Doing Business with the Japanese: A Study of Alain Corneau's Fear and Trembling
Doing Business with the Japanese: A Study of Alain Corneau's Fear and Trembling

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to illustrate the manner in which French director Alain Corneau's film Fear and Trembling (originally titled Stupeur et tremblements, released in 2003) provides a cross-cultural examination of the world of Japanese office politics and canvasses the peculiarities of the Japanese corporate culture as seen through the eyes of a European. I will demonstrate that at once a story of bold ambition and masochism, the film explores and exploits – sometimes resorting to stereotyping – both the fascination of the Western world with the Japanese culture and the failure to adapt to the requirements of a mighty different cultural environment.

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