Rude to Love

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HASE Momoko (EGUCHI Noriko) is a housewife leading what seems like a pleasant life: a former office worker who now works part-time as a soap maker, she dresses well, keeps her house in tip-top condition, and pours herself into taking good care of her husband Mamoru (KOIZUMI Kotaro). On top of all this, she endeavours to get along with her mother-in-law (FUBUKI Jun), who also lives on the property and has a rather stress-inducing image of the ideal daughter-in-law.

Despite these efforts to live a perfect life, however, Momoko is gradually dragged into negativity, her feelings tainted by frustration towards the many goings-on around her: her mother-in-law’s assistance just feels like overattachment, her husband is indifferent to her expressions of affection, her unruly neighbours keep dirtying the apartment by leaving rubbish nearby… Her irritation reaches boiling point when she discovers that Mamoru is having an affair, and finally Momoko is driven to insanity.

Unnerving and suspenseful, Rude to Love is an incisive unmasking of the madness that lurks within everyday life, studying the gradual and painful breakdown of a once-thriving marriage through a gripping human drama that explores the line between affection and self-righteous obsession.

Based on the original novel Shuichi Yoshida "Rude to Love" published by Shinchosha.

© 2013 Shuichi Yoshida/Shinchosha © 2024 "Rude to Love" Film Production Committee

Screening as part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025, under this year's theme Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema