Whisper of the Heart (1995) Review

An early attempt by Hayao Miyazaki to step back from directing led to this soulful adaptation of a manga about a stubborn middle school student trying to find a direction in life. Filled with trials of school, friendship, family, and even romance, her journey takes her to the most controversial ending in Studio Ghibli history.

Adolescence is a turbulent period in the life due to all the new and confusing situations you encounter. Most of the trouble is in dealing with others while trying to figure out just who you are. This is a tricky balancing act in even the best of circumstances.

In our current culture, that time has extended well past the teens through the twenties to encroach on the thirty something’s. But in 1995 when Whisper of the Heart was released, there was still a desire to mature at an early age though it was fading.

Set in a Japanese city, the film greets us with a montage of urban life after the sun has faded and the lights have just flickered on providing the glow that can make night life possible. It’s that period when responsibilities have mostly ended with the promise of things possible wafting through the summer air. Ironically, the Olivia Newton-John version of the song “Country Roads” is used as a backdrop for the cityscape.

Eventually we follow a girl leaving a market and accompany her home to a small family apartment. Shizuku Tsukishima is enjoying her summer break by burying herself in books about fairy tales. But a mystery arises for the middle school student when a name on the checkout card of a book she’s reading seems vaguely familiar. Sure enough, the same name appears on all the books she’s checked out from the library: Seiji Amasawa.

It may be summer break, but Japanese students have homework, cram schools, and other activities to deal with unlike kids in the United States. Shizuku heads to school to get permission to borrow a book only available in its library and meet with her best friend, Yuko. Strangely enough, the tome turns out to have been donated by another Amasawa compounding the mystery for the bookworm.

Life is not all mysteries, so it’s time to check in with Yuko to run something by her. Not just a reader, but a writer, Shizuku has been busy translating the song “Country Roads” from English as part of an assignment. Frustrated, one of her attempts is “Concrete Roads” which is charming in its own right.

A bout of forgetfulness leads to a fated encounter, or at least an encounter with a member of the opposite sex. Confident and flippant, the boy lands a parting barb that utterly infuriates the too serious girl.

It’s the perfect setup for a terrific continuing rant that lasts all the way home and well after. Shizuku’s anger is marvelously believable, conveyed with a passion only as a teenage girl can. Something more is roiling under the surface, for she can tell something is changing in her and she doesn’t know what.

The teenage years, how I do not miss them.

As if the Amasawa mystery wasn’t enough, another chance encounter leads Shizuku down twisting streets and alleys. This time it is a cat riding on a commuter train, a startling sight far too tempting for a fairy tale lover not to follow. The persuit is a delight as is the accompanying music that brings out the sheer joy of a magical experience.

How many bookworms have dreamed of something like this happening to them?

All journeys come to an end, even magical ones. Fortunately for us and Shizuku, this is instead a case of moving from one delight to another when our heroine finds herself in an antique shop. Led there by the fat feline, she comes upon a Victorian era doll of a humanoid cat. Entranced by its beauty, she wonders if the other cat transformed into it.

Cue the appearance typical scary old person in Ghibli films. Except Shiro Nishi is anything but scary. The elderly gentleman is an immediate warm and comforting presence as soon as he speaks, which he does before he’s seen. Pleased to watch someone admire the cat doll, he informs Shizuku that it has a name, the Baron Humbert von Jechingen.

That’s not the end of the wonders. The shop owner also shows off a special grandfather clock from Europe that bewitches the girl with its sad, romantic story. It also has a curious name inscribed upon it. Yep, that’s Porco Rosso on there as a nod to Miyazaki’s prior film.

Overjoyed to have had a beginning of a story kind of event happen to her, Shizuku rushes out on the errand she was supposed to be doing in the first place. Note to all teenage girls: dancing out of joy across a street in traffic is not smart.

Also not smart is forgetting the package you are to deliver. Once again, the irritating boy shows up with something she has left behind. Once again, his barbs leave her in an angry state.

Ah, youth.

In the library, Shizuku finds out that the mysterious Seiji Amasawa has beaten her to yet another book. A stray thought upsets her greatly in an amusing bit, but the mystery continues. How can this Amasawa always beat her to the books?

Summer ends and the new school year starts, the final one for junior high school. Being a senior there in Japan is the equivalent of a freshman in high school in the States and is a time of great stress in preparation for entrance exams. High school costs money to attend there, which combined with limited slots in good schools leads to fierce competition.

Facing study for entrance exams along with regular school issues would be a heavy enough burden, but revelations about the name Amasawa and the realization that the annoying boy from before is in the same grade make Shizuku miserable. To understand how she would have never seen the object of her ire being in the same grade, a little explanation of Japanese school life might be in order.

Conformity and rigid organization are classic Japanese traits and nowhere is this more apparent than in their education system. Your class is your life, the source of your only friends, and after school activities outside of the family. Crossing the line between classes is difficult due to the logistics involved in how organized your life is for you as a student.

But let’s get back to Shizuku’s misery, which intensifies when she finds herself dealing with boy/girl relationship issues popping up in her class. Shaken to the core by the confusing events along with her cluelessness, the girl sinks into a blue funk.

Seeking some of the magic she’d enjoyed before, Shizuku returns to the antique shop hoping to see the Baron again. She gets more than she bargained for when the irritating boy turns out to be Nishi’s grandson. More surprising is the sudden awkwardness that occurs when they finally talk to each other in words other than barbs.

It all leads to one of the greatest scenes to ever come out of Studio Ghibli. Sweet without a bit cheesiness, it involves the fact that the boy is an aspiring violin maker. Of course that intrigues Shizuku so she wants to hear him play. He does on the condition that she sing and when he first starts playing the familiar notes you will start smiling, I promise.

Afterward, she finds out his name is Seiji. Yeah, that Seiji. She doesn’t take this news well.

Night has fallen, so he walks her home and they talk about life seriously. There is nothing superficial about their discussion and his dream of becoming a professional violin maker impresses her greatly. It also reinforces her worries about being directionless.

Teens being teens means the rumor mill is already going at school the next day. Seiji’s coming to her classroom to find Shizuku only adds fuel to the fire for the embarrassed girl. However, watching the rain end and the sun reappear from the roof leads to further revelations that trigger a desire to change for the girl.

The change she has been afraid of now becomes a necessity in the determined girl’s mind. She must find her talent and push it to its limits to match what Seiji plans to do. Since she is good at writing, it is time to find out if she can really write a novel.

It won’t be easy, but Shizuku has a title for it: Whisper of the Heart.

So begins her quest to find her aspirations so she can feel every bit an equal to Seiji. But will the all too serious girl destroy her future in an attempt to be with the boy she loves?

The controversial ending will reveal all, but not after further reveals, spectacular interludes in the world Shizuku is creating, and much tribulation.

Thoughts

Over time this has grown to be one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films and perhaps even second only to Only Yesterday. Watching two very serious teens actually planning for the future is a welcome relief from the flight away from adulthood that is strangling our culture. Shizuku and Seiji still manage to be believable kids, but their twin quests to excel is something very special. It’s a great message for those adrift nearly twenty years later.

Shizuku upholds the traditions of strong female leads from Miyazaki’s pen, though some feminists diehards will most likely bristle at some of her motivations. That would be a mistake, for she is her own woman despite her tender age. Contrast her behavior with that of her best friend Yuko and you’ll see another case of Miyazaki’s devotion to feminism. Actually, the best example is in the spoilers section, so I’ll leave it at that.

Seiji is just as interesting a character, though we don’t get to spend as much time with him. He’s focused, driven, and proves to be quite a romantic by the end of the film. Being a rebel against the constraints of cultural expectation makes him a border line bad boy by Japanese standards, though he is anything but in behavior.

The supporting characters are all well developed, so much so that I feel guilty having short changed them in the review. In fact, the entire movie is made up of multiple character studies in parallel with Shizuku’s. From her family to Nishi, all are distinctly human presences with moments that strike just the right tone for each.

Whereas most Miyazaki films are beautifully visually and capture the childlike wonder of magic, they aren’t exactly subtle. Whisper of the Heart has occasional moments of visual beauty that are worthy of his best efforts, but the really beautiful aspect of the movie is how the story is presented. Delicately handled moments evoke genuine emotion thanks to director Kondo’s more sensitive approach.

Writing this just after Miyazaki announced his final retirement from directing anime films makes this even more interesting to me. More than once the legendary director tried to get out of the burden of overseeing everything only to step in again. For this movie, he only wrote the script and designed the characters.

Despite Yoshifumi Kondo’s brilliant work on Whisper of the Heart, Miyazaki was upset with how it turned out and especially with the younger man’s directing. In particular he didn’t like how certain scenes were storyboarded. It is a sad fact that many a brilliant artist has an ego that matches the size of their talent, so perhaps this shouldn’t have been surprising.

As for the English dub, it is pretty good. Harry Gould was particularly good casting as Nishi, having that grandfatherly kindness so needed for the part. I really can’t register a complaint about it except for some of the dialogue changes at the end.

The movie is rated G and there is no offensive content to be found in it. Little kids might be bored with the introspective passages in it, but there will be scenes that will appeal to them. Make no mistake about it, this is a thoughtful movie so it is slow moving compared to something like Spirited Away.

I highly recommend this movie to teens and up. Simply a wonderful movie for one to behold, it has a warmth that is utterly charming. Hey, it made me love “Country Roads”, a tune I used to mock as a kid. That’s the kind of magic it contains.

Technical

The best thing about the Blu-ray releases of Studio Ghibli films from Disney is that they have all been digitally restored from original film elements, not just remastered. This means they look better than they ever have in home video release. Colors are incredibly vibrant, contrast is sharp, and everything is clean as could be visually.

I will note that Whisper of the Heart is a little over sharpened from the restoration process, however this is only noticeable if you are looking at an HDTV from about six inches away. Or a computer monitor when making screen captures, though it won’t be noticeable since I down scaled them to 720p.

Presented in 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, the picture is excellent on both the 1080p Blu-ray and 480i DVD included in the set. Animated content benefits the most from high definition, so you’ll want to a Blu-ray player to fully appreciate the gorgeous animation. But the DVD version is as good as that format gets.

Audio is equally pristine with DTS-HD used for the Blu-ray and Dolby Digital 5.1 for the DVD. The original Japanese dub and English dubs are available on both discs. While mastered in surround sound, it is mainly used to carry music in the surround speakers rather than sound effects or dialogue. After all, it is a mid-90’s film.

Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, and French. I’m kind of surprised Spanish was left out in a North American release.

Most of the extras are on both discs with an additional two on the BD.

Original Japanese Storyboards – Only on the Blu-ray, the entire film is presented in storyboards drawn by Kondo. His style of storyboarding is quite a bit different than Miyazaki’s seen on other releases. This will only be of interest to those fascinated by animation or story blocking. It’s all in 1080p, amazingly enough.

4 Masterpieces of Naohisa Inoue – Again in 1080p and only on the BD, this is a collection of time lapse paintings by the fantasy artist responsible for look of Shizuku’s story. It is an impressive display of neo-pointillism that had me wondering how one could begin with the first capture and end up with the final one. They are set to music so the whole thing becomes a relaxing meditation for about half an hour.

Behind the Microphone – This consists of interviews with the actors who dubbed the English version. It is in 4:3 DVD format, but the quality is closer to videotape. Using young actresses from their stable at the time, Disney real life best friends Brittany Snow and Ashley Tidale as Shizuku and Yuko, respectively. Proving they are indeed actresses, their personalities couldn’t be more different than their characters if they tried.

Jean Smart and James B. Sikking do bang up jobs as the very patient parents of Shizuku and for Smart it was the opportunity to do voice work on a movie for the first time. Cary Elwes is perfect as the Baron and also gives an insight into the differences voicing the dapper cat in the two films he appeared in.

Seiji’s voice actor, David Gallagher, seemed to have a great time recording. Seeing Harry Gould play Nishi is a lesson in how an old pro knows how to do things better than any kid, however.

Trailers & TV Spots --  Just what it says, the original Japanese ads are presented in 4:3 format and are not restored. Not much can be said about them since there are no glimpses of alternate scenes or early production art.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Nishi’s gentle guidance using the geode as a teaching tool about uncovering one’s hidden talents is terrific stuff. Not only did it well represent a principle, it inspired Shizuku to create a world made from gems.

Of course, we had to have a flying scene in the movie since Miyazaki wrote the screenplay. While not as good as similar scenes in Howl’s Moving Castle or The Cat Returns, it is a visually lovely introduction to the world of Shizuku’s novel.

The library scene is so well done. From her finding the line drawing of the prisoner carving a violin to her sudden realization that Seiji has been sitting across from her for some time it is great insight into how unaware of the world Shizuku has been. It’s also a nice tie in to the earlier reveal that he had checked out all the books in an effort to get her to notice him.

Then there is the promise to come back from Italy to be with her once he’s done with his apprenticeship in three years. It is like something out of a story book romance, but slightly more plausible.

Typical of many an author, Shizuku takes elements from what she has around her and tries to stitch together a narrative. Using part of the story told to her by Nishi about the history of the Baron, she begins weaving a tale of lost love in a world of magic. Along with the story of the fairy princess and dwarf king from the clock, there is a lot of foreshadowing of impossible love.

That calendar freezes the movie in time, doesn’t it? Utterly driven, she crosses off the days as she writes her story with it becoming her entire life. Of course that has consequences at school, leading to her mother being summoned by her teacher. This is a nice illustration of how kids really don’t understand the problems they cause for those who care for them.

Speaking of consequences, I thought the family distress Shizuku caused to be very realistic. Older siblings do act the way Shiho does, though her parents are unusually tolerant and compassionate. Yet the subtle way the family conference unfolds show just how worried they really are.

I liked how Shizuku’s nightmare from her novel exposes her fear of failure. She’s so determined to match Seiji and be worthy of him, but is in unknown territory with no clue as to what she’s doing. The scene is a perfect metaphor for her current emotional state. The brief dead chick moment is a bit jarring and the only thing that might upset younger viewers.

Another dream hints at what the Baron really means to Nishi and is terribly poignant. Once again, love lost takes center stage when he dreams of a woman named Elise only to awaken to her not being there. It’s a deep pain exposed that adds depth to both the character and movie.

Shizuku’s having Nishi read her story unlocks his heart and helps him reveal the pain that has haunted him for so many years. A world war separated him from his college love and the Baron from his companion doll, never to be found again. It’s more grim foreshadowing of impossible love.

The sudden reappearance of Seiji having returned from Italy early breaks the feeling of impending doom. He’s not going to spend his high school years there despite proving his talent. Instead, he’ll be in Japan with Shizuku.

I liked how the two are completely in tune with each other by this point, despite the physical distance between them. His putting his coat around her in the cold morning air and her resting her head on his back is a sweet payoff after the negative foreshadowing.

The subtitled version is superior to the dub in accurately telling the story, especially at the end. Seiji had vowed to take her up the hill on the bicycle under his own power and this irritates her no end. Shizuku jumps off and declares “I’ll never be any man’s burden!” before pushing from behind. That’s lost in the dub.

It was quite a feminist statement back in 1990’s Japan.

Together they watch the sunrise and Seiji proposes to her. She nods in assent to marrying after high school and he declares his love for her. This is watered down in the dub.

It was also very controversial at the time of release with many decrying it in the Japanese media . Accusation were made of promoting teen marriages, when Miyazaki simply wanted to encourage young people to be serious about life in an era of declining marriages and birthrates.

Personally, I think young people need to truly grow up by becoming responsible in their teens like it used to be. Now everyone acts like a child well into their thirties and society has decayed due to immature behavior. So I’m with Hayao on this one.

There’s another sweet payoff near the very end of the closing credits. Watch the people at the top for cameos and a resolution to Yuko’s romantic problems.