Black rain" (1989). Imamura belongs to the new wave generation of Japanese directors after the war generation (Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi) and the post war generation (Kobayashi, Ichikawa and Shindo) had put Japanese films firmly on the map of the world of cinema. Imamura was at its peak during the eighthes (beginning with "Vengeance is mine" (1979)) and nineties (ending with "The eel" (1997)).

    With "The eel" Imamura won the Palm d'or for the second time and it was also a favorite movie of a film teacher regularly performing in my local arthouse cinema. Especially the last mentioned reason made me curious to see the film.

    "The eel" is a film about crime, punishment and redemption. Especially about redemption as the crime and punishment elements are dealt with in the first quarter of the movie. A man finds out about the adultery of his wife, murders her in a fit of rage, turns himself in to the police and serves eight years in prison.

    His release from prison is in effect the real beginning of the movie. It is obvious that the man (Takura played by Koji Yakusho who also played in "Shall we dance?" (Masayuki Suo) the year before) has been damaged psychologically. When released he continued to walk at marching pace for a while and he only talks to his pet eel.

    After a while he meets a woman (Keiko played by Misa Shimizu). She obviously likes him, but he keeps treating her very detached. When she makes him a lunch box for his fishing trip he simply refuses to accept. What is the reason behind his behaviour? Resembles the new woman his former wife too much? After all his former wife also made a lunch box for his fishing trips and subsequently betrayed him with her lover when he was out fishing. Or does he no longer trusts himself in a relationship with a woman? Is he of the opinion that he does not deserve a second chance in love? And what about the woman? Why does she hang on to a man that treats her so coldly?

    A lot of questions about these two persons slowly growing towards each other and towards a normal life. The problem is not so much that the film does not give clear cut answers. The problem is that the film distracts too much from this (in my opinion central) relationship by a lot of crazy actions by crazy people, especially in the last 30 minutes.

    Finally a compliment for the photograpy. Making beautiful images of a beautiful landscape is easy. Making beautiful images of a somewhat littery landscape is much harder. The images of the nightly fishing expeditions after the release from prison are very atmospheric.
    gilli

    Flawed but interesting

    This film deals with the theme of faith, its loss, its recovery. It has strong images, as usual in Imamura's films. It has also a well thought out plot development. But... it hints at directions that are never fully explored. There is a suggestion that the main character is insane. There are hallucinations. Keiko's behavior is also a little obscure at times. But as the core of the movie is melodrama, surreal aspects are only hinted at. That leaves a slight sensation of unachievement.
    7howard.schumann

    Doesn't come together as a satisfying whole

    Takura Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) has served eight years in prison for murdering his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and attempts to rehabilitate himself by opening a barbershop in an isolated corner of Japan. His past, however, catches up with him in Shohei Imamura's The Eel, co-winner of the 1997 Cannes Palme D'or with Kiarostami's A Taste of Cherry. Based on the Akira Yoshimura's novel Sparkles in the Darkness, The Eel is either an absurdist comedy, a drama about redemption, a surreal poem about states of consciousness, a thriller about jealousy and revenge, or all of the above.

    As the film opens, Yamashita, a worker at a large flour company, is startled to read an anonymous letter on the train coming home from work informing him that his wife cheats on him when he goes away on overnight fishing trips. Cutting one of his trips short, he returns home in the middle of the night to find his wife Emiko (Chiho Terada) in bed with a lover. Grabbing a butcher knife, he brutally stabs both of them to death then calmly rides his bicycle to the local police station and turns himself in. After eight years in prison, he is released and paroled to an elderly Buddhist priest. Alienated and afraid, Yamashita's only companion is a pet eel whom he confides in ("he listens to what I say"). He opens a barbershop in a rural part of Japan but his life becomes complicated after he saves a young woman, Keiko (Misa Shimizu), from suicide and gives her a job at his shop. Reminded of his former wife, Yamashita avoids intimacy but she is drawn to him nonetheless and offers him box lunches when he goes fishing.

    In spite of trying to keep his distance, Yamashita attracts some local characters that move the plot in a different direction. These include a young man who borrows his barber pole to attract UFOs, a fishing buddy who designs a device to catch eels without harming them, and his former prison mate, Tamotsu Takasaki (Akira Emoto), a foul-mouthed drunk who recites Buddhist Sutras and reminds him of his previous acts. The story, which until now has had a rich dramatic arc, soon descends into forced comedy when Keiko's mentally-challenged mother shows up doing flamenco dances and Keiko's former boyfriend returns demanding her mother's money. The townspeople and semi-gangster associates of the boyfriend join in a final free-for-all at the barbershop that might have been lifted from the Three Stooges.

    The Eel is at times a brilliant and involving character study about a man seeking to turn his life around. At other times, however, it is a discordant conglomeration of plots and subplots, one-dimensional characters, and heavy symbolism relieved only by wooden farce. The UFO sequence is very lame and the comic behavior of a man just out of prison seems inappropriate as he marches like a soldier then runs after a jogging team that is passing by. Imamura has said, "If my films are messy, this is probably due to the fact that I don't like too perfect a cinema." I know that things are not always neat and our lives are often a blend of drama and farce, but The Eel's odd mixture of quirky characters and widely disparate elements keeps it from coming together as a satisfying whole.
    room337

    redemption,the chaotic path

    I actually enjoyed the film a lot. Maybe it's not one of the most articulated films, but there was liveliness in it,and i think that's the reason the eel got cannes. The lives of misunderstood,isolated finds the peace with themselves in a remote country side, reminded me of Mediterriano a bit. The man's murder, suicidal heroine and her mad mother, a guy who is obsessed with UFO, which seems unexplainable and their lives are narrated in a messiest possible way. I think this film is not for analysis or for coming to conclusion, the director wants to show a utopia where misfits can be forgiven and find a harmony with the world, where a human communicates with an eel. And where people can have a chance to get redemption,,,

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Winner of the 1997 Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival tied with another title, Abbas Kiarostami's Le Goût de la cerise (1997) from Iran.
    • Quotes

      Takuro Yamashita: An eel's all a man needs.

    • Alternate versions
      The theatrical cut is 117 mins., but there's also a "director's cut" (134 mins.).
    • Connections
      Featured in Especial Cannes: 50 Anos de Festival (1997)

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    FAQ18

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 1, 1997 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • The Eel
    • Filming locations
      • Sawara, Chiba, Japan(Police Station)
    • Production companies
      • Eisei Gekijo
      • Groove Corporation
      • Imamura Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $418,480
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $29,879
      • Aug 23, 1998
    • Gross worldwide
      • $424,683
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono

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