Writer and Director: Yasutomo Chikuma
There aren’t many films about asexuality. Two years ago, Marija Kavtaradze’s Slow, about an asexual man, was one of the standout films at the Flare Festival. However, The Deepest Space in Us, taking its title from a line of poetry by Rilke, is less successful, almost pushing the subjects of asexuality and aromanticism aside.
Kaori is successful in her work in a Japanese city; diligent and kind. Yet, her co-workers find her cold as she rarely joins them for after-work drinks, and when she does acquiesce, they quiz her about first loves and ask which of her male colleagues she finds attractive. Kaori tells one man who tries to grab her that she doesn’t experience sexual or romantic desire.
But when she meets Takeru, the young lawyer looking after her late mother’s affairs, she agrees to begin a relationship with him. He accepts that she doesn’t want sex, but he suggests that maybe in time she will. Kaori nods meekly, hopefully and hopelessly.
As the film progresses, Kaori’s sexuality is underexplored when it becomes clear that Takeru is concealing his own secrets. Throw into the mix frustrated author Shingo and we have three people struggling to follow heteronormative standards. Their stories are told deliberately and slowly, and while this is not a problem, the narrative has nowhere to go. The viewer has little choice but to be a passive witness to the sadness that enfolds.
Momoko Fukuchi as Kaori does well to demonstrate that while her character doesn’t feel romantic love, she can still experience love for friends. Kaori is an exemplar of forgiveness and compassion. Takeru, in the hands of Kan’ichirô Satô, is desperate for connection, as seen when he spies Kaori in a coffee shop but is too afraid to go up to her. Ryûtarô Nakagawa’s Shingo is a powder keg of frustration as he appears the most determined to conform.
Set over three years, Yasutomo Chikuma’s quiet and elegant film resists any simple resolutions, but his characters remain too distant and elusive to really understand them.
BFI Flare runs from 18-29 March.
