Mark Reviews Movies: WIFE OF A SPY

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 16, 2021

At first, the central debate of Wife of a Spy seems to be between patriotism and a dedication to deeper, more human virtues. Co-writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film constantly evolves, though, both in terms of its twisty plotting and, more importantly, in terms of what actually matters to these characters, to this conflict, and to some greater sense of history, politics, and morality.

The story, set mostly in the Japanese city of Kobe, seems fairly straightforward at the start of Kurosawa, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, and Tadashi Nohara. We meet a married couple: wife Satoko (Yû Aoi) and husband Yusaku (Issey Takahashi). He runs a company involved in the international trading of goods, but it's 1940. As the world war spreads, Yusaku's business opportunities are dwindling, as the government hunts for foreign spies.

The husband takes a business trip with his nephew Fumio (Ryota Bando), leaving Satoko to enjoy her well-to-do life, await her husband, and catch up with Taiji (Masahiro Higashide), an old friend who has recently been promoted to oversee a military police unit. When Yusaku returns, Satoko becomes increasingly suspicious. Her husband is hiding something. It might have to do with a woman who, unknown to Satoko, returned with Yusaku—and has been murdered.

That mystery is the basic setup to a tale that gradually and thoughtfully expands to examine matters of loyalty to a country that is engaging in atrocities, the price one can and should be willing to pay to perform a moral good, and the dichotomy of a marriage in which each partner discovers the secrets, lies, and true nature of the other. Yusaku does possess a secret—one that could turn the tide of the war against Japan—and wants to reveal it to the world. Satoko, who is comfortable with her life and romantic about the notion of having an adventure, may or may not agree with him—or might not care at all, except for what she has to gain.

Kurosawa offers some methodical scenes of suspense, captured in long takes and wide shots. The core of Wife of a Spy, though, is watching these two characters, as one devotes himself to a greater cause and the other only plays at it, for her own amusement and benefit. As the plot turns, the ultimate question here seems to be whether one can betray something or someone undeserving of loyalty.

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