Kei Yuikawa

'Female' is comprised of five short films adapted from five novels by female authors. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo Shinohara, Ryuichi Hiroki, Miwa Nishikawa, and Suzuki Matsuo.

A mentally unstable young woman named Yoshie implores a gifted plastic surgeon (Yukiko Okamoto) to make her beautiful in this disturbing Japanese psychodrama directed by Katsuya Matsumura. Although the operation is successful, Yoshie becomes even more preoccupied with beauty -- and soon draws the doctor into a horrifying world of emotional agony and masochism. The film's supporting cast includes Asuka Kurosawa, Kota Kusano and Miki Asakura.

In the story, 33-year-old Kanazawa native Noriko had decided long ago not to accept an ordinary, provincial life for herself. So, she had gone to college in Tokyo, worked on her own, married a man at an elite trading firm, and had a child. She has just returned home from five years abroad with her husband and four-year-old son. However, she senses a large emptiness in her heart since coming back. Moreover, there is a man who shares a big secret with Noriko.

This is the dramatized version of the Naoki Award-winning novel by author, Kei Yuikawa. Moe Hayasaka is an office worker in an import service company who cannot devote herself in romance. On the other hand, Moe’s close friend, Ruriko Murono, who snatches Moe’s boy friend away to marry him for her third time, is interested in nothing but romantic affairs. Through their love and friendship, this drama portrays women in their 30s being rocked by marriage, divorce, infidelity, and work.

Miyaji is a full-time housewife who has no interest in dressing herself. One day, her life changes completely as she was scouted as a reader model for a popular female fashion magazine "Vogue". She meets various types of women in the fashion magazine industry, each in their own hunt for happiness.