ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT
Based on Mieko Kawakami’s evocative novel, this tale of lost souls finding unexpected connection enchantingly explores loneliness and love.
“A gentle, tender drama.”
— Stephen Saito, The Moveable Fest
“Keenly insightful … anchored by strong performances.”
— Elizabeth Kerr, Screen International
From director Yukiko Sode (Aristocrats) comes a tender, absorbing adaptation of Mieko Kawakami’s acclaimed novel, exploring loneliness, desire and the courage required to let another person into one’s life.
Fuyuko, played by Yukino Kishii, is a freelance proofreader whose days unfold within familiar routines. Meticulous with other people’s words, she struggles to express her own feelings. Her outgoing colleague Hijiri provides one of her few connections to the world. Once a year, on her birthday, she walks through the city at midnight, finding comfort in its lights.
Her routine begins to change when she meets Mitsutsuka, a reserved physics teacher played by Tadanobu Asano. Drawn to his gentle manner, Fuyuko starts meeting him at a café, where conversations about light gradually create space for something more personal. But their tentative closeness also exposes the difficulty of revealing what each has kept hidden.
Kishii’s nuanced performance conveys a complex interiority through small gestures, hesitations and fleeting expressions. Asano brings warmth and restraint, while Misato Morita’s Hijiri offers a contrasting approach to intimacy and independence.
Sode builds emotional power through the quiet accumulation of encounters and telling details. The film’s recurring imagery of light becomes an evocative expression of Fuyuko’s longing to connect, illuminating the distance between being noticed and feeling understood.
Selected for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, All the Lovers in the Night is a compassionate portrait of vulnerability and gradual self-discovery. Its delicate emotional movement invites us to recognize the significance of even the smallest opening toward another person.
Starring Yukino Kishii, Tadanobu Asano, Misato Morita, Akihisa Shiono, Tori Matsuzaka, Mai Fukagawa.