Coup d'État (Japanese: 戒厳令, Hepburn: Kaigenrei), also titled Martial Law, is a 1973 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. It is based on the life of nationalist intellectual Ikki Kita and an account of the attempted overthrow of the Japanese government by a group of army officers on 26 February 1936. It is the third film in a loose trilogy, preceded by Eros + Massacre (1969) and Heroic Purgatory (1970).
Contents
Cast
Rentarō Mikuni as Kazuki Kitamura
Yasuyo Matsumura as Suzu, Kazuki's wife
Yasuo Miyake as Young soldier
Akiko Kurano as Soldier's wife
Tadahiko Sugano as Nishida
Taketoshi Naitō as Army officer
Kei Iinuma as Iwasa
Kazunaga Tsuji as Heigo Asahi
Masako Yagi as Heigo's sister
Background
Coup d'État was Japan's submission to the 46th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Legacy
Coup d'État was screened at the Harvard Film Archive in 2009 as part of a retrospective on Yoshida's work.