[WaitxUntilxDark]

Since no one else seems to understand this movie, let me offer you my take on it. Asami is not angry about any betrayals, but rather is a Sadist in the purist and most extreme form. If you watch any other Miike films, you will see that he often uses sadism as a theme or underlying tone for many of his characters. Take "One Missed Call" for example. That movie, and it's antagonist, are a good explanation for the character of Asami. True, it was childhood abuse that made her develop her sadist tendencies. Because of abuse inflicted by her stepfather as a child, Asami is unable to mentally grasp the concept of love, and how it should be administered. She only knows pain, and in her twisted concept of love, pain begets love. She is not really a jealous person per se, but rather, possessive. Nowhere does she even imply that Ryo Ishibashi has cheated on her, but only that he loves others besides her (his son, his ex-wife, etc..), after she had explicitly explained to Ryo that he can love her and only her. Because she is overly possessive, and only knows how to show love through pain, she tortures Ryo. This is evident by some of the things that says while torturing him. The brilliance of this film is what has caused many (in my opinion, less intelligent people, and people with no attention span) to dislike it. They find the first hour and a half of the film to be boring and pointless. Miike has said that he purposely made the first portion of the film to be slow to make the last 30 minutes all that more terrifying, which he capitalized on. The slow build up (hardly boring) delves into the inner thoughts of the characters, and allows for us to get to know them on a personal level, even to relate with them. It is also anything but terrifying until the last 30 minutes, which eases the viewer's mind and lowers their expectations to see anything gory or scary. How wrong the viewer turns out to be. The best thing that I can tell you to do is to watch this movie the way all movies should be watched: without expectation. You will then get the fullest viewing experience out of it. I hope that I have helped you out, and I strongly recommend that you watch this movie. By the way, it is being rereleased on 8/23/05.

This is for the people who complain about the pacing of audition (see now it's in the right place)