By MISUZU SATO/ Staff Writer
March 31, 2022 at 08:00 JST
A scene from "Company Retreat" ((c) 2020 TIMEFLIES Inc.)
The new fictional drama "Company Retreat" focuses on office co-workers in the aftermath of workplace sexual harassment, aiming to confront the viewer with the uncomfortable reality of how people treat the victim.
The movie, inspired by true life events, reveals how the victim ends up between a rock and a hard place after a series of exchanges over her harassment, while abusive comments and slander spiral out of control online--typifying the experience of sexual harassment victims in Japan.
"It's not the kind of movie that shows victims being supported," director Atsushi Funahashi said. "Everyone has their own ideas, and I made the movie to directly reflect the social turmoil (that ensues afterward)."
After studying filmmaking in the United States, Funahashi returned home about 15 years ago, and had the chance to interview a victim, her harasser and other people involved in an actual sexual harassment case that occurred at a chain hotel.
Funahashi looked into making a documentary film, but he had to abandon the project because the subjects could not show their faces or disclose their names.
"Company Retreat" is mainly a dialogue drama focusing on the reactions of a group of work colleagues who are on a company retreat in the Shonan region in Kanagawa Prefecture following the incident.
One of the employees shows outward concern for the victim, but on the inside, he downplays the seriousness of her allegations.
Women from different positions and generations speak their minds about the incident, while the victim's superior tries to sweep her claim under the rug.
Suspicions also arise that someone close to them has disclosed the victim's personal information on the internet, causing a rift among the employees.
The director took an experimental approach to the film.
He had the basic setting and a rough story plan in mind but he entrusted the rest to his actors and asked them to come up with their own lines.
As a result, the characters argue in a realistic and intense manner using everyday language.
After a heated argument, the victim is forced to make a difficult choice.
At the end, the audience is confronted with the reality of how people respond to sexual harassment cases in Japan and how that comes back on the victim.
"When a dispute lasts for a long time, the victim is psychologically exhausted and worn out," Funahashi said. "I think we need to introduce a system that protects victims and make rules similar to those in Europe and the United States."
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
