«Kasane - beauty and fate», or the blessing of beauty

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) - Thierry Fivaz

«Beauty is a blessing: it allows you to achieve anything... even when it's just an illusion».

On Wednesday, July 11, NIFFF presented the world premiere of Kasane - beauty and fate, a wonderful adaptation of Daruma Matsuura's manga, which won the Prix RTS du Public.

When you walk out of a movie theater, it's always nice to know that the film you've just seen has been carefully and meticulously crafted. And that's what we tell ourselves when we come out of Kasane - beauty and fate. The challenge was not without risk, since it involved adapting the seinen manga by Daruma Matsuura (ed. note: a type of manga whose editorial target is young men aged between fifteen and thirty), a manga that has been a real success in Japan since its publication in 2013.

Brought to the screen by Satô Yûchi, the film tells the story of Kasane (Kyoko Yoshine), daughter of the brilliant and sublime actress Sukeyo Fuchi (Rei Dan). Just before her death, Sukeyo Fuchi bequeaths her daughter Kasane a magical lipstick which, when applied, enables her to momentarily take over the physical appearance of the person she is kissing. It's a godsend, since unlike her mother, Kasane doesn't enjoy such beauty. A long, deep scar disfigures her face, eliciting insults, mockery and disgust from those who see her. Fearing the repercussions that such power could cause, Kasane gives up using lipstick and prefers to isolate herself, to fade into the background, even though she dreams of becoming an actress like her mother.

An unattainable dream, until the day she meets Nina Tanzawa, played by the lovely and excellent Tao Tsuchiya. Nina is a beautiful young woman with a single ambition: to become a great stage actress. The problem is, she lacks any real talent. Kasane, on the other hand, has talent in spades. Acting is in her blood. The two young women decide to join forces: thanks to her magic lipstick, Kasane will take over Nina's appearance, whose angelic face is bound to delight audiences and seduce future directors. However, the situation will predictably take some unexpected turns.

Mirrors and symmetry

If the adaptation seems to respect the original work, Satô Yûchi makes it a particularly interesting object. Indeed, it is, Kasane can be seen as an immense game of mirrors and symmetries multiplied on different scales. This mirror sometimes presents us with our own unflattering reflection, prompting us to question the almost Pavlovian revulsion inspired by ugliness and horror such as Kasane's face. But the mirror is also present in the double mise en abîme that the film represents on at least two occasions: we watch a film showing actors playing at being characters who themselves are playing the roles of actors in a play. Not to mention the contrasting mirrors held up by the two main characters: one is beautiful, the other ugly. Kazane's ugliness is seen through a mirror, while Nina, like Venus, can contemplate her delicate, virginal beauty.

This play of mirrors and symmetry is even external to the story. La Mouette that Kasane plays as Nina also speaks of Kazane's mother, who remains a heavy liability to live with; Kasane always suffers from the comparison between herself and her mother, like Constantine's mother in Chekhov's play. This play also features the young Nina Mikhailovna Zaretchnaya as a character: like Nina Tanzawa, she dreams of becoming a great actress, but will never succeed. The game even continues in the second play Kasane has to perform, which is the Salomé by Oscar Wilde.

Mask and maskers

In Kasane, The mask also occupies a special place. When she plays a character, Kasane does so by borrowing, Kasane swaps her face with that of the beautiful Nina. In a way, Kasane is wearing a double mask: that of Nina, on the one hand, and that of the character she is to play, on the other. But even when she steps off stage, Kasane retains Nina's mask or face and plays at being Nina. No one knows her secret, or lifts the mask; not even Mr. Ugo (Yu Yokoyama), a talented young director who takes a liking to the actress Nina - or rather, Kasane in Nina's guise - and casts her in his adaptation of La Mouette.

In this respect, no one will have failed to notice the references scattered throughout the company. Kasane - beauty and fate are particularly Western, like Chekhov, Wilde or Cinderella - after kissing Nina, Kasane can enjoy her appearance for a certain period of time; once this time has passed, like Cinderella, the magic disappears and Kasane becomes Kasane again. While some may regret this Europeanization of the story to the detriment of a more Japanese anchoring, the references on which Japanese cinema feeds can sometimes prove difficult to access for the neophyte. It's a good thing, then, that Japanese cinema sometimes dons a mask that's familiar to us, and through which we can detect its immense capacity to create multi-faceted works that communicate with each other, respond to each other and take pleasure in playing with their characters and the stories that make them up.

Finally, Kasane - beauty and fate is a mirror-paper origami film that forms a particularly coherent object. A feature-length film in three movements, it manages to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, thanks to the remarkable performances of Kyoko Yoshine (Kasane/Nina) and above all Tao Tsuchiya (Nina/Kasane), and leaves them with just one question: will the relationship between the two young women last?

About the manga Kasane - The Face Thief :

Kasane - The Face Thief is a seinen manga written by mangaka Daruma Matsuura. A particularly recent manga, since it was first published in Japan in 2013 and translated into French in 2016. There are currently twelve volumes (the thirteenth and last is due in November), Kasane - The Face Thief was nominated in 2015 for the prestigious Taisho Awards and the Kodansha Manga Prize. Since its publication, Kasane - The Face Thief is a real publishing success, captivating many Japanese readers.

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Write to the author : thierry.fivaz@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © NIFFF