Fear and Trembling
Amélie, a young Belgian woman, having spent her childhood in Japan, decides to return to live there and tries to integrate in the Japanese society. She is determined to be a "real Japanese" before her year contract runs out, though it precisely this determination that is incompatable with Japanese humility. Though she is hired for a choice position as a translator at an import/export firm, her inability to understand Japanese cultural norms results in increasingly humiliating demotions. Though Amelie secretly adulates her, her immediate supervisor takes sadistic pleasure in belittling her all along. She finally manages to break Amelie's will by making her the bathroom attendant, and is delighted when Amelie tells her the she will not renew her contract. Amelie realizes that she is finally a real Japanese when she enters the company president's office "with fear and trembling," which could only be possible because her determination was broken by Miss Fubuki's systematic torture.
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Cast
9 people
Sylvie Testud
Amélie
Known for
La Vie en Rose
Tamara
Kaori Tsuji
Fubuki
Also in
Beach Boys
Helpless
Bison Katayama
Monsieur Omochi
No other roles listed
Tarō Suwa
Monsieur Saito
Known for
Cold Fish
Cure
Yasunari Kondo
Monsieur Tenshi
Also in
The Viper's Hex
Beyond the Blood
Sokyu Fujita
Monsieur Haneda
Known for
Into the Sun
Harmony
Gen Shimaoka
Monsieur Unaji
Also in
Inju: The Beast in the Shadow
Land of the Singing Dog
Heileigh Gomes
Amélie enfant
No other roles listed
Eri Sakai
Fubuki enfant
No other roles listed
Alain Corneau Director · Amélie Nothomb Author Yves Angelo Cinematographer
Worldwide gross $2.3M · First release March 12, 2003 · Produced in Japan, France
Box office
Worldwide gross
$2,300,000
Production
StudioCanal
Production
Les Films Alain Sarde
Production
Divali Films
Production
France 3 Cinéma
Production
Japan · France
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Stupeur et tremblements
Original language
French
Spoken on screen
French · Japanese
Release dates
France · March 12, 2003
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
Czechia
July 17, 2003 · Theatrical
October 11, 2009 · TV · ČT2
Switzerland
March 19, 2003 · Digital
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Some details come from TheTVDB.