ACMI would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waterways of greater Melbourne, the people of the Kulin Nation, and recognise that ACMI is located on the lands of the Wurundjeri people.

First Nations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices, or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or text.

Tatsuya Nakadai in Love Under the Crucifix (1962)
Tatsuya Nakadai in Love Under the Crucifix (1962)
Love Under the Crucifix (1962)

The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present

Love Under the Crucifix

Kinuyo Tanaka | Japan | 1962 | Unclassified (15+)
Film

This event has ended and tickets are no longer available.

When

Wed 22 Nov 2023

Tanaka’s sixth and final film as director casts Ineko Arima (co-star with Tanaka of Ozu’s Equinox Flower) as the daughter of a legendary tea master who falls in love with Tatsuya Nakadai’s married Christian samurai. Flamboyant and feminist, the film uses the ritual of the ancient tea ceremony as a metaphor for the stifling strictures of contemporary Japanese society. Kelley Dong calls it Tanaka’s “most erotic film” and “the natural culmination of [her] vested interest in a woman’s right to refuse”. The real-life 16th century samurai who serves as the basis for Nakadai’s character was beatified by Pope Francis in 2017.

Format: DCP
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Source: Janus Films
Runtime: 102 mins

Event duration

102 mins

Rating

Unclassified (15+)

Where

Cinema 1, Level 2
ACMI, Fed Square

How to get there

Membership options

Mini membership
(3 consecutive weeks)
$28.5–$33.5

Annual memberships
$161–300

See full options

About the program

Kinuyo Tanaka (1909–77) is one of the greatest and most prolific screen actors and – after Sakane Tazuko – only the second woman to make it as a film director in the Japanese film industry. Appearing in 250 films over the span of 50 years, Tanaka acquired her first screen credit aged 14, while her major breakthrough came in films such as Ozu’s I Graduated But… (1929)...

Read the full program notes
Behind The Screen- Kinuyo Tanaka, Trailblazing Filmmaker

Plan your visit

Read our COVIDSafe visitor guidelines, information on accessibility, amenities, transport, dining options and more.

Start planning

About Melbourne Cinémathèque

Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.

Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven. 

Learn more | View the 2023 program | See membership options

Melbourne Cinémathèque - Dirk Bogarde in a still from Victim