Helter Skelter
ヘルタースケルター
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A supermodel made entirely by surgery begins to rot — Okazaki Kyoko's manga in Ninagawa's saturated colour.
Liliko is Japan's top model, on every cover and moving into film, the woman every schoolgirl wants to be. Her secret, shared with the president of her agency, Hiroko Tada, whom she calls Mama, is that almost all of her has been made by surgery at an illegal clinic run by Hisako Wachi. When a bruise appears on her forehead the after-effects begin, and she needs more and more treatment to hold her body together. She takes her rage out on her manager, Michiko Hada, and forces her into sex; Michiko, humiliated, becomes devoted to her. Meanwhile a prosecutor, Makoto Asada, is investigating the clinic, some of whose patients have taken their own lives, and he suspects what Liliko is.
A letter comes from her younger sister, Chikako, who looks as Liliko once looked, and the two meet in secret. Then a new model, Kozue, a natural beauty, begins to take the covers, and Liliko's lover, the department-store heir Takao Nanbu, announces his engagement to a politician's daughter. Liliko turns to pills. She seduces Michiko's boyfriend, Shinichi, in front of Michiko, then has the two of them attack Nanbu's fiancée. At an aquarium Asada asks her to testify against the clinic, calls her by her real name and leaves her photographs and records of her former self. She refuses. Hallucinating, she orders Michiko to attack Kozue; at an amusement park Kozue looks at Michiko and says, go ahead, and Michiko cannot. Liliko collapses at a television shoot, and Tada tells her to rest.
Tidying Liliko's flat, Michiko finds Asada's documents and leaks them. The country devours the story of the surgery, and the clinic's crimes come to light, as Asada intended. Liliko calls a press conference and, under the flashbulbs, harms herself in front of the cameras, collapses and disappears.
Time passes, and Kozue is still a star. After a shoot abroad she is taken to a club known for extreme shows, glimpses a woman who looks like Michiko, follows her through a door, and finds Liliko, beautiful, reigning there as its star attraction.
Starring
Erika Sawajirias Liliko
Japan's top model, whose beauty was made almost entirely by illegal surgery and has begun to break down.
Liliko’s story
Liliko reigns on every cover until a bruise on her forehead shows that her surgically built body is failing. She needs ever more treatment, and turns her rage on her manager, Michiko, forcing her into sex. When Kozue begins taking her covers and her lover, Nanbu, announces his engagement to another woman, Liliko turns to pills, seduces Michiko's boyfriend in front of her and has the two of them attack Nanbu's fiancée. At an aquarium the prosecutor Asada calls her by her real name and asks her to testify against the clinic; she refuses. Hallucinating, she orders Michiko to attack Kozue, then collapses on a television set. Exposed, Liliko calls a press conference, harms herself before the cameras and disappears. Some time later Kozue finds her, beautiful, reigning as the star of a club known for extreme shows.
Nao Omorias Makoto Asada
A prosecutor investigating the clinic behind Liliko's surgery, who wants her testimony.
Makoto Asada’s story
Asada, a prosecutor, is pursuing Hisako Wachi's clinic, some of whose patients have taken their own lives after its treatments; the clinic has powerful backers, and he needs a witness. Watching Liliko on television, he suspects what she is. At an aquarium he meets her, calls her by her real name, asks her to testify in court and tells her that courage is beautiful. When she refuses, he leaves her photographs and records of her former self. Michiko finds those papers in Liliko's flat and leaks them; the country devours the story of the surgery, and Asada is held responsible for the leak. It is what he intended from the start: with Liliko's surgery made public, the clinic's crimes come to light at last.
Shinobu Terajimaas Michiko Hada
Liliko's manager, abused and humiliated by her and in thrall to her.
Michiko Hada’s story
Michiko manages Liliko, who throws water in her face, takes out her rages on her and one night forces her into sex. Humiliated, Michiko becomes devoted to her, and Liliko calls her a pervert for it. Liliko seduces Michiko's young boyfriend, Shinichi, in front of her, then has the two of them attack her lover's fiancée. Hallucinating, Liliko orders Michiko to attack Kozue. Michiko goes after her at an amusement park, but when Kozue looks at her and says go ahead, she cannot. Staying on to tidy Liliko's wrecked flat, she finds the prosecutor's documents and leaks them. Some time later, in a club known for extreme shows, Kozue glimpses a woman who looks like Michiko, follows her through a door and finds Liliko.
Go Ayanoas Shinichi Okumura
Michiko's young boyfriend, whom Liliko seduces and uses.
Kiko Mizuharaas Kozue Yoshikawa
A new model with natural beauty who begins to take Liliko's place.
Kaori Momoias Hiroko Tada
The president of Liliko's agency, whom she calls Mama, and the author of her secret.
Why it matters
Helter Skelter is about a body built to be consumed. Kyoko Okazaki's manga of the mid-1990s imagined a star made almost entirely by surgery for a public that craves beauty and turns on it the moment it slips, and Mika Ninagawa, a photographer who shot the film's magazine covers herself, filmed it in the saturated colours of the world it indicts. Liliko is monstrous to the people around her, but the film makes her cruelty part of a system: an agency that sold her body, a clinic that experimented on it, and an audience promised, in the film's own tag line, that it will be shown what it wants to see. It was a major commercial hit. The shutters keep firing even as she harms herself, and the final scene suggests that a spectacle like hers does not end. It only changes venue.