Silk Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Love knows no borders
Come back, or I shall die.
Each step away from her... brings him closer.
Based on the Alessandro Baricco's novel this is the story of a married silkworm smuggler, Herve Joncour, in 19th Century France who travels to Japan to collect his clandestine cargo. While there he spots a beautiful Japanese woman, the concubine of a local baron, with whom he becomes obsessed. Without speaking the same language, they communicate through letters until war intervenes. Their unrequited love persists however, and Herve's wife Helene begins to suspect.
| Michael Pitt | Hervé Joncour |
| Tony Vogel | Café Verdun Man #1 |
| Toni Bertorelli | Verdun |
| Kenneth Welsh | Mayor Joncour |
| Alfred Molina | Baldabiou |
| Michael Golding | Clerk |
| Carlo Cecchi | Priest |
| Marc Fiorini | M. Chabert |
| Leslie Csuth | M. Loiseau |
| Toru Tezuka | Japanese Guide |
| Hiroya Morita | Japanese Elder #1 |
| Akinori Ando | Ronin |
| Jun Kunimura | Umon |
| Kanata Hongô | Japanese Boy |
| Kôji Yakusho | Hara Jubei |
5.80 out of 10 (1545 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A Nutshell Review: Silk
posted on 17 Jul 2009If Fate would have it, I would have the opportunity to go to Tokyo for this year's Japanese International Film Festival, and watched this as the closing film. Initially I had mixed this up with Atonement, also starring Keira Knightley in a period romance story, except that this one had shades of The Last Samurai thrown in, with the love triangle moments with the involvement of a Japanese girl.Based on the novel by Alessandro Baricco, Silk takes its name from the Silk trade, where a French village looks to having its economy hit, if not for Alfred Monlina's Baldabiou who ventures into opening a silk mill and employing the townsfolk. However, in need of untainted silkworm eggs, free from an epidemic striking Europe, he sends overseas one of his staff Herve Joncour (Michael Pitt), whom is indebted to him for arranging his marriage with Knightley's Helene, and off he goes on the arduous journey first to Africa, then to the land of the rising sun, now in the impending stage of internal strife.The journeys are probably the best bits in the movie, with lush landscapes filling the screen in all serenity of the turmoils that are yet to come. I thought director Francois Girard tried to ape Terence Mallick's direction, with lush natural beauty punctuated with voice over narration of the character's inner-most thoughts. We learn a lot of what's going on in Herve's mind, as he tells us the story of his being, and the conflict he faces when he gets tempted to committing adultery, never forgetting about his tryst overseas when back home he has a lovely wife to go home to.While the movie has that central conflict that provides the fuel to propel the movie forward, somehow it never gets utilized, having the story and characters dance around on the sidelines of the issue, never to take it head on. This adds to the frustration of watching the deliberations that they have, made worse as the movie chooses to unfold itself extremely slowly, taking too much of its own sweet time. Fans of Keira Knightley would have watched this movie solely to see her performance after the Pirates double bill, but sadly, even though she's given top billing, her screen time is limited, as the spotlight falls on Michael Pitt's Herve and we are told of this story through his eyes.What adds to the annoyance as well, is that the movie is sans English subtitles. Having it set in France but the characters speaking in English is understandable (after all, Pitt is American and Knightley is English), but having the Japanese speak in their native tongue, and not providing the subtitles, removes a layer that would have provided probably a deeper understanding of the movie. Yes, granted we are supposed to feel the pain of Herve in his inability to connect with the people and the one he loves, but I don't feel that this should be done at the expense of understanding, especially for non-Japanese speaking folks.However, despite its obvious flaws, the movie redeems itself with a powerful end, packing quite a punch especially when you think it's headed nowhere and probably into mediocrity. Suddenly you discover that things are again not always what they seem, and wonder just who the bigger fool is. But the bottomline, if there's a message to be taken away from this movie, is again never to give in to temptation, and truly treasure your loved ones. Tried and tested, clichéd but true.
I liked the lush surface, but it was a Hollywood surface
posted on 07 Jul 2009I enjoyed nearly every moment of the film. But it just lacked substance.At the end of the movie I felt that its reason for being was to depict a voice from the grave. It did that not badly. But it did nothing else.Things I liked: Atmosphere. Pace. Images. Touches of cultural differences (all of which might just as well have been learned by the filmmakers in other movies). Seeing Keira Knightley in bed (yes, that bed). Woo woo. Seeing the Mogami River (I have my reasons).Things I didn't like: The typical Hollywood depiction of a years-long-married couple acting like they are on an eternal honeymoon (well, maybe not eternal. Ha ha). They act always just as enamored of each other as when they were first seeing each other romantically, pre-marriage. Except, Herve does get the occasional glazed look just before he passionately takes her in his arms, kisses her with considerable verve, and professes undying love for her. Bad editing: That woman whom we don't know suddenly having the baby we tend to assume is the Joncour's, but isn't.He mentions that the lilies bloomed a few days after she died, but we had seen white lilies blooming in profusion near their house long before that. So, big deal.Puzzles:The broken glasses of the Dutch guy which mean? Not a clue. Oh, he was killed? So what? It had zero relevance.The one-armed billiard shot and the guy packing up all and leaving town. So what? Zero significance and no sense.Why did the Japanese master guy not kill Herve with his rifle? He was afraid of some CSI team being kicked into action in the remote mountains of Northern Japan in the late 19th century that would somehow incriminate him? Not likely, is it? After all, we have the broken glasses which show what he is capable of. Not to mention the boy. So why didn't he? No clue. Was it just to show his subordinate warriors how weak he was?It's a pity Herve couldn't have fallen into lust with a young and attractive wife of a local French nobleman. It sure could have saved him a lot of travel time and expense.Basically, the story is no different (apart from cinematic exaggerations) than some happily married man developing a crush on and fantasizing about a local grocery store clerk. After all, the movie made it clear that his relationship with the "Japanese" exotic mystery woman went unconsummated. What a naive jerk. "I'm getting a little horny for some strange. Even though I haven't yet scored with her I think I'll go off on a month's long horrendously grueling and perilous trek, risking my life and livelihood at every moment and every turn and leave my young, horny, Keira-Knightley wife, who is avid to become with child, alone to stew in her desperately lonely bed during the dark and bleak nights of my interminably long absence; like none of the fathers of her pupils in this small village are going to notice her situation and seek numerous consultations, one-to-one with her, over their kids' "academic progress." And I'm going to journey to the far side of the Earth to the distant mountains of Japan where I can diddle around and not actually do anything with that exotic woman except possibly again wait for two days while I get nothing but stood up by her not appearing, at all, even once, like in those last two days. And as if she wasn't in a frighteningly dangerous liaison of her own: lethally dangerous to us both. But, you know, I kinda like that free chick she or her master pimped me. Hope I can get some of that again." Yep, total jerk; which by association implicates this movie.The second letter that was read by the madam was written in a too direct way betraying its non-Japanese orientation, and, as well, mimicked the earlier stated opinion of the madam. I thought the madam was making up the words she was saying and not telling the truth about what was written. A purveyor of commercial sex might be jealous of someone who had found something she no longer could ever find: a profound emotional attachment with a true lover (which in this case wasn't true because the infatuation was unconsummated). I figured Herve was going to have to get a second opinion about what was written in the letter which would be shocking and deeply moving. In fact, we have only the madam's word for what was contained in the letter. The madam, a woman who, by running a brothel, lived a life of lies and illusion dominated by commercial sex, may have found the true contents of the letter so contrary to her jaded world view that she felt compelled to lie to and somehow injure Herve, was what I was thinking. When he found out the truth we would be off on a journey now of passionate adventure and connection. I guess the movie was already supposed to be that. It wasn't.So when the letter was said by the madam (who could make up anything she wanted because no one else could verify what she said, she being the only person in the movie who could decipher the unreadable, cryptic Japanese) to be written by Helene I accepted that as the shocking and deeply moving aspect of the true meaning of the letter. But the story told by Herve to Ludovic may not be the true story. We have only the man-hating madam's words that it is so. And Herve is a man.
Strange, sleep-inducing misfire
posted on 21 Jun 2009I just saw this movie tonight. That director should be ashamed-especially since I loved the Red Violin. The pacing here was incredibly slow. Sllllllooooooowwwww. I don't require every movie to movie like a music video, but this was like the unabridged version of Les Miserables-60 pages of unnecessary exposition on something of no consequence to the story.For example, the Dutch Merchant? What happened to him? Why were we given that ominous clue if Herve did not try to find out what happened to him? That scene never should have been in the movie. Why did the Concubine slip him that note? Why were we told that detailed story of Ludovic's silent father? The boy and his mom were very minor characters.I also don't require movies to spell out everything for me, but this was certainly one of those adaptations where people who had not read the book were a bit lost. Even the central question of why Helene did what she did, and how she knew who he was obsessed with was never answered. And how did they both know to go to the Japanese prostitute? Alfred Molina's character must have had something to do with it? The childlessness and long illness seemed tacked on-if they had something to do with Helene's weird behavior, I could have accepted it. But this all seemed like a lot of strangeness in the 19th century.Maybe I'll read the book.
White man saves Asian women, again.
posted on 15 Jun 2009Wow, another movie in which the good-intentioned white man travels to Asia and meets a "mysterious and seductive" Asian woman who is bound by an evil and dominating Asian man. The trailer shows her naked in a pool of water, then contrasts that shot by showing the lead White woman clothed in another body of water. This belittlement of Asian women has been and continues to be offensive to the Asian American and Asian community, but I guess as long as "The Last Samurai" (or shall I say "White man saves Asian woman from her own culture")plot keeps selling tickets these movies will keep popping up. I'm just waiting until a Hollywood movie casts an Asian man as the lead and he travels to America and gets all the seductive white girls he can handle. Guess I wont hold my breath for that!
As bad as the book
posted on 09 Jun 2009The novel could not be more faithful to the novel than it is. It's overlong, boring (as was the very short book) : junk orientalism could define it best. No interest whatsoever. I wonder why someone would think of making a full length movie of something was would not have been worth a half hour t.v. show (even in that format it would have seemed too long). It's a pity, Keira Knightley is a good actress, I wonder what she is doing in this doomed enterprise of a movie that has all the shortcomings of this sort of movie, including void aestheticism. The director wants the spectators to leave the cinema thinking "The pictures were really beautiful" hoping they'll forget how empty and boring the whole movie is.
A happily married Frenchman must go to Japan on business and there, he meets an intriguing and beautiful woman...
posted on 09 Jun 2009This is a beautiful film.The story stays very close to the book I had already read twice (around 10 years ago then 6 months ago). The adaptation is faithful to the author, and even if there's not much words, the intensity of the feelings is always present. The actors convey these feelings very well, with deep sensitivity and great sensuality (just watch when Hervé is in the Japanese wooden tub, and the girl pours water on his face and lips with her fingers). The settings and sceneries are overwhelming: there's so much beauty-like the snow covered trees in Japan, the Joncour garden, ... François Girard had already shown how a fantastic Director he is with his 2 previous films, and now with Silk! He has such a strong aesthetic sense, and a great way to direct actors...
The best stories have no purpose.......
posted on 05 Jun 2009This is a story of romance but I think it's more so the romance an individual has with life. While the story revolves around and focuses on one character, the glimpse you get of those involved in his world seem to be having the same romance with life leaving our imaginations to wander into what was for all of them.It's just a very poetic film with no real purpose or message beyond the simple fact that life is meant to be lived as we need and desire. Every character seems to hold some sort of great and mysterious adventure that's left untold.This was a really amazing translation of literature and I can oddly say that without having read the book or script. There are very few films like this anymore and most of them seem to miss our attention so I can only hope my words compel those that read them to watch this beautiful tale of life without expectation or need.Life is beautiful, life is sad, life is dangerous-life is a mystery.....
It is sooooooo slow
posted on 03 Jun 2009that even my heart went down to 20 bits a minute. But, lets not forget the score. The composer just played a few random cords for 2 hours and... voilá, we had a complete movie!The best extras... the silk worms.I give it a 2 because the photography was OK, though I don't think this is enough reason to make a film of this caliber.If you feel like to have a very, very relaxing, boring movie session, by all means, go to see it.Blessings!ClearDawn*
Something
posted on 01 Jun 2009I have to claim that the silk is original from China. The most beautiful silk is in China as well.I felt shocked when I finally knew the secret. Sacrificed. Beloved. Betrayed. I even can't understand Japanese customs sometimes. On the other hand, maybe it's the different culture, Japan is not strange for me. According to the history, most of the culture are the same as Tang Dynasty. A fantastic love story. You can listen to the song "Story" from Maroon 5. The lyrics is quite match the plot. There are always different kinds of love that made you feel moved. It's the love that makes the world go around.
A man goes on a journey to retrieve silk eggs from Japan...
posted on 28 Apr 2009It was the worst movie that I saw at the Toronto Film Festival.Yes, there was some semblance of a story but after the "there and back again" storyline, it kind of gets a tad repetitive.I too find Michael Pitt quite a wooden actor. Kiera Knightley was better I suppose but she played such a minor role that you barely noticed her. The only actor that I really absolutely loved in this movie was Alfred Molina - he was probably the only actor that generated laughs from the audience.The cinematography was stunning though, that is in part why I chose to watch this movie. However like they say, it was all style but no substance.It's funny, about ten minutes or so before the movie ended, there was a scene that looked like the ending of the movie. The couple right beside me breathed a sigh of relief until the "ending" scene continued for another ten minutes. The couple then let out a whimper, "Isn't this movie going to EVER end?!?"
Nice try...
posted on 04 Apr 2009What a sad flop, with the best of intentions. The message to the viewer is overly clear, it shouts: this is an artistic, slow and sensuous movie, contrasting Oriental philosophy with Western greed for speed and immediate effects. Well, yes, we get this rather soon, and then we suffer through the rest… Perhaps slow movies are not exact equivalents of slow food, after all. There are some redemptive traits, though. The film could be see as an illustration of Joyce Carol Oates's observation that "prolonged happiness is a prison from which the self yearns to escape at any cost". People cannot stand a prolonged happiness, and the protagonist says so much himself. Another (attempt at) redemption: perhaps the movie is about the temptations of Orientalism typical for the era portrayed: the Western men, bored to tears, looking for any kind of adventure that the exotic Orient could offer them. Because if it is a love story, it is Hélène's love story, but if so, it is underdeveloped. The other "love story" is too ridiculous even to consider.Finally: it is true that seeing it in with a full screen can help; I have watched it as DVD, and although it was a very good screen, it could not reproduce the immersion effect possible on a large screen only.
Bad art
posted on 27 Feb 2009While I didn't expect action, I did expect something more than a slide show of boring travels. I wanted to like this movie, I really did. But it was self-conscious photography with nothing to recommend it except trying to be something it couldn't. The characters were poorly drawn and despite watching one scene three times, I was unable to determine which woman was taking off her clothes. The travels were monotonous and uneventful. I was not invested in the silk worm eggs in any way and should have been. Michael Pitt was badly miscast and Keira Knightly had little weight in what could have been a great role. When a movie contains as much narration as this one did, the viewer should not be left in the dark about important details. There was "trouble" in Japan. What kind of trouble? The Japanese trader's motives were unclear.
Like watching worms make silk.
posted on 11 Feb 2009The first thing one notices about this film is that Michael Pitt speaks in a verrrrry slow monotone. Then you realize that it is right in keeping with this dull, plodding, endlessly pretentious film. This movie is not only boring, it's exhausting. You're in Europe, then China, then Europe, then China. Someone's reading a letter, someone's playing billiards, then letter then billiards then flowers. STOP! Who is this film made for? The male lead is totally uninteresting. Even Keira Knightly suffers from the ennui of the script.It would seems that Mr. Pitt has a name and even a following. One can't imagine why. He looks like a thousand other Hans Brinker-type actors, has no discernible charisma and couldn't provide a single moment of depth to this character. But then everyone else was equally tiresome. I suspect that the director, not speaking English very well, encouraged all the actors to say their lines as slowly as possible. That's the only possible explanation for this synthetic fabrication.
What a bore
posted on 11 Feb 2009Can we really watch a movie lasting almost two hours just for its stunning cinematography and some glimpse of storytelling, or should it rather be the other way around? I think "Silk" proves that it is often impossible to adequately translate a deep, emotionally charged book into a credible and enjoyable movie. Personally, I just got terribly bored less than halfway through the movie. Yes, it is visually compelling. And yes, there are some fine moments in the acting, especially from Alfred Molina. But as a whole this leaves with quite a disappointing feeling in the viewer, the feeling that with all that money and resources and brilliant actors perhaps they could have come up with something a bit different. And a little less slow.
the scenes are beautiful great location and good acting and a very touching movie slick is a movie to see.
posted on 09 Feb 2009I must say that wen i heard that this movie was being made and when i heard that it came out i only said one thing i must see that movie .Based on the Alessandro Baricco's novel.set in the 19th Century the story is about Herve Joncour a married silkworm smuggler who travels around the world locking for the eggs that create silk. eventually he his sent to japan to smuggle the eggs and meets a beautiful Japanese girl and there is where Herve becomes obsess whit her...............................................................the movie is very well done the cinematography is Excellent the scenes are very beautiful and the actors are great.now for the people that have read the book not to fear this is a very fateful movie you will not be deceived i my self am fan of the book.For the people that like the movie new world go see this one it is a must see.this the first movie that i see of Francois girard had i must say that this wont bee the last movie that y will see of him. I am proud thou say that He is from Canada Quebec.
A disappointment
posted on 01 Feb 2009I'm always on the lookout for a film that'll appeal to both myself and my wife and this looked as if it would fit the bill . A romantic historical drama about risking ones life to enter Japan in turbulent times and loving two women should have been entertaining to both sexes . Unfortunately it wasn't and we had to fight the urge to turn it off . It begins with a beautiful Japanese girl in a hot spring and the cinematography from that point never ceases to be spectacular but the story flags terribly . Michael Pitt plays a young French veteran soldier with all the conviction of a sleepwalker and his lovely wife Helene played by Keira Knightly disappointingly lacks the dialogue or the direction to add some excitement to the work .I did learn something about silkworms as the Pitt's character agrees to journey to Japan and bring back healthy silkworms for the French silkworm industry but once in Japan the story flops . The young Frenchman falls in love with the concubine of a Japanese Samurai . Wehave no sense of passion between the two of them nor are we led to understand why on earth she wants him since he seems to be without personality .The piano background music is more irritating than sensual and the low key passionless conversations seem to prevail through the whole film . One wonders what on earth the director Francois Girard thought he was seeing when he directed this sleepy thing that I pretty well wasted two hours watching .
Japan as the West wishes it to be
posted on 04 Jan 2009A trader from Japan arrives in a small English village in the mid-19th century. He is not particularly handsome or charismatic, he can't even speak English, but the town leader's vivacious, sultry wife, played by Keira Knightley, falls in love with the Japanese man and urges him to take her away. Why? Because any Japanese man who turns up has to be better than what the British male has to offer. The Japanese man is haunted by a glimpse he caught of Keira naked, slowly immersing herself in river water. Finally, he realises it is all an illusion, and that the woman he truly loves is his recently deceased Japanese wife. His wife then replaces Keira in his dreams of the river, but decently clothed...You don't buy it, do you? Then why are we expected to swallow it in reverse? This is a lusciously shot, lyrical, understated piece of orientalist claptrap. Michael Pitt takes insipid to new levels, and Sei Ashina has to put up with a credit as 'The Girl,' probably because they couldn't get away with calling her 'Asian Eye Candy.' Not surprisingly, Sei Ashina is a newcomer - no experienced Japanese actress worth her salt would have taken on such a demeaning role. Ashina will forever live down her involvement in this film, I fear.This should have been a breakout film for the wonderful Miki Nakatani, but she is lost in a stilted role. Koji Yakusho is as forceful as ever, and as such is mis-cast - why would any woman leave this guy, especially for a simpering Eurobrat? The reveal at the end shows, ironically, the film this should have been. The woman wronged, the woman whose love should define this film, is Hélène. The whole thing should have been re-written from her perspective. Hervé's infatuation with a pretty girl he saw on his travels should have been just that, a minor issue in a great love story. Focussing on Hervé's delusional obsession is regrettable. Implying that the Japanese woman had reciprocal feelings is feeble-minded.In sum, great actors in cinematic locations and a story with bags of potential wasted by mindless Eurocentrics.
Lugubrious
posted on 11 Nov 2008This movie started well enough though I was quickly warned by the tedious piano music and lingering shots of nothing much happening that it was going to be more arty than exciting. The basic story about silkworms is very interesting but it is damaged by being slowed down almost to the point of stasis as the camera lingers tenderly on pretty scenes. There are some beautiful shots nonetheless. I didn't have too much problem with the lack of subtitles for the Japanese as I think the intention was that we should like anyone not knowing the language be waiting to understand...........Spoilers ........... this is the plot outline19th Century France. The French main character is sent to Japan to buy desperately needed silkworms. As these aren't supposed to be exported, he has to be very careful or he might be killed. He leaves his anxious wife and we see something of his long journey overland. In Japan gets his silkworms, then is excited by a local chief's concubine making eyes at him. She gives him a note which he eventually manages to get translated by a Japanese brothel owner lady back home in Lyon. It says she will die if he does not return to her. But "forget her, she won't die but you might" said the local Japanese lady wisely. Pity he doesn't take this wise advice, would have saved him a lot of heartache later.Of course he's delighted to be able to make another business trip to see the woman of his dreams and this time he has an adulterous night of love with her. Or at least I assume it was her because I thought the other woman in the room, the one who goes away after a bit, was the beloved and the one he gets off with was her servant! And the owner seems to know something of what's going on.... one starts to get a bit suspicious.Back again in France, he hears there's fighting in Japan and he insists on returning to find his girlfriend. He never gets to see her but it's implied probably OK. The chieftain threatens him, then orders him to clear off which he does.Home again he receives a lengthy letter in Japanese which the useful Japanese brothel lady (now in Paris) reads to him. What purpose her move to Paris served beats me. The camera crew missed the opportunity to dwell lingeringly on impressive Parisian architecture whilst the hero reportedly went from door to door throughout Paris to find her!! This pointless sequence does continue though into discovering what's in the letter.It's a moving love letter. But - postmarked Ostend..... How did it get there? And from there, how did anyone know where to find the hero in the middle of France? The hero's wife is dying - wastes away. After her death the hero finally works out what this love letter business is about. It was his wife who realised when he returned from his first journey that he was besotted with a woman in Japan. Both the letters originate from the wife, translated into Japanese by the brothel owner. Did the wife intend to get revenge on her husband by forcing him to realise he'd wasted his time on an uninterested concubine? The letters drive him to obsess over the concubine even more. Is that the wife's intention too? Make him more obsessed, a form of revenge, whilst expressing her own desperation in a love letter he only understands after she's dead? It's unfortunate the first, brief letter is given to the husband by the concubine so he gets completely the wrong impression. Possibly clear from the long love letter that his wife has realised her first ploy made matters worse. But so does her second letter. The concubine cared nothing for him - she was just following the orders of her owner to amuse him for a night since he clearly wanted her.The DVD cover informs us the wife realises her husband is in love with a woman in Japan. But nothing in the movie indicates this until we know the truth about the letters, after the wife's death. In the end, they all lose. The wife's dead. The husband's distraught with deserved remorse. An interesting theme. Pity the movie was so heavy going. I was driven to fast forwarding whenever possible.The acting was adequate but no more. The Japanese brothel owner was by far the most interesting character. I really couldn't imagine Kiera Knightley's character writing that long, tender love letter because Knightley didn't get much chance to act anything more than the frequently lonely wife who wasn't able to have children - almost a minor part whilst Pitt was on screen nearly all the time. I think it needed Knightley to make clear her character was grieving over her husband's passion for the other woman - or vengeful. But there was nothing. The wife was a boring character. The movie needed less lingering scenery shots and contemplating music and more depth in the acting from everyone. I worked out the denouement a little before we got to it and wasn't very moved as the acting hadn't been strong enough to get me really interested.Worth watching once but you may fastforward quite a bit as I was driven to do.
Train Wreck
posted on 26 Oct 2008This movie was a complete train wreck, it seemed to be in shambles from the very beginning. The story was quite boring, the acting was mediocre at best, and the images were stale. Many people are saying the images were beautiful, but I would completely disagree. This film is trying to be overly artsy and ends up detracting from the potential of some of the scenes. If you are searching for a beautifully shot film, may I suggest something like House of Flying Daggers or Hero. As far as acting goes, even Keira Knightley's performance was disappointing. As seen in the Jacket, Knightley's American accent just does not seem to work and ends up being distracting from her performance, coupled with the weak script the film just begins to flop. This movie just falters on so many levels, has some serious plot holes and fails to connect on any level. I have not read the book and many people seem to say that you should read the book before watching this film, but purely as a stand alone movie this film just does not work.
A wise masterpiece.
posted on 30 Aug 2009In 1862 France, a small town mayor's son marries an exquisite young woman. Soon after, he's hired by a silk merchant to travel thousands of miles by carriage, train, caravan, ship and horseback to buy silkworm eggs in a remote mountain village in Japan – an isolated nation torn apart by warlords and hostile to Westerners. Although he has a beautiful and loving wife awaiting his return, he becomes obsessed with the lovely young concubine of a powerful Japanese feudal baron. His choice, love or desire. However, in real life neither of these beauties would give the mayor's son the time of day because he's a lethargic, vacuous, sleepwalking, unkempt zombie. Fortunately, the gorgeous wife, concubine, prostitute and cinematography overcome this egregious miscasting and make the film a wise masterpiece.