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The very title Millennium Actress suggests the significance of time—its passage, its marking, its experience, its remembrance—for the film. Kon visually emphasizes and symbolizes the importance of time throughout the film. How does he do so and what kind of commentary do you think he is making about how individuals experience and relate to the passage of time?
I think the passage of time is visually told through how Chiyoko matures through her movies. We experience her life from when she is first an amateur actress up until her last film before she disappeared to Hokkaido. We get to experience Chiyoko’s ongoing search throughout her life to seek the man who gave her the key. I think the commentary Satoshi Kon is trying to make is that an individual’s life is like a film. Just like a movie, the journey is the crucial part to one’s life. We are shown small glimpses into Chiyoko’s life which are scenes from her movies. To another person your life is like a movie to them.
The passing of time is not only shown by the physical maturation of the characters, but also by the mental maturation of the characters. The most notable instance is shown through the man with the scar on his face. The man with the scar is shown throughout all of Chiyoko’s movies as the antagonist who hunts down the man Chiyoko loves. He is initally portrayed as a serious, cold-hearted individual, but he is depicted in a new light toward the end of the animation. With the conflicts in the past, the man with the scar bows in front of Chiyoko to atone for his sins. This dramatic change in the man’s attitude and personality not only shows how much time has passed, but also how time can change people. In Millennium Actress, the passage of time is undeniably linked with a person’s maturation and ability to see the other side of the coin.
I think in the movie time is irrelevant in a way. The consistency of Chiyoko’s desire for the painter shows that sometimes, time can’t heal everything. While she matures and gets older, she also subconsciously holds on to her young self and her hopes and dreams of finding this person that she just met. Even after 50-60 years, one reminder of her youth (the key) can set her back to her way younger self. She kind of represents how a lot of us feel in real life; we don’t want to get older. We wish time could freeze and we could go back to “the good old days” and live in the past. But like the key on Chiyoko’s neck, the past never leaves us. It stays with us until the end of our days.
The frequent mention of time on one hand indicates the dynamic trajectory of Chiyoko’s life, and on the other hand accentuates how the passage of time leaves Chiyoko’s love for that anonymous painter unscathed. I think Chiyoko is called “Millennium Actress” because her movies span from ancient Japan to the sci-fi future, and both Chiyoko in the movie and Chiyoko in reality constitute her rounded identity. Her experiences in two roles, through the passage of time, change her mentality, her relationship with others (such her relationship with her director and another actress,) and her physical characteristics. However, Kon wants to portray these changes so that he can present the audience with what is importantly static and unchanged. In her film about Sengoku Jidai, the old witch tells her that she will forever live in the hell of eternal love. This “curse” protracts to her real life, and she chases the love till the end of her life. Kon, emphasizing the unchanging element of love, makes a statement that love, or the idolization of others, can be a constant drive for people to live a meaningful life.
Kon emphasizes that time is constantly continuing similar to how Chiyoko is constantly running and going forward. As time passes, individuals grow and change through their different experiences. When we are young, we are full of dreams and often have an innocent and rosy view on life. There is so much time ahead. As we get older you are faced with reality and often the hopes and dreams you once had begins to fade. In the scene with her mother, she mentions that Chiyoko “won’t be young forever” and she is “too old for these little girl dreams.” However, even though time passes, one’s past experiences is always affecting the present, just like how Chiyoko encounter with the painter has a constant presence as her life progresses, affecting her choices and actions.
Like what Gloria said, the strongest example of time’s passing is through Chiyoko’s literal maturation through her films. Though her goals stay the same for the majority of her films, we see her change from a young girl, to a teenager, to a young adult, into a fully matured adult. However, (and I’m about to make a super cliche statement; forgive me) I think the commentary Kon is trying to make is that though time can and will physically change us, time is in some sense a relative construct to our innermost minds. We change who we are from our experiences that happen over time, but we for the most part, stick to some morals or goals that we set for ourselves at a really young age. Like plenty of people here I’m sure, when I was little I decided I wanted to be a scientist or engineer. And so, over time, I’ve been working towards that goal. I’ve taken classes, gone through schools, met people, and undoubtedly changed my overall personality. Yet, what I’m working for (even if I’m not always thinking about it) has stayed much the same over time, similarly to Chiyoko.
Time plays a fairly unusual role in Chiyoko’s life. As an actress, she recreates events that span a millennium. The recreation of these films immortalize the past, as even hundreds of years after they occurred, they can be relived in a way that seems they are presently happening. Through these films, Chiyoko the actress is able to bypass the linear restraints of time, and sort of experience time on her own terms. This way she can forever chase her mysterious painter and hold onto her hope to catch up without the real world blocking her journey.
Chiyoko the person faces a different reality. The passing of time turns into her enemy as she gets stuck living in the past. She is kind of obsessed with her memory of the painter, trying not to face the fact that time will continue on, changing her and everything around her. It’s especially sad when we see the wraith overlap Chiyoko’s face and she realizes she hates herself for not being the young girl that the painter once knew.
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