Tragedy of W (1984)

What is the Price of Stardom?

This film does really well in creating a parallel between Shizuka's life and the play she's a part of and eventually stars in. The people in her life all mimic the characters in the play as well, though some roles are switched around, like with Kikuchi taking on the "role" of Hajima's character at the end with trying to kill the person who took away the thing she cared about the most, and with Shizuka taking on the "role" of Mako's character with the character's life imitating her own.

The movie has some wonderful cinematography moments, such as in the hallway with bright red carpeting and eerie lighting just before Shizuka got caught up in the very thing that both shoots her to stardom and becomes her downfall, as well as the two times she's holding the bouquet of flowers--the first time after her breakdown of how she'd do anything to make it to stardom, and the second time after she realizes that achieving stardom at the price that she paid wasn't worth it in the end.

All of this is to say that the film captures the drastic lengths actors will go to in order to achieve stardom, even at the cost of their own wellbeing and others, in an eye-catching and intriguing way.

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