The Japanese Wife

Film: 'The Japanese Wife':
 Starring: Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Chigusa Takaku, Moushumi Chatterjee; Written & Directed by Aparna Sen; Rating: ***1/2

The final lap in this lyrical but contrived tale of unfufilled love shows two women coming together after the tragic death of the man they both loved. One, the Japanese wife of the title, the other a silent widow of meagre means.
By then it's too late. 'The Japanese Wife' has lost its claims to its director's fame.
This story of a long-distance 'marriage' between a Bengali bhadra-lok from rural Bengal Snehmoy (Rahul Bose) and his Japanese pen-pal Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) suffers from an incurable disease known as Inherent Silliness. Based on a true story by Kunal Basu, this is the ultimate non-romance between two people who thoroughly deserve each other.
They're both so annoying and outdated in their naivete, you see! The couple married to each other for over 15 years never meets and barely speaks to each other on the phone a few times (talk about phoney relationships, this one takes the cake). When Miyage falls ill in Japan Snehmoy goes to the doctor in Kolkata with her medical reports. The doc's expression when he hears why the patient can't come personally to be examined is exactly the way we feel about this long-distance marriage.