Millennium Actress is a 2001 Japanese anime by director Satoshi Kon and animated by the Studio Madhouse. It tells the story of a documentary filmmaker investigating the life of an elderly actress in which reality and cinema become blurred. It is based on the life of Setsuko Hara. The narrative style is complex and interwoven in the style of "play within a play". The film depicts a director, Genya Tachibana, who is working on a documentary about a famous actress, Chiyoko Fujiwara. In her old age, Chiyoko has withdrawn from public life, but Tachibana slowly draws her out. As he talks to her,... the story of her life, from teenage schoolgirl to middle-aged superstar, gradually unfolds, illustrated through flashbacks interspersed with segments from her films. Her life spans the tumultuous period surrounding World War II, while her characters in movies span a time period from the Sengoku period to a futuristic space age. As a child in the 1930s, at the time of the fascist government, Chiyoko helps a dissident artist escape from the military. She becomes attracted to him; however, the next day he is forced to flee again.
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| Release date: | 2002 |
| Directed by: | Satoshi Kon |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 87 Minutes |
| Producer: | Taro Maki |
| Music by: | Susumu Hirasawa |
| Screenplay by: | Sadayuki Murai, Satoshi Kon |
| Genre: | Animation |