Fear and Trembling (Stupeur et tremblements) (2003, Alain Corneau)

I rented this movie from the library. It is about a a Belgian women who was born and partly raised in Japan returning to work for a year at a large corporation. Amelie has a hard time fitting into Japanese corporate culture, and most of her co-workers are not helping her. It was an interesting movie. I do no know much about Japanese culture. This movie almost exclusively takes place in the office. From the movie I gather that honor and duty are very important.

It was a fun movie but was also depressing. From the limited information I could find out about the movie it seems this was adapted from a book and it was semi-autobiographical (but don’t quote me on that). This would be a very long way to spend a year of one’s life.

The movie had it’s fun parts with some humor to lighten the mood. This sequence brought a smile to my face:

Overall I would recommend the movie. It was an interesting look at the way Japanese workplaces might have looked like in the early 90’s. It is much different from my office – that is for sure!

Have you ever seen this movie? What did you think about it?