The woman's film is one of the richest of all genres. In Movie 29/30, I discuss the genre within the contexts of (a) melodrama, where I include it within the broad category of ‘melodramas of passion’ (Walker 1982a: 16-19), and (b) the Hollywood films of Max Ophuls (Walker 1982b: 43-60). With a woman and her concerns at the centre of the narrative, the woman's film typically focuses more on domestic issues than the other genres. Equally, however, the genre frequently offers a critique of the dominant ideology: ‘In general, the woman's film does not show the heroine as a passive victim in the traditional melodrama vein, but as a victim of patriarchy’ (18). At the same time, ‘Actions, ambitions, success are always complicated for [her] by emotional commitments’ (19). It is above all in the woman's film where we see a heroine's sensitivity to emotional issues: the feelings of others; the complexities of moral choices; the difficulties of balancing conflicting concerns. Although my observations about the genre were there restricted to American films, films of other countries where patriarchy is an oppressive force are little different. Many woman's films are about the heroine as mother, struggling to provide for herself and her child(ren). It is this tradition to which both versions of Dark Water belong.

Honogurai mizu no soko kara/Dark Water (Hideo Nakata, Japan, 2002)

Honogurai mizu no soko kara translates roughly as ‘From the depths of the gloomy water’; it was released in English-language countries as Dark Water. Confusingly, its Hollywood remake is also called Dark Water. Elsewhere in this book, the films are distinguished by their dates; in this chapter, for convenience, I will refer to the Japanese film as Dark Water, and the remake as Dark Water (2005).

The provenance for Dark Water is a 1996 short story by the author of Ring, Koji Suzuki, published in a collection entitled Honogurai mizu no soko kara. The story was translated into English as Floating Water, and is included in the collection Dark Water (Suzuki 2005). It is a typical ghost short story. After divorcee Yoshimi and her six-year-old daughter Ikuko have moved into a Tokyo apartment block, spooky incidents start to occur. She and Ikuko find a child's red ‘Kitty bag’ on the block's rooftop; this is thrown away, but returns to the rooftop.