THE MILK WOMAN

Japan, 2005, 148 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Akira Ogate.

The Milk Woman is an intriguing Japanese drama. The woman of the title is a woman who works in a supermarket but early every morning she delivers milk door to door in the city. She is fifty, single. She has been devoted to family – but has tragic secrets. She also has been in love since her schooldays with a man to whom she delivers milk. He is tending his ailing and dying wife.

The wife is aware of his love for the milk woman and summons her, trying to get her to promise to marry her husband when she dies. This has a dramatic effect on the milk woman, altering her way of life, her attitude towards the man. When it seems that love is possible for her life, a tragedy occurs and she loses him. Back in her own mind and loneliness, she still delivers the milk and delivers it to his door.

The film is interesting in showing the rather polite and impassive Japanese way of life, the suppression of external manifestations of passion while underneath, deep emotions are stirring.

The film also is an interesting portrait of a middle-aged woman who has made her decisions in life and adapted to these. It is a portrait of a sympathetic man who works on the local council, who is seen to be involved in making decisions about abusive parents and the custody and fostering of children – which leads ultimately to his death in trying to save a drowning boy.

The director has a background in television commercials and music videos but during the 1990s focused on documentaries. He began his feature film career with Boys’ Choir in 2000. He is also a lecturer in film-making at Japanese universities.

1.An interesting film? Strong impact? Characters, plot? An adaptation of a novel? The blend of action, thoughts, feelings?

2.The Japanese atmosphere, milieu? The city itself, the vistas, the hills? Authentic? The details of the neighbourhood? The hill, the steps, the homes, the depot, the supermarket? The streets and the river? The musical score – and the crescendos?

3.The three stories in one: the milkwoman’s story, the man and his wife, the aunt and the professor?

4.The way of storytelling, audience observation, understanding? Japan? Impassive and inscrutable characters? Body language? Communication/not? Emotional communication? The focus on the milkwoman? Fifty years of age? The comments on her story, love, loneliness, decision? Seeing her in action?

5.The title, her work as a milkwoman? Waking early in the morning, going to the depot, her running, the deliveries, going back? The transition to the supermarket? Her relationship with the other members of the staff? The boss? Her censorious style? Emphasis on work, time? At home, reading, Dostoyevsky?

6.The aunt, her writing, her age, knowing the milkwoman, her choices? Her husband, the story, her care for him? His losing his sense of time, his memory? Running, confusion? Eating and running away? Sleeping? Her aunt talking to her niece?

7.The milkwoman at home, her memories, her parents? The communication of her thoughts? The radio, the card? Her feelings? The song on the radio, ‘Rainy Days and Sundays’?

8.The man and his wife, his waking, his love for his wife, her terminal illness? The medicines? The queue? Seeing him at work, the people he encountered, the young boy? The meetings and discussions? His sadness?

9.The supermarket, the boy, the stealing, the chase? His mother, her boyfriend, drugs, slatternly? The man’s understanding all this, his helping the boy? The film developing their relationship, going to the home? His sadness? The setting up for the drowning sequence?

10.The wife, her illness, love for her husband? Calling the milkwoman? Discussion about the husband? His not returning? His death, the grief, the funeral?

11.The milkwoman and her memories of the man, her delivering the milk, knowing the story? Her relationships, her talk, the visit to the grave? Parents? The sexual relationship? Her returning to work?

12.The boy, the drowning? The smile, grief? The old story of the laugh?

13.The milkwoman and her inability to love, communicate? The effect of the relationship with the man? Continuing to deliver the milk? Drinking the milk, the replacement of the milk?

14.The milkwoman going up the steps, the view of the city, hopes for the future in her life?

15.A Japanese way of telling a story, focusing on characters, their thoughts and feelings, relationships?