Things I Watched: Perfect Blue - A Devious Thriller About Confused Identity

A sense of confused identity persists throughout Satoshi Kon's devious animated thriller Perfect Blue. Despite approaching to twenty years since it was first released, it remains a whip-smart film; one I don’t mind admitting had me scratching my head for long periods when I watched it last week. Anime doesn't always get compared to arthouse cinema but this one fits the bill. It's a film that toys with expectations before turning them inside out in a frantic search for identity.

The film begins with lead character Mima Kirigoe taking to the stage to perform as part of the all-girl pop group CHAM. To greet the group are an array adoring audience members, all male, who cheer and shout the three lascivious women belt out their upbeat and catchy songs. Given her vocation, Mima is no stranger to being considered somebody she isn’t but this becomes the source of great consternation when visceral daydreams interrupts her life. As these begin to coincide with a slew of gruesome murders on the set of a TV show things are thrown into question. Are these real or fake? Who exactly is Mima? And could she be the one killing off cast and crew?

Director, Satoshi Kon puts focus on ambiguity. He pushes a sense of confused identity where the limitations of Mima's memory expose the unknown qualities of her character. Despite help from her agents, she puts enormous pressure on herself which leads to her agreeing to take part in a mock rape scene on the set of a small daytime drama. It’s a decision that manifests into a series hallucinations where she believes she is being stalked by the former pop-idol version of herself. Frequent visions like this occur throughout; all equally metaphysical and sinister. A kind of libidinous id whose main goal is to break down the boundaries of Mima's fragile ego.

It's summed up best halfway through when Mima envisages a vicious attack on the set of a TV show by an obsessive fan known as ‘Me-Mania’. It's roughly here where the symbolism erupts with a long and difficult scene that mimics the attack as if it were the rape scene from the show itself. It's not only a great example of terrifying violence by itself but also serves to underpin the belief that the hallucinations are allegories for society's wider obsession with fiction posing as reality.

On my first viewing, I couldn’t quite figure out what was real and what wasn't. It was only on a second viewing that I realised its no where near as devious as it first appears. I think that's great because it shows how willing we are as an audience to take the bait of more fantastical ideas when simpler alternatives are available. In that respect, Perfect Blue is not just an exciting thriller but also a perfect commentary how we, like Mima, play into the escapism of fiction.

Of course, it's easy to appreciate as an exciting thriller in itself. Made all the better for being packaged inside a very exciting, wonderfully animated 81-minute package. At the end of the day, it's a wonderful debut from Satoshi Kon. The creator of equally wonderful and unique films like Millennium Actress and Paprika.