Pop idol Mima Kirigoe leaves her group to become an actress. Her sense of who she is starts to crack under a stalker, an internet impostor and a second version of herself that her own mind has split off. Satoshi Kon's debut feature is a visionary attack on celebrity, voyeurism and the harm the male gaze (men looking at women as objects) does to women.
Perfect Blue is a 1997 animation, psychological thriller and horror film directed by Satoshi Kon. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (5 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Black Swan uses several of the same techniques.
Putting an actual duplicate of a character on screen. The double drives the plot and also stands for a person split in 2, often by obsession.
How this film uses it
The 'idol Mima' shows up on screen as a separate person you can see. She is calm, girlish and accusing. She makes Mima's split literal: the public image that was built for her on one side, and her private self falling apart on the other.
Where to see it
Mima's first full vision of her doppelgänger (her exact double) in her apartment. The double is perfectly lit and smiling while the real Mima is in crisis.
Pairing the main character with a second character who mirrors them. The double shows what the hero wants, fears or secretly is.
How this film uses it
Mima's manager Rumi turns out to be the true double. She has lived inside the idol fantasy so completely that she can no longer tell it apart from who she is.
Where to see it
The final revelation that Rumi has been acting as 'Mima'. The double was a hallucination and also a real person all along.
Keeping it unclear what is real and what is imagined in the film's world. You end up as unsure as the main character.
How this film uses it
Kon cuts smoothly between Mima's actual life, her acting on a TV crime drama and her hallucinations. You can't tell which of the 3 is real until the film decides to show you.
Where to see it
The filming of the rape scene on set. It blurs into Mima's traumatized point of view, so the cut to 'action' leaves you dizzy.
Showing the human body being changed, damaged or falling apart. The horror works because you imagine it happening to your own body, and it often stands for mental suffering.
How this film uses it
The murders target the men who sexualized Mima as part of their jobs. Their deaths are extreme, staged and hard to watch. The film uses their bodies to act out rage at the industry that used her up.
Where to see it
The photographer's murder. It mirrors the degrading photo shoot Mima did earlier, so the violence looks just like the exploitation did.
Taking away, piece by piece, any way of telling truth from delusion. A character's whole understanding of events falls apart, and you end up just as lost.
How this film uses it
By the third act, Mima has completely lost track of what she has actually done, seen or imagined. Kon holds back the answer just long enough for you to doubt your own reading too.
Where to see it
The sequence where Mima discovers blood on her hands. She can't remember how it got there, and neither can we.
Questions
Perfect Blue: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Perfect Blue use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Perfect Blue (1997): The Double as Literal Device, Psychological Doubling, Unreliable Reality, Body Horror and Epistemic Collapse.
Who directed Perfect Blue?
Satoshi Kon directed Perfect Blue, released in 1997. CineCode also covers Paprika (2006).
What films are similar to Perfect Blue?
Films that share techniques with Perfect Blue include Black Swan (2010), 8½ (1963), Persona (1966), The Lighthouse (2019).
