PRINCESS ARETE

MOVIE 2001/105min

All people have the ability to turn their fantasies into reality.
“What am I really capable of doing?” “Why am I here, and why am I doing this?” These are the kinds of doubts and anxieties that everyone feels at one time or another during his or her life. But after seeing Princess Arete, people will feel like sweeping away all the constraints that bind them. Arete has been born princess, and in the midst of an environment that places limitations on her and where she is unable to have any self-confidence, she learns to believe in herself, encourage herself, and seek out possibilities as she discovers her true self. As a representative of one placed in an unsatisfactory environment, Princess Arete reflects the loneliness and isolation of contemporary people who have not discovered the meaning of their lives. Unlike such a passive princesses as Cinderella and Snow White, she does not merely wait for a prince to rescue her. Instead, she represents the birth of a new type of active heroine, one who uses her will to blaze her own path into future. This incorporates the director's insistent message that “All people have the ability to turn their fantasies into reality.” This tale is an adventure of the heart, and the director hopes that everyone in every generation, whether children or adults, who is confused about his or her identity or trying to figure out what to do, will see it.