MovieChat Forums > Ôdishon (2000) Discussion > So was it all just a misunderstanding? S...

So was it all just a misunderstanding? Spoiler Alert.

posted 13 years ago by SonnyCarson
5 replies | jump to latest

Finally got the "courage" to watch Audition. Enjoyed it a lot, everything from its surrealism to its unconventional plot development.

I've read some enlightening threads here but I have a question that is still unanswered: What was the real motive of Asami's sudden change of heart and decision to torture Aoyama?

It didn't seem like she had planned it from the beginning. It seemed like she decided to do what she did only when she saw the picture of Aoyama's wife. This and the fact that she later chastises him for his unfaithfulness to her and exploitation of her made me believe that she did what she did based on a misunderstanding: Basically, she thought that he had a wife and was just using her. Also, she might've believed that he was using his influence in the fake movie to use her as well since she wanted the acting role. During the end, I found this really ironic because while she was thinking and saying this and telling him that "you men are all the same", Aoyama, the man who was actually interested in her as a person and wanted to marry her, was being tortured for exactly the opposite reason.

I guess that the case that he deserved some kind of punishment can be made since he did decieve her with a fake audition, but the punishment obviously didnt fit his crime in the end.

So anyway, was it all just an ironic misunderstanding or was Asami a sociopath who planned the whole thing from the beginning?

"A great movie is one in which truth and spectacle are gracefully blended."

[–] Grethiwha 13 years ago

I just finished watching this for the first time and thought it (what was real and what was not) was pretty unambiguous, but looking through some of these threads, maybe it's not?: The way I took it, Asami was just a shy girl who didn't get out much - all the scenes with Asami and Aoyama were genuine, while the scenes with her by the telephone and the man-bag (and maybe some other bits) were not real - they were merely setting up for the long dream sequence which begins when he wakes up alone in the hotel room. In his nightmare perhaps his fear/guilt regarding remarrying or regarding the whole audition thing manifest themselves in her in a way that fits scary-well with her quiet personality and some of the things she's said. When he wakes up and realises it was all a dream, it was nonetheless vivid enough that he can no longer separate that Asami from the real Asami, and is now extremely trepidatious at having proposed to her. When he goes back to sleep, the dream picks up where it left off, so this will probably continue to haunt him, unfortunately for both him and the real Asami.

So my answer is, in the context of the dream, [his subconcious / the dream-Asami] was punishing him for [the fake audition / deceiving her with the fake audition], and/or for [remarrying / being married in a misunderstanding]. Also, in the context of a dream, the question (especially in the way you've worded it - with focus on Asami and not on his subconcious) doesn't really matter much.

But maybe there are other valid interpretations in which the question is relevant? I dunno. I feel like I understood the movie well enough, but writing this post has made my head hurt a bit, especially since I was gonna go into trying to articulate my understanding of what dreams are and how some of the things like Aoyama's friend finding something "off" about her and her not wanting him to visit her at the restaurant would influence the dream, and... aghh... I should stop while I'm still semi-coherent. :)

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[–] Demarates 12 years ago

I like this interpretation of it all just being his own imagination and that his guilt combined with his friends' skepticism is playing tricks on him.

Much more believable than the alternative, really.

When I'm gone I would like something to be named after me. A psychiatric disorder, for example.

[–] flurryturryplop 11 years ago

This also seems the most logical to me. But I guess it was intentionally ambigious. Which makes the movie linger on in your mind more, and makes you search on the internet for the right answer.

[–] Mandy_Whitsands 13 years ago

when was Aoyama unfaithful??

[–] naak00 12 years ago

For me Asami did plan this from the beggining.

1)I never felt sympathy for her not getting the lead role. She was never sad for example
2) She keeps saying "i never really thought i would take the role"
3) She is not an actor or something. Just an ex ballet dancer
4) She kept for 18 months a man in a sack and fed him vomit

In case we are not satisfied from the director's opinion of all this being a dream (i am not) the on screen saying clearly point to the planning.