Clothes Make the World

A woman bravely volunteers to act as decoy for the Empress as the royal couple flee from a siege; a samurai bravely defends the decoy with his life. It would be the perfect start of a romance but 1953's Gate of Hell (地獄門) isn't so kind to either of these souls. One of the first colour Japanese films, it's gorgeously shot and filled with brilliant, intricate costumes.

This is the third time I've watched the film, my first time watching it in Japan. I was surprised how much of the Japanese I understood because it's a jidaigeki, a period film, and such films usually feature archaic dialect. This one is set late in the Heian period, 1159, which is why I watched it.

On Friday at the school art club, I saw a student drawing girls in Heian style hair and kimono. She and her friend started explaining it to me while I tried to tell them I already knew about it. She was working from a tiny picture in a history book so I thought I'd grab some screenshots for her from Gate of Hell, which was why I loaded it up on the Criterion Channel last night, then found myself just watching through the whole thing again.

Machiko Kyo as Kesa, the Empress decoy, is so captivating. Her smooth, balletic movements are as much a refined ornament as any of the kimonos, and that's kind of the point of the picture. Kesa turns out to be a woman already married so the new ruling power can't reward Morito (Kazuo Hasegawa) with her hand in marriage. He fumes and stomps and looks for every opportunity to fight with her husband. Why? Morito barely knows Kesa. Circumstances just happened to arrange themselves so that he was the one who rescued her.

I found myself thinking of Blade Runner and Deckard's confused impression of a pretext for romance with Rachel. A lot of people don't understand that scene where Deckard gets confusedly violent with the Replicant woman. It's a mixture of confusion about socially assigned roles and selfish, physical need. In the world of the Heian era Imperial court, in which costumes and custom rigorously reinforce everyone's place, the roles are clear. But just as clear is the beauty of a valiant warrior in the trappings of his trade alone with a demure and decadently accoutered woman. Their costumes dictate 80% of their chemistry.