Love Letter (1985)

Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro
Writers: Tatsumi Kumashiro, Mikihiko Renjo (novel)
Stars: Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Mitsuko Baishô, Keiko Takahashi

A drama depicting the conflict between a man that ran to an old lover suffering from advanced leukemia, and his wife and child that were left behind, and the friendship that develops between his wife and his former lover.

A spontaneous and youthfully careless painter and teacher Shōichi lives an ordinary family life with his rational wife Kyōko and a small son. One day, however, his old love Etsuko returns to his life – she is seriously ill and has only a few months of life left. The idyllic family life, which was already beginning to have cracks because of Shōichi’s juvenile inclination to conflict and non-conformity, falls apart, when he decides to relieve Etsuko’s ordeal by taking care of her. An award-winning adaptation of a Renjō Mikihiko’s novel shows partner relationships, conflicts and compromises in an unusual light. The intimate drama builds on the main protagonists’ strength and in large part on the spellbindingly natural acting of Baishō Mitsuko in the role of Kyōko.

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