Based on the autobiographical novel by Toshio Shimao, this is the story of the author (Ittoku Kishibe) teaching and writing in post-war Japan, struggling in poverty but still finding time to have an affair, which ruins his wife (Keiko Matsuzaka), who threatens suicide and even loses their children to her parents as they try to save anything that is left from their union.

This is a gorgeous film but very hard to watch as it is so emotionally raw. Director Kohei Oguri has only made six movies yet each of them are very well-reviewed; this won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Shimao was to be a kamikaze in World War II before the fighting stopped. He met his wife, a Catholci, and converted, as this movie’s title is based on 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God!” He really did choose to live with his wife in a mental hospital and then moved from the city to a smaller town to attempt to fix their marriage.

The Radiance Film release of this movie comes with a documentary on the Japanese film renaissance of the 1990s featuring interviews with Kohei Oguri, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Kaneto Shindo and others; an interview with film scholar Hideki Maeda; new English subtitles; a trailer; a limited edition booklet featuring a newly translated interview with director Kohei Oguri and full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings. Yu can get The Sting of Death from MVD.