Directed by Seiichi Fukuda
Review by David Carter


Released by Synapse Films
Running Time: 81 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Color format: Color/B&W mixed
Audio/Subtitles: 2.0 Dolby Digital English
Region Code: 1, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
16:9 Enhanced: No
Special Features: Liner Notes
Trailer Online: Yes

Short Version: Early Japanese transgressive classic

MADAME O opens with two women performing surgery on a third. As the woman is incised and spread open, the doctor begins feeling faint and is forced to stop. Her swooning is accompanied by the previously color image turning black and white in the first of several shifts between the two. Seiko’s problem stems from syphilis, a disease she contracted when she was gang-raped as a young girl. She has significant anger towards men because of this and because of her father’s subsequent treatment of her after the incident. To get her revenge, Seiko picks up strange men at night and sleeps with them. She then directly infects them with syphilis to ensure that they get the disease; a lasting punishment for their lust.

Seiko’s life as MADAME O is a successful one; in a manner of speaking. She carries on infecting amorous men unabated until a series of coincidences brings her reign of terror to an end. Firstly, one of her trysts results in a pregnancy. Seiko attempts to perform the abortion herself but passes out and the handsome male doctor at the clinic finishes the operation. He keeps her predicament a secret but confesses he has feelings for her and, though reluctant at first, Seiko allows herself to feel for him as well. One of her “victims” sees the pair out on a date and later confronts her with blackmail on his mind. Seiko outsmarts and kills the man but her new beau witnesses her disposing of the body. He keeps this secret also and the pair is soon married. Seiko finds life meaningless without her passion for revenge and later learns that her mistrust of men was perhaps a good thing.

The shifts between color and monochrome are perhaps the most interesting thing about MADAME O, although their purpose – if there is one – is not entirely clear. While watching the film I attempted to track what was going on narratively when the shifts occurred but it eventually became apparent that there wasn’t a reason within the context of the story. I’ve ultimately decided that the lack of a reason is the reason – the technique causes the viewer to assume there is a reason and therefore pay closer attention to story. The shifts occur randomly with no clear pattern other than drawing the viewer into the film to a greater degree.

Why would MADAME O need to draw viewers back into itself tough? While the concepts in the film are intriguing, the action and plot movement are spread very sparsely throughout the film’s eighty-one minutes. Foregone conclusions like Seiko and the doctor’s romance are given dozens of minutes while her vengeance and the reasons behind it are mentioned relatively briefly. As with the color shifts, the fact that the film doesn’t focus on its most interesting aspect is intriguing. One expects the film to deal primarily with the sex and violence, so when it does not it becomes a different type of transgression – this time against the audience’s expectations.

The film does deliver on the sex and gore, just not to the degree you’d expect from the bloodstained DVD cover. Synapse Films’ print of the film is excellent but the disc itself is barebones; check out the liner notes for a well-written piece on this genre of Japanese cinema though. MADAME O delivers a gut-punch early on with the sex and violence but make you wait until the climax for another taste of it. Some viewers will have the patience to stick with it, others won’t. MADAME O’s interesting concept was enough to get me through the film, however; and I found it to be an interesting, somber take on typical exploitation themes.