{ "id": "ep8j11zx8z", "slug": "confessions-among-actresses", "title": "Confessions Among Actresses", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s", "label": "Drama films 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s.yr-1970-1974", "label": "Released 1970 to 1974", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s.yr-1970-1974" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Confessions Among Actresses (告白的女優論, Kokuhakuteki joyuron) is a 1971 Japanese drama by Yoshishige Yoshida, produced by Gendai Eigasha and distributed by Japan ATG, starring Ruriko Asaoka, Mariko Okada, and Ineko Arima as actresses facing private traumas two days before filming a movie of the same title.", "snippet": "Confessions Among Actresses (告白的女優論, Kokuhakuteki joyuron) is a 1971 Japanese drama by Yoshishige Yoshida, produced by Gendai Eigasha and distributed by Japan ATG, starring Ruriko Asaoka, Mariko Okada, and Ineko Arima as actresses facing private traumas two days before filming a movie of the same title.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1970s.yr-1970-1974", "markdown": "# Confessions Among Actresses\n\n**Confessions Among Actresses** (*Kokuhakuteki joyūron*, 告白的女優論; French title *Aveux, théories, actrices*) is a 1971 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, in which three actresses preparing to appear in a film with the same title confront the secrets and traumas of their private lives in the two days before shooting begins.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) • [2](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA70884151) It was produced by Gendai Eigasha and distributed by Japan ATG (the Art Theatre Guild), opening in Japan on 18 December 1971.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writers | Directed by Yoshishige Yoshida; screenplay by Yoshida and Masahiro Yamada[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) |\n| Release | 18 December 1971, Japan; distributed by Japan ATG[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) |\n| Runtime and format | 124 minutes (some sources list 126 minutes); color, 35mm, standard 1:1.37 aspect ratio[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) • [4](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/143814) |\n| Lead cast | Ruriko Asaoka as Aki Kaido, Mariko Okada as Shoko Ichimori, Ineko Arima as Makiko Isaku[5](https://wod.wowow.co.jp/watch/169279) |\n| Key crew | Music Toshi Ichiyanagi; cinematography Motokichi Hasegawa; art direction Setsu Asakura[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) |\n| Production | Gendai Eigasha (現代映画社)[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) |\n| Home video | Included in the 2005 Geneon box set *The Yoshida Yoshishige Collection [68–73]: The Season of Sex and Politics*; released on DVD by Shochiku Home Video in 2013[2](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA70884151) • [6](https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-10-4988105067653) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise and structure\n\nThe film asks what an actress is. Its three protagonists, Aki Kaido, Shoko Ichimori, and Makiko Isaku, are cast in a new film titled *Confessions Among Actresses* and are due to begin shooting on the Saturday two days later.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) The story follows their lives in that interval, with three narratives running in parallel.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/)\n\nEach actress carries a heavy private burden. Aki, still on location in Izu for the final shoot of her previous film, is haunted by a sexual trauma and is accompanied by Kyoko, her attendant and high school classmate, whose shared past with Aki holds a secret.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) • [5](https://wod.wowow.co.jp/watch/169279) Shoko claims she has lost her voice on the eve of the shoot, exasperating her longtime manager Minakawa.[5](https://wod.wowow.co.jp/watch/169279) Makiko once attempted a double suicide with her stepfather, her mother's remarried husband, and survived alone.[5](https://wod.wowow.co.jp/watch/169279) In their daily lives away from acting, friends and colleagues serve as listeners for each woman: Kyoko for Aki, the manager for Shoko, and the costume designer Nobu for Makiko.[7](https://img-lib.musabi.ac.jp/search/document/detail-work/11304)\n\nThe film closes with interviews of the three actresses, after episodes alternating between the three protagonists.[8](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471/reviews/209105522)\n\n## Cast and crew\n\nThe three leads were established stars who staked their own careers and screen images on the film's confessional theme: Ruriko Asaoka, Mariko Okada, and Ineko Arima.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) The supporting cast includes Isao Kimura as Director Nose, Rentaro Mikuni as the manager Minakawa, Miyoko Akaza as Kyoko, Kiwako Taichi as Rie, Yumeji Tsukioka as Makiko's mother, Yusuke Kawazu as a high school teacher, and Yoshio Harada.[5](https://wod.wowow.co.jp/watch/169279) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066941/fullcredits/)\n\nBehind the camera, Yoshida produced the film with Sei Okamura, Junya Katsumata, and Keiji Isoda, and wrote the screenplay with Masahiro Yamada, the same pairing as on his earlier *Purgatory of Heroes* (*Rengoku Eroika*).[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) • [1](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066941/fullcredits/) Motokichi Hasegawa shot the film, Setsu Asakura designed the sets, Shirō Watanabe edited it, and the avant-garde composer [Toshi Ichiyanagi](https://www.edgepedia.org/toshi-ichiyanagi) wrote the score; costumes were credited to Mitsuhiro Matsuda and Hanae Mori.[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066941/fullcredits/)\n\n## Style and themes\n\nYoshida, a leading figure of the Shochiku Nouvelle Vague alongside Nagisa Oshima and Masahiro Shinoda, had by 1971 become a driving force of the Art Theatre Guild's golden period, and the film is an inquiry into the movie star as a figure.[10](https://popmaster.jp/movie/kokuhakuteki/) Japanese commentary describes it as a farewell and a song of praise addressed to a declining film industry, made with a sense of attachment to and parting from the actress as a movie star.[11](https://www.cinemavera.com/preview.html?no=296) • [12](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/204992/-/01)\n\nThe film's method is self-referential without breaking the frame of fiction. A Hokkaido University doctoral study of Yoshida's work notes that he has actresses play actresses, strips realism from the dialogue, and pushes speech into excessive, almost comic-book verbosity, so that the fictiveness of performance itself is foregrounded; Yoshida himself described his aim as wanting to triple-layer the fictiveness of the actresses, of the film, and of his own everyday life.[13](https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/repo/huscap/all/96050/Zhu_Yila.pdf) Confessional scenes carrying an air of documentary are interspersed with conventionally staged moments, and the combination of Yoshida's visual composition with jagged, deliberately conspicuous editing produces a swirl of disparate realities; the American repertory calendar The Beacon has described the film as something like Yoshida's response to [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman)'s *Persona*.[14](https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/confessions-among-actresses)\n\nA personal dimension underlies the project: Yoshida was married in real life to Mariko Okada, one of the three leads, and the film is his essay on the actress conducted through the medium of cinema itself.[10](https://popmaster.jp/movie/kokuhakuteki/)\n\n## Release and availability\n\nThe film opened in Japan on 18 December 1971 on the ATG distribution line, rated as a general-audience film.[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) The National Film Archive of Japan holds a 35mm theatrical release print of 11,148.05 feet with an optical sound track.[15](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=84065)\n\nIt later reached home video: the 2005 Geneon box set *The Yoshida Yoshishige Collection [68–73]: The Season of Sex and Politics* included it as one of six discs, and Shochiku Home Video issued a standalone DVD in its *Ano Koro Eiga* (Films of Those Days) Shochiku DVD collection on 27 November 2013.[2](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA70884151) • [6](https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-10-4988105067653) In Japan it has also been available on WOWOW On Demand and by mail-order rental through TSUTAYA DISCAS.[16](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471/vod)\n\n## Reception\n\nOn IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.9 out of 10 from 293 user votes.[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066941/) Japanese aggregate scores are moderate: Kinenote users give it 63.0 points from 41 ratings, and Filmarks users 3.4 out of 5 from 215 reviews.[3](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624) • [18](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471) Viewer commentary commonly praises the visual design while finding the narrative demanding; one Filmarks reviewer calls it an experimental, problematic work that exposes the private side of a glamorous profession, and another notes that the story is hard to follow despite the consistently fine imagery.[18](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471)\n\n## References\n\n1. [告白的女優論 : 作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/36462/)\n2. [告白的女優論, CiNii Books (Geneon 2005 DVD record)](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA70884151)\n3. [告白的女優論 - 作品情報・映画レビュー, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=19624)\n4. [告白的女優論 (1971), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/143814)\n5. [告白的女優論, WOWOWオンデマンド](https://wod.wowow.co.jp/watch/169279)\n6. [あの頃映画 松竹DVDコレクション 告白的女優論, 紀伊國屋書店](https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-10-4988105067653)\n7. [告白的女優論, 武蔵野美術大学 美術館・図書館 イメージライブラリー](https://img-lib.musabi.ac.jp/search/document/detail-work/11304)\n8. [告白的女優論のmasahitotenmaの映画レビュー, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471/reviews/209105522)\n9. [Confessions Among Actresses (1971) - Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066941/fullcredits/)\n10. [『告白的女優論』（1971）徹底解説, POP MASTER](https://popmaster.jp/movie/kokuhakuteki/)\n11. [シネマヴェーラ渋谷 program notes](https://www.cinemavera.com/preview.html?no=296)\n12. [告白的女優論, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/204992/-/01)\n13. [朱 依拉『吉田喜重作品研究』北海道大学博士学位論文 (2020)](https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/repo/huscap/all/96050/Zhu_Yila.pdf)\n14. [CONFESSIONS AMONG ACTRESSES, The Beacon](https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/confessions-among-actresses)\n15. [国立映画アーカイブ所蔵映画フィルム検索システム: 告白的女優論](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=84065)\n16. [告白的女優論の動画配信サービスまとめ, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471/vod)\n17. [Confessions Among Actresses (1971), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066941/)\n18. [告白的女優論のレビュー・感想・評価, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/37471)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1970s › Released 1970 to 1974*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Confessions Among Actresses\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Confessions Among Actresses](https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses](https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Confessions Among Actresses\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-among-actresses. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Confessions Among Actresses is a 1971 Japanese drama by Yoshishige Yoshida, produced by Gendai Eigasha and distributed by Japan ATG, starring Ruriko Asaoka, Mariko Okada, and Ineko Arima as actresses facing private traumas two days before filming a movie of the same title." }