Flower and the Snake

Name: Hana to hebi (Flower and the Snake)
Rating: 1.5/5
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Sexploitation
Starring: Aya Sugimoto
Director: Takeshi Ishii
Language: Japanese

Since I first heard about the book upon which this film is based I was curious to see how it would develop, with the notion of sadomasochism and bondage as core elements of the plot, and with gratuitous scenes of rape and torture prevalent for much of its duration, it doesn’t take long to realise that this is the sort of film that would be lucky to pass any standard over in Japan, let alone the UK or US where such ‘bondage arts’ are even more heavily considered taboo. Unfortunately, this was never going to receive a middle of the road mark, too shocking in its nature to ever be considered mediocre, it would plainly either succeed or fail in demonstrating its purpose, of allowing exploration of the subject in such a manner as to make it apparent the purpose of such action, and it is here that it fails quite miserably.

Following the story of the famous actress and tango dancer Shizuko to the belly of the underworld, sold by her husband to the Yakuza to pay his debt to them, she is used to put on a show of depravity for the select few capable of paying the expensive membership fee. It is on this stage that most of the film is set, as the host describes to the crowd precisely what is to become of her in a joyous fashion, forcefully humiliating her, forcing her to sacrifice her pride in a futile attempt to save the lives of those she cares for, and as she is broken down we can observe her slow realisation of her situation. Stripping her of more than just her clothes, they succeed in tearing down any hopes she ever had.

The lead role could not have been better cast, perhaps feeling a little wooden to open with it is her latter honest and believable portrayal that resulted in this film receiving most of its marks, capable of displaying an artistic erotic beauty beyond the more primal nudity, using her physicality to present vivid and striking and lasting images that prevent this from being relegated to a simple porn film. But far too much of the film was spent hammering this home, and rarely did the purpose come across, the notion of intentionally humiliating someone for personal pleasure, bringing them down to a more human level for egotistical reasons, or the transfer of power in a relationship with a clear notion of the dominant and submissive roles, all of this which should have been the intention of the film was lost in a flurry of torture and fantasy scenes.

Perhaps her portrayal of Shizuko, resulting in such a strong mental imagery that it detracts from the rest of the film, is part of the cause for the lacklustre end result, but that would not be where I would place the blame. The plot was thin to begin with, and padding it out with unnecessary gratuitous scenes of nudity does worse than ignore the point, it counteracts it, relegates it to the back, and when combined with the over-the-top host of the show the result feels less insightful and more akin to a sort of ‘Midsummers Night Dream: The Snuff Film,’ an exercise in pointless grotesque imagery and bizarre fantasy, the end result: one of complete disappointment.