Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon – 88 Films

Director: Shōgorō Nishimura
Screenplay: Kazuo Nishida
Starring: Kazuko Shirakawa, Maki Nanjō, Tatsuya Hamaguchi, Makiko Tsunoda, Ikunosuke Koizumi, Soichiro Maeno
Country: Japan
Running Time: 64 min
Year: 1971
BBFC Certificate: 18

I already wrote about the birth and development of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno films in my recent review of Woods Are Wet but, realising that the other title 88 Films are putting out this month from the line, Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon, was the first Roman Porno the studio released, I figured I should repeat its history here. I probably should have done my research and watched the films in the correct order, but never mind.

With Japanese film studios struggling to keep up with the popularity of television and imported films during the late 60s, they began to get desperate for ways to reach audiences and keep above water (one of the major studios even went bankrupt).

One set of films that was doing well at the time though was the ‘pinku eiga’ (pink films) genre. These were low-budget independent titles featuring sex and/or nudity. Nikkatsu, known for their action films which were then floundering, figured they could produce something similar to the pinku eiga but with the polish a big studio would allow, to help the films stand out from the crowd. And so, the ‘Roman Porno’ line was born.

Nikkatsu made around 1,100 Roman Pornos during the 17-year period that they shifted production almost solely to them. They were one of the major Japanese studios back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, so the decision was unprecedented. Imagine MGM suddenly deciding to only make softcore porn films.

This decision meant that a lot of directors left the company. However, that opened the door to young, hungry, up-and-coming directors to take up the mantle.

The directors were given a lot of freedom too, so long as they fulfilled a few key requirements. The budget must be between 7.5 to 10 million Yen, the film must run somewhere close to 70 minutes, it must be shot in colour, it must have dialogue dubbed in the studio and there must be a sex scene every ten minutes. Other than that, the filmmakers could do what they like. So, giving fresh-faced directors this level of creative freedom meant that a lot of interesting and exciting films were made amongst the standard fare. It just so happened that the films had to be full of sex scenes.

Being the first Roman Porno, Apartment Wife was a hugely important film for Nikkatsu, as it tested the waters for their bold move. If it would have failed, they may have moved in a different direction or gone bust. The film was a hit though and even spawned over 20 sequels.

Apartment Wife was made before Deep Throat and the Emmanuelle films too, so could be seen as being quite influential in bringing sexually explicit films to the mainstream on a worldwide scale.

The plot for Apartment Wife is a relatively simple and (now) very familiar one that has more than a flavour of Belle de Jour about it. It revolves around a working-class housewife named Ritsuko (Kazuko Shirakawa), who feels sexually unsatisfied in her marriage. Seeking fulfilment, she engages in an extramarital affair with an old flame.

However, Ritsuko’s secret life takes a dark turn when a female brothel owner discovers her activities. The brothel owner blackmails Ritsuko into becoming a prostitute. As Ritsuko navigates this dangerous world, she begins to question her own desires, morality, and the constraints of her traditional role as a wife.

I find it difficult to review Apartment Wife I’m afraid as it’s almost 50% made up of sex scenes. Critiquing these is difficult without sounding sleazy. I will say, however, that these sequences, bar a couple of problematic scenes of abuse, are much more arousing than those in Woods Are Wet. Clearly director Shōgorō Nishimura is more interested in titillating than shocking.

However, whilst made by a largely male production team for a largely male audience and obviously using women’s sexuality to excite, Apartment Wife was quite groundbreaking for showing women as sexual beings with their own desires and impulses.

Nishimura reportedly had the idea for the film after watching a TV interview with a woman, shot behind frosted glass, where she admitted to having had an affair. The film speaks out for these frustrated women, subjugated to a life trapped in a little box for most of their adult lives, catering to the needs of a husband who was rarely there.

In her commentary on this disc, Irene Gonzalez-Lopez also describes how she feels the film associates sexual desire with consumerism and both as being the route to moral downfall. So there’s substance to mine should you feel so inclined.

With increased budgets and access to well-equipped studios, Roman Pornos had higher production than their pink film counterparts. This shows in Apartment Wife as it’s quite beautifully shot with soft, warm lighting and some bold colours, bringing the best out of the erotic sequences. Most notably, there’s a striking montage in the middle of the film where Ritsuko’s exploits are shown in tableaux against a clean backdrop that changes colour with each change of partner/position.

All films in Japan had to get past the Eirin censorship board before being released though. This was quite strict back then when it came to nudity, which is why the Roman Porno films had to feature ‘creative’ ways of hiding the pubic area. The censorship techniques in Apartment Wife are certainly more subtle and artful than those in Woods Are Wet, which are perhaps purposefully drawing attention to themselves.

I liked the music in the film too. It’s quite unusual in places, mixing abstract jazz with moody, sexy cues. Interestingly, music isn’t used in all the love scenes though. It’s occasionally left out to make some, particularly those with Ritsuko’s husband, feel less pleasurable.

I also appreciated how short the film was. This, when added to the sex scene quota, meant that the story had to be told incredibly efficiently. I wish we had more 60-70 minute films these days rather than the ever-inflated, over-complicated affairs we tend to see hit cinemas. I appreciate a good epic now and again but sometimes you want a quick bit of no-nonsense fun.

So, whilst it might look like nothing more than a classy but generic softcore drama on the surface, Apartment Wife: Affair in the Afternoon was quite an important and groundbreaking film in its time. Made with a measure of artistry and welcome narrative economy, it’s recommended to anyone with an interest in adult films.

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