2.5 stars (out of 4)

Released 2015

Divorce in mid-1800s Edo, Japan was the topic of the opening night film at this year’s Toronto Japanese Film Festival on Thursday. Apparently there was a formal process for women of the time to exit an unhappy marriage, although it basically involved renouncing all possessions and living in as if in a nunnery for 2 years.

The movie featured many female roles, and the women were generally portrayed as being stronger, braver, and smarter than the men.

And yet, the tales were still mostly told through the eyes of the medic, a male. Because the narrative was fragmented into several storylines, we didn’t get an in-depth look at what each of the women went through first-hand at the temple. In particular, I would have liked to have seen more of the friendship that developed between Jogo and O-Gin.