Paris, Max Linder Panorama, January 13, 2026
On January 13, 2026, Paris hosted a deeply resonant and emotionally charged premiere of Love on Trial, an event that felt less like a simple screening and more like an extension of the film’s own quiet rebellion. The evening opened with a Konbini-style tasting, a thoughtful nod to contemporary Japanese culture that immediately set the tone, blending pop aesthetics with a sharper cultural awareness. This informal prelude contrasted strikingly with the gravity of the film that followed: a 2-hour-and-3-minute Japanese drama presented in VOSTFR, written and directed by Kōji Fukada, and centered on Mai Yamaoka, a rising J-pop idol whose career implodes when she commits the ultimate contractual sin—falling in love. When her relationship becomes public, Mai is sued by her own agency for violating a “no-relationship” clause, transforming a private emotional choice into a legal and moral battlefield. Watching the film in Paris, far from the specific mechanics of the Japanese idol system yet intimately familiar with its pressures, the story unfolded as a universal parable about control, image, and the commodification of human emotion.
The Paris premiere carried additional weight given the film’s already remarkable international journey. Love on Trial had its world premiere on May 22, 2025, in the Cannes Première section of the Festival de Cannes, where it immediately stood out for its restrained yet incisive critique of celebrity culture. Rather than delivering a loud indictment, the film chose a hushed, observational approach, allowing systemic cruelty to emerge through procedures, silences, and social pressure. This quiet power continued to resonate as the film traveled to the Busan International Film Festival on September 19, 2025, as part of “A Window on Asian Cinema,” before being showcased in the Gala Selection of the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 28, 2025. This festival trajectory confirmed the film’s singular position: deeply rooted in a specific cultural reality, yet immediately legible and unsettling to international audiences. As noted by Variety, the film operates as a “murmured critique of Japanese celebrity culture,” a description that feels particularly apt given its refusal to dramatize outrage, instead letting institutional violence speak for itself.
One of the most powerful moments of the Paris evening came during the post-screening talk with Kōji Fukada and Kyōko Saitō, whose presence gave the film an added layer of emotional and symbolic depth. A former J-pop idol herself as a member of Hinatazaka46, Kyōko Saitō embodies Mai with a precision that feels lived-in rather than performed. During the discussion, Kōji Fukada spoke about his desire to avoid sensationalism, explaining that his focus was on portraying how systems quietly erase individuality through contracts, expectations, and social pressure. Kyōko Saitō, in turn, addressed the emotional discipline required to play a character whose rebellion is internal, fragile, and yet profoundly radical. That conversation seamlessly flowed into her live musical performance of a song from the film, a moment that felt less like promotion and more like an extension of the narrative itself—an echo of Mai’s silenced voice reclaiming space through music, vulnerability, and presence.
Artistically, Love on Trial is supported by a creative team whose work reinforces its emotional restraint and thematic clarity. The cinematography by Hidetoshi Shinomiya captures the sterile coldness of agency offices and courtrooms while preserving moments of fleeting warmth in private encounters, emphasizing how love survives in the margins. The editing by Sylvie Lager maintains a deliberate rhythm that mirrors the slow tightening of institutional pressure, while the score composed by Takaaki Yamamoto subtly underlines emotional shifts without ever dictating how the audience should feel. Alongside Kyōko Saitō, performances by Erika Karata and Kenjiro Tsuda add layers of ambiguity and quiet menace, embodying characters who are themselves trapped within the same machinery.
Synopsis :
A young pop idol on the rise, Mai commits the unforgivable: she falls in love, despite the strict prohibition written into her contract. When her relationship is exposed, Mai is dragged before the courts by her own agency. Faced with an unrelenting machine, the two lovers decide to fight to defend their most universal right: the right to love.
Love on Trial
Directed by Koji Fukada
Written by Koji Fukada, Shintaro Mitani
Produced by Shin Yamaguchi, Yoko Abe, Atsuko Ôno
Starring Kyōko Saitō, Erika Karata, Kenjiro Tsuda
Cinematography : Hidetoshi Shinomiya
Edited by Sylvie Lager
Music by Takaaki Yamamoto
Production companies : Toho, Survivance
Distributed by Toho (Japan), ArtHouse (France)
Release dates : 22 May 2025 (Cannes), 23 January 2026 (Japan), February 18, 2026 (France)
Running time : 124 minutes
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