Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
“On November 25, 1970, Japan's most celebrated writer, Yukio Mishima, shocked the world.”
A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.
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Cast
54 people
Ken Ogata
Yukio Mishima
Known for
The Ballad of Narayama
Vengeance Is Mine
Masayuki Shionoya
Morita
Known for
Pulse
Charisma
Hiroshi Mikami
Cadet #1
Known for
Premonition
Swallowtail Butterfly
Junya Fukuda
Cadet #2
Yuu Tokui
Cadet #3
Known for
Dark Water
I Am a Hero
Junkichi Orimoto
General Mashita
Known for
The Return of Godzilla
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode
Roy Scheider
Narrator (voice)
Known for
Jaws
The French Connection
Naoko Ohtani
Mother
Known for
The Land of Hope
Zigeunerweisen
Go Riju
Mishima, Age 18-19
Known for
Gannibal
Guinea Pig: Mermaid in the Manhole
Masato Aizawa
Mishima, Age 9-14
No other roles listed
Yuki Nagahara
Mishima, Age 5
No other roles listed
Kyuzo Kobayashi
Literary Friend
No other roles listed
Paul Schrader Director · Chieko Schrader Screenplay Jun Shiragi Screenplay
Director Writer
Paul Schrader
Screenplay Writer
Chieko Schrader
Screenplay
Jun Shiragi
Writer
Leonard Schrader
Author
Yukio Mishima
Composer
Philip Glass
Cinematographer
John Bailey
Editor
Michael Chandler
Editor
Tomoyo Oshima
Production designer Costume designer
Eiko Ishioka
Costume designer
Etsuko Yagyu
Worldwide gross $503K · Budget $5M · United States release September 20, 1985
Box office
Budget
$5,000,000
Worldwide gross
$502,758
Gross vs. budget
0.1×
Production
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Production · Studio
American Zoetrope
Production
Filmlink International
Production
M Company
Production
Tristone Entertainment Inc.
Production
Japan · United States
Produced in
Languages
Original language
Japanese
Spoken on screen
English · Japanese
Release dates
France · May 15, 1985
Premiere · Cannes Film Festival
United States · September 20, 1985
Theatrical
Australia
November 28, 1985 · Theatrical
Canada
September 12, 1985 · Premiere · Toronto International Film Festival
Germany
October 31, 1985 · Theatrical
Japan
October 30, 2025 · Premiere · Tokyo International Film Festival
November 8, 2025 · Limited theatrical · Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho Theater 1
Portugal
February 7, 1986 · Theatrical
Spain
March 12, 1986 · Limited theatrical · Madrid
United Kingdom
March 18, 1989 · TV · BBC Two, The Film Club
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Some details come from TheTVDB.