Silk

Year: 2007

Actors: Keira Knightley, Michael Pitt, Kenneth Welsh, Alfred Molina

Duration: 107 min

The film opens with Hervé Joncour (Michael Pitt) narrating his observations of an unidentified Asian woman bathing in a hot spring, then stating that his story actually begins earlier, when he returned to his hometown in 19th century France while on leave from the army. He meets Hélène (Keira Knightley), a teacher, who wants nothing more than a garden and Hervé, who wants nothing more than to marry her. They start an affair.Local businessman Baldabiou (Alfred Molina), who establishes and runs three silk mills that support the town economy within a year. He pays handsome taxes to the city and wants the mayor to stay out of his way. the silk industry is at risk from a European-wide silkworm disease. Baldabiou selected Herve as he wants a young man who is also intelligent to bring back new eggs to save the town's silk industry. He convinces Herve's father, the mayor (Kenneth Welsh), to let Hervé leave the army and marry Hélène, and in 1862 Hervé travels to Egypt to purchase silkworm eggs. It takes him 2 months to come back.Since the African silkworms are affected too, Baldabiou next sends Hervé to Japan, even though it is dangerously closed to foreigners (No foreigner can travel inland from the ports. Herve could lose his life). The journey takes months, across thousands of miles of Europe and Asia (by horse to Vienne, by train to Kiev, across the Russian wilderness in a caravan to Vladivostok). Baldabiou arranges for his Japanese contact to meet Herve in Vladivostok (he is smuggled into Japan by sea). Once there, Hervé is blindfolded and taken to a Japanese village where he can buy eggs from a local baron, Hara Jubei (Koji Yakusho). During his stay in the village, he becomes obsessed with Jubei's unnamed concubine (the Girl) (Sei Ashina).Hervé returns home with an ample supply of eggs. His compensation from Baldabiou makes him rich, and he purchases a large house and garden space for Hélène. On his second journey to Japan, the Girl gives Herve a note in Japanese, and he has sex with another girl handed to him by her. Having traded more eggs than on his first trip, Hervé delays his departure by two days in the failed hope of seeing the Girl again. Schuyler (Callum Keith Rennie) is a Dutch trader who is selling guns to Jubei. Schuyler tells Herve to be wary of Jubei. Herve returns home but doesn't have the courage to say anything to Helene.Back home, Hervé seeks out a Japanese brothel owner in Lyon, Madame Blanche (Miki Nakatani), known for giving the small blue flowers that she wears to her clients. He only wants her to translate the note for him, which reads: "Come back or I shall die." Madame Blanche advises Hervé to "forget about her, she won't die, and you know it." Helene can sense that Herve is a changed man since his return from Japan.Baldabiou intends to send Hervé to China (the price is good, and the risk is far lower), since Japan is no longer safe, but Hervé insists on Japan. When he arrives, war has broken out and the village is abandoned. Jubei's servant boy shows Hervé where Jubei and his household have gone. Jubei becomes hostile and tells Herve to go home, refuses to show him the Girl, and hangs the servant boy. Hervé buys some eggs in Sakata, but his delays result in the eggs hatching, and all the worms dying, before he reaches France. The town's economy is ruined, though Hervé hires many townspeople to expand Hélène's garden.Months later, Hervé receives a long letter from the Girl. He again takes the letter to Madame Blanche for translation, who agrees, providing Hervé never comes to see her again. The letter is a deeply moving declaration of love, asking him to be happy in his life, as they will never be together again. The trips to Japan stopped after Japan formalized silkworm eggs export and the opening of the Suez Canal (which cut journey time to 20 days).A few years later, Hélène becomes ill, dying, then dies in 1875, in her mid-30s. After her death, Hervé finds a tribute of small, blue flowers on her grave. He seeks out Madame Blanche once more, believing her to have written the letter, but she reveals that Hélène had written the letter and asked Madame Blanche to translate it. Hélène knew that Hervé was in love with a Japanese woman and wanted him to be happy. Madame Blanche tells Hervé that, more than anything, his wife wanted to be that woman. Hervé finally realizes that it was Hélène who was his true love after all.Hervé's narration is revealed to be him recounting his story to Ludovic (Mark Rendall) - the son of a friend, the closest thing to a child that Hervé and Hélène have had through the years. Ludovic, now a young man and Hélène's permanent gardener, has a greater appreciation for the love behind the garden.

Genre: Drama   Romance