BODY TROUBLE〜Disease of Male Becoming Female

Produced and distributed by Tantan-sha Co. Ltd.

Production Notes
One morning, a man named Hiromi wakes up and finds himself transformed into a woman―the movie has a setting similar to Franz Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis." However, its theme is gender gap. When the man who has lived a depressing life happens to live as a woman, the world looks totally different from the one he has lived in. At the same time, Hiromi, as a woman, is involved in various kinds of trouble.



The motif of the movie was taken from “Disease of Male Becoming Female,” the first literary work of Keiji Ueshima, a Japanese anthropologist of religion, which was written in 1980.

The movie was directed by Sachi Hamano. More than 350 movies by Hamano have been released commercially. At the same time, she has independently made the works by Japanese female novelists into movies, such as “Lily Festival” and “Yoshiko & Yuriko,” both of which gained great reputation abroad. Her first film of this kind, “Midori,” was made in 1998.

Based on her own ideas, “Body Trouble” was independently made by Hamano with the theme of gender and sex today. She used digital filming equipment for the first time to make this movie.


Story
One morning, Hiromi, who is depressed and suffering from social withdrawal, realizes he has no dick. He finds himself transformed into an attractive woman completely different from what he looked like. He gets confused, not knowing who he is, and begs his mother, who lives separately, to help him. She rejects him, saying that her son is not female.

Whenever Hiromi goes to a convenience store, he is sexually molested or harassed by a stalker. He asks for online advice about his problems, but only gets silly answers from male commentators who try to make fun of him. However, there are some serious commentators, who Hiromi ends up seeing tentatively.

One of them, Saruwatari, a parapsychologist, says that since ancient times, a few people have suffered from the “disease of male becoming female.” He says that in those days, only selected people could enjoy this privilege, so they were respected by many people. Saruwatari says that he wants to carry out a sacred program of feminization on Hiromi.



Another commentator, Tsuruhashi, is a woman who studies gender. She warns that if Hiromi is being a woman without any necessary wisdoms and knowledge in this society, he could be involved in a serious danger. Tsuruhashi goes on to say that there are big differences between the society in which he has lived as a man and the society in which he lives as a woman.



When Hiromi was self-confined to his room, avoiding social contact, he had no girlfriends. He has never gone out with a woman nor made love with a woman. When he was a man, he was totally ignored as if he hadn’t existed in this world. As soon as he was transformed into a woman, he gets a lot of attention. Even dangerous men make a move on him. Hiromi balances the “privileges” he gets and the “risks” he faces as a man who became a woman.

Afterwards, a counselor who studies identity, posts online comments on Hiromi's problems. He says that in his therapy room, there is a woman who in her previous life was a man and became a woman. The therapy room looks esoteric with a jelly fish tank.



Hiromi wanders among the commentators. Being torn between gender and sex, he gropes for a way he should live.


「Body Trouble」 Data
Original title:Body Trouble
English title:Body Trouble
Language of dialogue:Japanese
Language of subtitles : English
Date of completion:2014

Technical Data
  Colour, 92 min
  Digibeta, Blue Lei

Director:Sachi HAMANO
Producer:Sachiko SUZUKI
Scriptwriter:Kuninori YAMAZAKI
Dir. of photo:Katuharu OYAMADA
Editor:Naoki KANEKO

CAST:Nana Aida, Tubaki Kato, NAHANA, Masaharu Takarai
   Yoko Satomi, Ryoko Saeki, Miyori Mai, Seiji Nakamitu,
   Atusi Tuda, Yuya Ishikawa, Yasushi Takemoto, Taro Araki

ADDRESS OF DIRECTOR :
7-12-3, Hontori, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka-City, Shizuoka Prefecture, JAPAN
Postal code: 420-0064
Tel&Fax : 81 54 272 1692
E-MAIL : sachi_ha@d8.dion.ne.jp

PRODUCTION COMPANY : Tantansha CO.,LTD
PRODUCER : Sachiko SUZUKI
YEAR OF PRODUCTION : 1984
ADDRESS : 7-12-3, Hontori, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka-City, Shizuoka Prefecture
JAPAN Postal code: 420-0064
Tel&Fax : 81 54 272 1692
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