Odd Obsession

{{Infobox film

| name = Odd Obsession

| image = Odd Obsession poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical poster

| director = Kon Ichikawa

| producer = Hiroaki Fujii
Masaichi Nagata

| writer = Keiji Hasebe
Kon Ichikawa
Natto Wada

| based_on = {{based on|The Key|Jun'ichirō Tanizaki}}

| starring = Machiko Kyō
Tatsuya Nakadai
Nakamura Ganjirō II
Jun Hamamura

| music = Yasushi Akutagawa

| cinematography = Kazuo Miyagawa

| editing = Hiroaki Fujii

| studio = Daiei Film

| distributor = Daiei Film

| released = {{film date|1959|6|23|Japan|df=yes}}

| runtime = 107 minutes

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese

}}

{{nihongo|Odd Obsession|鍵|Kagi|{{lit|The Key}}}} is a 1959 Japanese satirical{{cite news|title=Japan Society Reintroduces the Filmmaker Kon Ichikawa |last=Hale |first=Mike |date=15 October 2015 |work=The New York Times |access-date=26 June 2023 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/movies/japan-society-reintroduces-the-filmmaker-kon-ichikawa.html}} comedy drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It is based on the 1956 novel The Key by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.{{cite web|url=http://sp.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=26307&key_search=%E9%8D%B5 |title=鍵 |language=ja |publisher=Kinema Junpo |access-date=27 December 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%8D%B5-43448 |title=鍵 |language=ja |publisher=Kotobank |access-date=27 December 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1959/ci002800.htm |title=鍵 |publisher=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=26 June 2023}}

Plot

Art historian Kenji Kenmochi is married to the much younger Ikuko. Due to his waning virility, he has his doctor give him hormone injections. In addition, he tries to awaken the interest of his daughter Toshiko's fiancé, assistant doctor Kimura, in Ikuko, convinced that his jealousy will bring his manliness back. Ikuko agrees to the plan, as she has developed a genuine interest in Kimura. However, Kimura's main ambition for becoming part of the Kenmochi family is financing his continued studies with Kenji's money. Kenji eventually dies of a heart failure, an effect of his hormone injections.

After the funeral, Ikuko, Toshiko and Kimura plan to live together, although it isn't clear with which woman – or both – Kimura will be sleeping. As they begin their new life with a post-funeral meal, Toshiko tries to poison her mother's tea, not realizing that the poison insecticide powder had been switched with harmless household cleanser in their respective containers. As Toshiko awaits her mother's death from the poison tea, the family maid Hana poisons them all using the actual insecticide. Later the detectives read Ikuko's diary and, thereby discovering the incestuous love quadrangle, ascribe all three deaths to suicide, despite Hana's confession.

Cast

Machiko Kyō as Ikuko Kenmochi
Nakamura Ganjirō II as Kenji Kenmochi
Junko Kanō as Toshiko Kenmochi
Tatsuya Nakadai as Kimura
Jun Hamamura as Dr. Sōma
Tanie Kitabayashi as Hana
Mayumi Kurata as Koike
Kyū Sazanka as Curio dealer
Ichirō Sugai as Masseur
Mantarō Ushio as Dr. Kodama

Production

For the film, Ichikawa and his co-writers Natto Wada and Keiji Hasebe added a character not in the book, housemaid Hana, who in the finale (again not in the book) poisons Ikuko, Toshiko and Kimura.{{cite book|title=From Book to Screen: Modern Japanese Literature in Films |first=Keiko I. |last=McDonald |year=2000 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=9780765603876}}

Awards

Odd Obsession was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.{{cite web |url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/kagi/ |title=Kagi |access-date=26 June 2023 |work=Festival de Cannes}} It also received the 1960 Samuel Goldwyn International Award.{{cite web|title=Odd Obsession |url=http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/film/24687 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215203317/http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/film/24687 |date= |archive-date=15 December 2009 |access-date=26 June 2023 |website=The Hollywood Foreign Press Association}}