Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
A charismatic writer battles his own obsessive quest for beauty and power, weaving his literary fantasies into a real‑world showdown that could end in triumph—or tragedy.
“On November 25, 1970, Japan's most celebrated writer, Yukio Mishima, shocked the world.”
Synopsis
A fictional portrayal of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, the film interweaves dramatizations of three of his novels with a depiction of the events that took place on November 25th, 1970.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 68+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Michael ChandlerShot by John BaileyScored by Philip GlassDesigned by Eiko Ishioka
Box Office
1985 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.1× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$503K
US & Canada: $438K — 87% of worldwide · International: $65K (13%)
Also known as
- Mishimade
- Mishima - Ein Leben in vier Kapitelnde
- Mishima. Una vida en cuatro capítuloses
- Mishima - Una vita in quattro capitoliit
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Cast & Crew
68 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Ken Ogata
as Yukio Mishima
Masayuki Shionoya
as Morita
Kenji Sawada
as Osamu
Hiroshi Mikami
as Cadet #1
Bando Mitsugoro X
as Mizoguchi
Junya Fukuda
as Cadet #2
Toshiyuki Nagashima
as Isao
Shigeto Tachihara
as Cadet #3
Junkichi Orimoto
as General Mashita
Naoko Otani
as Mother
Go Riju
as Mishima, Age 18-19
Yuu Tokui
as Cadet #3
Supporting cast
43Masato Aizawa
as Mishima, Age 9-14
Yuki Nagahara
as Mishima, Age 5
Naoko Ohtani
as Mother
Kyuzo Kobayashi
as Literary Friend
Yuki Kitazume
as Dancing Friend
Haruko Kato
as Grandmother
Hisako Manda
as Mariko
Naomi Oki
as First Girl
Miki Takakura
as Second Girl
Imari Tsuji
as Madame
Koichi Sato
as Kashiwagi
Reisen Ri
as Kiyomi
Setsuko Karasuma
as Mitsuko
Tadanori Yokoo
as Natsuo
Yasuaki Kurata
as Takei
Mitsuru Hirata
as Thug
Hiroshi Katsuno
as Lt. Hori
Naoya Makoto
as Kendo Instructor
Kunihiko Ida
as Izutsu
Jun Negami
as Kurahara
Ryo Ikebe
as Interrogator
Toshio Hosokawa
as "Rokumeikan" Producer
Hideo Fukuhara
as Military Doctor
Yosuke Mizuno
as "Yukoku" Producer
Eimei Esumi
as Ichigaya Aide-de-Camp
Minoru Hodaka
as Ichigaya Colonel
Masahiko Sakata
as Isao's Classmate
Alan Poul
as American Reporter
Ren Ebata
as Reporter #1
Yasuhiro Arai
as Reporter #2
Fumio Mizushima
as Reporter #3
Shinji Miura
as Pavilion Acolyte
Yuichi Sato
as Student
Sachiko Akagi
as Thug's Girlfriend
Riki Harada
as Romeo
Mami Okamoto
as Juliet
Atsushi Takayama
as Interrogation Policeman
Kimiko Ito
as Grandmother's Nurse
Kojiro Oka
as First MP
Tatsuya Hiragaki
as Actor #1
Shinichi Nosaka
as Policeman
Sachiko Hidari
as Osamu's Mother
Chishu Ryu
as Tayama Dosen
Directors
1Writers
4Producers
2Other crew
7Parents Guide
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Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- The Criterion ChannelStream
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