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Now that Drive My Car has won both Palme d'Or and an Oscar
I should probably talk about it
Based on a short story by author Haruki Murakami
This 2021 Japanese drama tells the story of a stage actor
Struggling to deal with the emotional trauma
Left by the sudden passing of his unfaithful wife
Long, slow, with low key acting
And minimalist presentation
Drive My Car can be difficult to decipher
For one thing, it makes extensive use
Of a literary device called "Intertextuality"
Shaping its story by referencing Uncle Vanya
A play written by Russian playwright Anton "The Gun" Chekhov
That's the one thing I want to talk about, today:
What is intertextuality
How it is utilized in the film
And what it brings to the story
This will be a watered-down look at what I learned in film school
So, it will be slightly dry
But I'll try my best to get the point across as simply as possible
That means I will be sticking to more colloquial terms
Just for simplicity's sake
So, without further ado
Let's take a look at Drive My Car
And its hidden meanings
[Chapter One]
First, what is intertextuality?
Well, it is a literary device
In which a text is shaped by another text
Think allusions, references, parodies, or needle drops
This shot from Shaolin Soccer is funny on its own
But the humor really comes from its intertextual connection
With 2001 A Space Odyssey
It takes the grandiose of the earlier film
And uses it as a setup
While Shaolin Soccer itself contains only the punchline
The joke happens in between these two texts
And thus: INTER-textuality
In general, intertextuality comes in three non-exclusive categories
Obligatory
This is when a text MUST be deciphered using another text
For example: Scary Movie
This parody of the horror film Scream
Only makes sense if you have seen Scream
If you watch Scary Movie without seeing Scream
The satires would feel hollow and without meaning
That's why the intertextuality is obligatory
Optional intertextuality is less demanding
The film Scream is itself a commentary on the slasher genre
On films like Halloween, for example
"There are certain RULES that one must abide by"
"In order to successfully survive a horror movie"
"For instance, number one: you can never have sex."
However, this intertextual connection merely adds a commentary
On top of a complete film that can be understood on its own
Hence why it is optional
Finally, there is also accidental intertextuality
This is when the reader comes up with their own connections
You can argue that Halloween has an intertextual connection
With the Book of Revelation
In which terrifying supernatural beings purge the world of its sinners
Hence why only the virgin survives
As the name implies
These intertextual relationships are not intended by the author
Now that you know what Intertextuality is
What is it for?
Well, it can be used as mere easter eggs
But it can also be a way to establish, add or strengthen meanings
The Bride's outfit from Kill Bill is a very direct reference
To Bruce Lee in Game of Death
That intertextuality imbues the character with the aura of Bruce Lee
Making her appear more formidable and unyielding
This imbuement and reinforcement of meanings
Is what we'll be looking at today
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[Chapter Two]
With all of that out of the way
Time to look at Drive My Car
In the film, Kafuku, a stage actor, lives a double life
While he appears to be in a loving marriage
In reality, Kafuku knows that his wife is unfaithful
While she seems to want to talk about this
Kafuku, fearing that it will ruin his marriage
Never confronts his wife about this
Meanwhile, being a stage actor
Kafuku has a habit of reciting dialogues while he drives
He'd play as Uncle Vanya
While an audio tape recorded by his wife plays all the other roles
"I could have attained so much from life,"
"but it's too late now at this age."
"Uncle Vanya, that's so boring"
And it's through these moments
A lot of the character's hidden inner struggle surfaces
These passages from Uncle Vanya are delivered without emotion
Indeed, he was merely reciting the words
"The flow of the entire play has to be memorized with my method."
"So I listen to it over and over."
But this monotone performance brings a great deal of irony
If you know the context of Uncle Vanya
In the play, Vanya is a miserable old man
He lives with his niece on a rural estate
Working for his entire life to support his brother-in-law
One day, the elderly brother-in-law comes to visit
Bringing with him his much younger second wife, Yelena
Vanya finds himself developing feelings for Yelena
While Yelena finds herself torn between two men
Neither of them is Vanya
Sad, jealous, and frustrated
Vanya resents his in-law
And lemants that he may have wasted his life
Drive My Car, then, takes Uncle Vanya's miserable emotion
And transplanted it onto Kafuku
Take this passage, for example
"[...]Look at that swagger, acting like he's some kind of lord."
"You envy him, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. I envy him a lot."
This scene happens not long
After Kafuku witnessed his wife's infidelity firsthand
Just from the surface text, it is not hard to see that
The film implies that he is jealous of his wife's lover
But it gets more complicated
This passage comes from a scene
In which Vanya complains about his in-law
Specifically, about him marring his young and beautiful wife, Yelena
Remember, Vanya has feelings for Yelena
While Yelena does not reciprocate
When you match the characters between the two texts
The discrepancy creates a new meaning
While on the surface, Kafuku married his wife
Deep down, he thinks his wife actually has no feelings for him
And is, instead, belongs with the much more attractive lover
Intertextuality adds meaning
Another good example is this scene
Here, his wife's lover, Takatsuki, comes to audition
He plays Astrov
The man who Yelena may or may not have feelings for
Astrov seduces Yelena in a rather aggressive manner
While on the surface, this scene clearly calls back to
When Kafuku saw his wife cheating on him
The call back is even stronger, when you look at the play
When Astrov and Yelena kisses
Vanya is actually there to witness it
Vanya loses it
Just as Kafuku did
"That's enough. Sorry about that"
For this whole time when he's watching this audition
Kafuku is forced to be Vanya
He is attacked by both the memory of his unfaithful wife
And the emotion of the character
Thus, intertextuality strengthens meanings
[Chapter Three]
Beyond adding and strengthening meanings in a text
Intertextuality also has an effect beyond the plot
For example, the acting in Drive My Car is very understated
"Yes. It's something we must think about"
Under normal circumstances
It's easy to see this as emotionless and robotic
But Uncle Vanya's status as a classic brings an ere of legitimacy
And it shapes the expectation of the audience
We became more willing to give it a benefit of the doubt
And to see the intention behind this unorthodox acting choice
Of course, the film still has to justify it at the end
But the point is, audience perception is also shaped by intertextuality
This inclusion of Uncle Vanya also helps us understand
The intended tone and mood of the story
Drive My Car is a subdued film
Without pre-understanding Uncle Vanya
You have to watch, I'd say, 40 minutes of the film
Before you fully grasp the tone the film is going for
Uncle Vanya, being a melancholic story about the struggle of life
Directs the audience's attention towards that emotion
And enriches the experience in the process
Finally, Uncle Vanya help brings out the theme of Drive My Car
At the film's climax Kafuku befriends his driver
The two embrace, as the driver tells Kafuku
To make peace with his regret
"Would it be hard to think that she was simply like that?"
"That she loved you dearly and"
"that she sought other men constantly"
"don't seem to contradict each other or sound deceptive to me."
Next scene, Kafuku is on stage again, playing Vanya
Vanya's niece asks him to make peace with the hardship in life
"What can we do?"
"We must live our lives"
It's like seeing two stories coming together
Ending at the same time
Doubling the emotions
Two texts echo each other
The theme becomes louder and rings truer
And that is the power of intertextuality in art
[Conclusion]
And that is intertextuality
How it shapes, adds, and strengthens meanings
Through this extensive usage
Drive My Car creates this character headspace that is difficult
If not impossible to achieve with acting alone
The more you look into the text
The more intriguing the performance becomes
And that may be one of the key reasons
Why Drive My Car is adored by critics
That said, intertextuality can have its drawbacks
With the film's meaning hidden in between texts
The film is incredibly opaque
To those who aren't familiar with Uncle Vanya
It's certainly a challenging film to watch
And the film practically demands multiple viewings
But if you are down to watch a difficult movie
This is most definitely a good choice
Hopefully, this video gives you the right tools to digest the film
Drive My Car may be bland at first
But spend some time and really chew on it
Once you find the hidden flavor
It'll be a unique cinematic experience