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The Ceremony
Movie

The Ceremony

1971 • Unknown

Woke Score
8
out of 10

Plot

Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.

Overall Series Review

The Ceremony (1971) is a politically charged and intensely intellectual epic that uses the history of the wealthy, militaristic Sakurada clan as a metaphor for the profound cultural decay of post-war Japan. Director Nagisa Oshima employs a non-linear narrative, centering the story on a series of solemn family rituals—funerals, weddings, and anniversaries—only to strip them of all sanctity and expose the rot beneath. The plot follows the surviving heir, Masuo, as he navigates the history of his family, which is revealed to be a claustrophobic world of repressive authority, sexual perversion, and generational trauma. The movie is an uncompromising, aggressive statement against the traditional, patriarchal family structure, depicting the authority figures (the grandfather and uncles) as menacing control figures responsible for the family’s cycle of suicide and emotional collapse. It offers a brutal critique of Japan's imperial past and the inherent oppression within its social ceremonies and institutions.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics6/10

The narrative's central conflict is a lecture on systemic oppression and privilege, specifically focusing on the internal hierarchy of the powerful Japanese patriarchal and industrialist class, who are depicted as fundamentally corrupt and menacing.

Oikophobia10/10

The film’s explicit purpose is the brutal confrontation with the nation's imperial past, using the traditional family and its ceremonies as a mirror to showcase the cultural decay of Japan. The home culture and its ancestral institutions are framed as fundamentally corrupt and oppressive.

Feminism9/10

The film functions as an aggressive critique of the rigid, patriarchal family structure that controls all members' lives, particularly the women's marriages and relationships. Traditional male authority figures are presented as tyrannical and the narrative deconstructs traditional gender roles by highlighting the flaws of the system.

LGBTQ+8/10

The story aggressively deconstructs the normative structure of the nuclear/extended family by featuring themes of incest and psychosexual repression. The exploration of transgressive sexuality is presented as a 'revolutionary act' against the suffocating traditional family unit.

Anti-Theism9/10

The film openly satirizes traditional Japanese ceremonies, removing their sacred nature and presenting them as joyless events that merely serve as a backdrop for moral decay, corruption, and tragedy. The narrative structure suggests a spiritual vacuum where morality is subjective and driven entirely by the power dynamics of the ruthless patriarch.