Kinuyo Tanaka’s depiction of tanka poet Fumiko Nakajo, who died of late-stage breast cancer in 1954.
Autobiographical elements permeate Tanaka’s staggering masterpiece, penned by female screenwriter Sumie Tanaka and depicting the life of tanka poet Fumiko Nakajo, who died of late-stage breast cancer in 1954. Like Tanaka’s previous films, Forever a Woman switches between a life lived and a life talked about. After divorcing her drug-addicted and cheating husband, whom she married after only one matchmaking meeting, Fumiko refuses to remarry. Though this makes her the subject of much scrutiny, she ignores the gossip and dedicates herself to writing poems that others refer to as overblown “female problems.” If read as implicit self-portraiture, Fumiko’s refusal to die quickly and quietly can be seen as a reference to Tanaka’s feelings towards the ageism she herself faced, which equated her forties to the start of old age. – Kelley Dong
$10 / $8 students and seniors
Phone: (617) 496-3211
Email: bgravely@fas.harvard.edu
2023/01/27 - 2023/02/05
Harvard Film Archive
Harvard Film Archive Cinematheque, Cambridge, MA 02138
Although parking in Cambridge is difficult (most of the surrounding streets have restricted parking for Cambridge residents only), metered parking on Broadway and Harvard Streets, as well as the rest of Harvard Square, is free after 8pm. Film-goers are encouraged to use public transportation, particularly the MBTA Red Line.
Film has English subtitles