The Cherry Orchard
櫻の園
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Girls' school drama club before curtain — first loves and rumours in two hours of real time.
Every year on 14 April, the anniversary of its founding, the drama club of Oka Academy, a private girls' high school, performs Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. The film follows the two hours or so before the curtain goes up, almost in real time, and never leaves the school.
That morning the club's president, Yuko Shimizu, who has always done as she was told, arrives with a permanent wave, which the school forbids. The second-year stage manager, Kaori Jomaru, has been in the club room early with her boyfriend. As the members drift in and chat, word spreads that Noriko Sugiyama, who plays the valet Yasha, was picked up by the police the night before with students from another school who were smoking, and that the performance may be cancelled. While the teachers meet, Noriko turns up and tells Yuko she was only caught up with the others and did not smoke herself. The club's adviser, Ms Satomi, pleads for the play at the staff meeting, in tears, the girls hear, and the performance is allowed to go ahead.
Noriko, who is devoted to Yuko, asks her whether the perm was for Chiyoko Kurata. Chiyoko, tall and admired by the younger girls, has always played men; now she is to play Madame Ranevskaya, her first woman's part, and she is frightened. She does not feel womanly, she tells Yuko, and had half hoped the play would be cancelled. Yuko encourages her. Alone together before the performance, they run their lines and pose for a photograph to remember the day. Yuko tells Chiyoko what she feels for her, and Chiyoko accepts it. Noriko watches them from outside the window.
The bell rings for the start. In the wings the members learn that it is Yuko's birthday, and sing Happy Birthday to her under their breath. The curtain rises, and they walk out onto the stage.
Starring
Hiroko Nakajimaas Yuko Shimizu
The drama club's president, a rule-keeping girl who turns up with a forbidden perm and is in love with Chiyoko.
Yuko Shimizu’s story
Yuko has always kept the rules, and on the morning of the performance she arrives with a perm the school forbids. She tells Kaori she would rather try another university than move up to the school's own junior college. When word spreads that Noriko has been picked up by the police and the play may be cancelled, she is alone in the club room when Noriko turns up to say she did not smoke. Called in with Noriko, she hears Noriko ask whether the perm was for Chiyoko. Alone with Chiyoko before the curtain, she encourages her, runs lines with her, poses with her for a photograph, and tells her what she feels. Chiyoko accepts it. In the wings the others learn it is her birthday and sing to her, and she walks out onto the stage.
Miho Tsumikias Noriko Sugiyama
A girl with a reputation as trouble, caught up in the smoking scandal, who is quietly devoted to Yuko.
Noriko Sugiyama’s story
Noriko has a name as the club's trouble, and the night before the performance she is picked up by the police with students from another school who were smoking. All morning the club talks about whether the play will be cancelled because of her. She turns up in the club room and tells Yuko she was only caught up with the others and did not smoke herself, and apologises to the other girls. Called in with Yuko, she tells her that students at other schools are more fun, and asks whether the perm was for Chiyoko. Before the curtain she watches from outside a window as Yuko and Chiyoko pose for their photograph and Yuko tells Chiyoko what she feels. In the wings she asks Yuko whether today is her birthday, and the club sings to her under its breath.
Yasuyo Shirashimaas Chiyoko Kurata
A tall, admired girl who has always played men, frightened of her first woman's role as Madame Ranevskaya.
Chiyoko Kurata’s story
Chiyoko has played men in every production until now; this year she is to be Madame Ranevskaya, her first woman's part, and nerves have taken her acting away. While the teachers decide whether the play will go on, she rehearses her lines alone in the club room. Alone with Yuko in a classroom, she admits that she does not feel womanly, cannot see why she should play the lady of the house, and had half hoped the performance would be cancelled. Yuko encourages her. Before the curtain the two of them run their lines and pose for a photograph to remember the day, and when Yuko tells her what she feels, Chiyoko accepts it, smiling. Then the bell rings, and she goes out on stage as Ranevskaya.
Miho Miyazawaas Kaori Jomaru
The second-year stage manager, passionate about the play, who spends the early morning with her boyfriend.
Mai Okamotoas Ms Satomi
The drama club's adviser, who fights the other teachers to keep the performance from being cancelled.
Why it matters
The Cherry Orchard treats first love between girls as part of growing up, neither a phase to be corrected nor a secret to be exposed. Its events are small: a perm against the rules, a smoking scandal that is not quite true, a tall girl who has always played men and must now play a lady. Yuko's confession happens in the time it takes to take a photograph, and the film gives Noriko's quieter heartbreak the same weight. The director Isao Yukisada has called it a girls' film only a man could have made, a girls' school as men imagine one, while praising it for catching a time in these girls' lives that passes in a blink. Both can be true. Named the best Japanese film of 1990 by Kinema Junpo, it lets its young women feel what they feel, without punishment and without explanation.