In 1969 Masahiro Shinoda was the most contemporary of Japanese filmmakers, yet, like Mizoguchi, he shared the sense of fatality-in particular, the fatal sense of eroticism-that haunts the 18th century plays of Chikamatsu. In adopting Chikamatsu's puppet drama, The Love Suicides at Ten No Amijima, to the screen, Shinoda could afford to be more than faithful to the original and still be true to his modern sensibilities. The conflict between passion and duty is played out in the tale of Jihei, a merchant of paper products, and Koharu, a courtesan for whom he would give up his business, his wife and children, and ultimately, his life. As there is no chance of them being together in this world, Jihei tries to persuade Koharu to join him in suicide. She is unwilling but he is inexorable; their final lovemaking scene takes place in a cemetery. Shinoda retains the sense of the puppet drama throughout: the black-clad puppet handlers of the traditional Bunraku doll drama are present to manipulate the action, although as the tragedy unfolds we see their growing anguish at their own helplessness to thwart the fate of the lovers. In the Bunraku tradition of using one doll's face for the young women in the drama, Shima Iwashita portrays (stunningly) both Koharu and Osan, Jihei's wife, who attempts to save her suicide-bound husband's life at all costs. Shinoda emphasizes the artificiality of the drama at all times and still, with its overtly erotic and highly surrealistic pull, Double Suicide affects us much as the story of Jihei, Koharu and Osan seems to affect the masked puppet handlers: their enforced silence and mounting despair mirror our own.