Mishima : the harmony between the pen and the sword

My assumption is that Paul Schrader’s aim when making a biopic entitled Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters was to find a form which might enable him to emphasize the most important aspects in the work of the Japanese artist, namely the combination of art and life, intermingling of ideas and reality and creating his own image through the conscious use of autobiographical strategies. In my analysis I focus on the original stylistic and narrative solutions employed by Schrader in his film. I also present the literary contexts of the work and reveal how biographical material is transformed in an artistic text.