All the Things We Never Said
生きちゃった
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A husband walks in on his wife with another man and says nothing — silence as the Japanese disease.
Atsuhisa Yamada, Natsumi and Takeda have been friends since school, when the two boys dreamed of being musicians. Atsuhisa, who works for a book delivery firm, married Natsumi; they have a five-year-old daughter, Suzu, and he and Takeda study English and Chinese hoping to start a business together. Atsuhisa finds it almost impossible to say what he feels. On a visit to his parents, whose older son, Toru, has shut himself away at home, Natsumi tells Atsuhisa his family is broken. He says nothing.
One day, sent home early feeling ill, he walks in on Natsumi in bed with another man, Yosuke. He fetches Suzu from kindergarten as though nothing had happened. That night Natsumi tells him that in five years of marriage she never once felt loved, and asks for a divorce. He answers, "All right," moves out, and pays for Suzu. It emerges that he broke off an engagement to marry Natsumi, and that she, pregnant, once came home to find him with his former fiancée, Sachiko; all he could say was sorry. Natsumi goes to Takeda and admits she has loved him since school. He turns her away.
Natsumi moves in with Yosuke, who will not work and tells her to earn money as a call girl; she answers that she will do anything for him and her daughter. Toru, unstable and using cannabis, goes to her flat, confronts Yosuke in the street and kills him. He is jailed. Yosuke leaves four million yen of debt, and Natsumi leaves Suzu with her mother and goes to work for an escort service in Kabukicho. Months later she is murdered by a man who preys on women in that work.
At the funeral Natsumi's mother turns Atsuhisa away: Suzu will be raised by her family, and he should forget her. Half a year later he and Takeda pay their respects at the hotel where Natsumi died, and Atsuhisa says he cannot feel she was ever alive. Takeda tells him she was. Then he drives Atsuhisa past Natsumi's parents' house, where Suzu is playing in the garden, and, in tears, tells him to go and tell her what he feels. Crying that he may not be able to, Atsuhisa gets out of the car and runs to her.
Starring
Taiga Nakanoas Atsuhisa Yamada
A delivery worker, husband and father who cannot bring himself to say what he feels, even as his marriage falls apart.
Atsuhisa Yamada’s story
Atsuhisa once dreamed of music with Takeda; now he delivers books, studies English and Chinese for the business they plan, and says almost nothing at home. Coming home ill, he finds Natsumi with Yosuke, fetches Suzu from kindergarten as if nothing had happened, and answers her demand for a divorce with 'All right'. He moves out and drops the language lessons to pay for Suzu. His brother Toru kills Yosuke; months later Natsumi is murdered. Turned away at her funeral and told to forget his daughter, he visits the hotel where she died and says he cannot feel she was ever alive. Takeda tells him she was, drives him past Suzu playing in a garden and, in tears, tells him to go and say what he feels. Atsuhisa runs to her, crying that he may not be able to.
Yuko Oshimaas Natsumi Yamada
Atsuhisa's wife and childhood friend, who has never felt loved by him and leaves him for another man.
Natsumi Yamada’s story
Natsumi has known Atsuhisa and Takeda since school, married Atsuhisa and is raising their daughter, Suzu. She is the one who says things out loud: that his family is broken; that in five years she has never once felt loved. Caught with Yosuke, she asks for a divorce, and he simply agrees. It emerges that, pregnant, she once found him at home with the fiancée he had left for her. Takeda, whom she has loved since school, turns her away. Yosuke will not work; she says she will do sex work, anything, rather than leave him. After Toru kills Yosuke, his debts bring loan sharks to her door. She leaves Suzu with her mother, works for an escort service in Kabukicho, and months later is murdered by a man who preys on women in that work.
Ryuya Wakabaas Takeda
Their friend since school, who keeps out of their troubles yet never stops looking out for them.
Park Jung-bumas Toru Yamada
Atsuhisa's older brother, shut away in their parents' house, whose sudden violence overturns every life around him.
Katsuya Maigumaas Yosuke
Natsumi's lover, who will not work and pushes her towards sex work to pay their way.
Why it matters
All the Things We Never Said is about the cost of not saying what one feels. Atsuhisa cannot tell his wife he loves her or his friend that he is hurt, and finds he can speak more freely in English than in Japanese. The film shows how that kind of silence, often admired as restraint, can leave the people closest to a man starved. It does not make Natsumi a villain for leaving. She is the one who says what she wants, and the one who pays most: pushed into sex work by a dead man's debts and killed there. Yuya Ishii made it for a project backed by the Hong Kong International Film Festival that gave Asian directors the same budget and asked them to go back to basics. Its last moment is a man running towards his daughter with no idea what he will say.