Love+Letter

// **Love Letter - Shunji Iwai (1995)** //

//Love Letter// is another film in which Shunji Iwai has both written and directed. There are two story lines within the film that both revolve around the dead character male Itsuki. Hiroko is the fiancee of male Itsuiki who decides to send a love letter to the address she misunderstood as being Itsuiki's childhood address. Instead the letter was received by female Itsuki, with the same name, and was male Itsuki's former classmate and crush.

**1. What is the plot (what does the character want?)** In this film, both Hiroko and female Itsuiki are the main characters. Throughout the film, Hirorko wants to feel as close as possible to her dead fiancee male Itsuki by writing letters to female Itsuki and learning about his past through his former crush. Female Itsuki, on the other hand, wants to remember all her memories about male Itsuki through her constant flashbacks, write them down in letters and send those letters to Hiroko.

**2. What is the theme (what does the character need?)** The theme of this film is the impact of fate and destiny. For Hiroko, she needed fate on her side to help her better get into contact with female Itsuki and understand the fact that Itsuki dated her because she looked like female Itsuki. If fate has led her to this acknowledgement earlier, she would have been able to accept Akiba as her new boyfriend sooner. On female Itsuki's side, she also needed the aid of fate to help her uncover the traces of male Itsuki's love left behind years ago. It wasn't until the end of the film that female Itsuki finally realised that she had missed out on male Itsuki all because of fate and destiny. The entire film portrays fate and destiny as something that the characters cannot escape from and is bond to impact the course of their lives.

This scene occurs near the end of the film when after female Itsuki has been sent to the hospital after fainting under high fever and when Hiroko and Akiba travel to the mountains where male Itsuki died two years ago hoping that Hiroko can say a final goodbye to him.
 * 3.Choose a scene that best exemplifies the theme. Identify and explain how 5 elements within the scene (mise-en-scene, editing, sound, cinematography, lighting) create meaning in reference to that theme. **

Mise-en-scene: It is important to acknowledge that although both Hiroko and female Itsuki are two different characters in the film, Iwai made the choice to cast them as one actress. This mise-en-scene is especially in effect when, in this scene, the two characters are in completely different locations but what they are saying is the exact same, both mimiking the first "love letter" Hiroko intended to send to male Itsuki, but was instead received by female Itsuki. The choice of casting by Iwai as the mise-en-scene serves the purpose to indirectly refer to the theme, which is the impact of fate and destiny. The audience can tell that Hiroko and female Itsuki's looks and lines are exactly identical and therefore will refer to the theme of the film, which is the impact of fate and destiny because both of these characters have their lives directed by fate and destiny.

Editing: The main editing technique used in this scene is by using continuous and repetitive jump cuts numerous of times to convey the message that although these two characters are in different locations, they are in the same state of trying to talk to male Itsuki, who is dead. What makes this scene's editing especially interesting is the pace of the jump cuts the editor uses. During the beginning of the scene, the jump cuts are a lot slower, and it would take one person to say "How are you?" and "I'm fine" before it would jump to the other person. However as the scene progresses the pace and intervals between the jump cuts got smaller and smaller. In the middle of the scene, one person would say "How are are?" and although the audience knows she is speaking to male Itsuki, it would seem like they are speaking to each other as the other person would answer "I'm fine". Later it arrived to a point where female Itsuki would say "I'm..." and it would immediately cut to Hiroko saying "fine". To the audience it would seem like they are trying to say "I'm fine" to the imaginary male Itsuki together. This also indirectly contribute to the theme by creating a scene where both characters present are affected by different fates but are facing the same situation.

Sound: The only sound in the first half of this scene is the echo of Hiroko's voice calling at the mountain that male Itsuki died on. This refers to the theme of fate because male Itsuki couldn't not escape from the control of fate and died on the mountain, therefore having Hiroko's echo repeat again and again puts an emphasis on how fate had separated these three people. Later in the scene when female Itsuki joins in the calling to male Itsuki, a very slow violin background music joins in the film. The reason this background music is used is to put emphasis on female Itsuki's emotions being sorrow because she finally knew that Itsuki died two years ago. Now that she is starting to realize how they missed each other back in middle school, she wants him to come back just as Hiroko does as she is calling in the mountains.

Cinematography: The cinematography used in this scene is mostly consistent while it jump cuts to both of the characters, however it is still noticeable that while the camera is at Hiroko, it seems more like a hand-held camera, and while it is at female Itsuki, the camera is still. This variation may be used to tell the audience of where the characters are. Hiroko is outdoors in the mountains, so her environment is in the nature, thats why it would make sense if the camera shook a bit, to make the audience feel as if they were there with her. However as female Itsuki is in the hospital, it would make sense if the camera was still. This again refers to the theme by showing that these two characters are where they are now because fate and destiny has acted upon them.

Lighting: Although it is hard to notice, it can still be seen that in both cases of both characters, there is a dim lighting that is coming from the opposite direction for Hiroko and the windows for female Itsuki, and both light is shining on both characters' faces. This can show and foreshadow that there is a response or something enlightening that is happening to both characters. After this yelling session, Hiroko is able to completely put down male Itsuki and date Akiba. Female Itsuki heals from her sickness and is able to go back to being her optimistic self after "talking" to male Itsuki. This once again refers back to the theme of fate and destiny because as both of these characters were not able to escape fate's control, at last they are able to have fate stand on their side, and therefore letting them both go "free" and able to move on with their lives.