Kakekomi

Set in the Edo period, Harada Masato's first jidaigeki follows the wayward ways of three kakekomi ("runaway women") who seek freedom from their disastrous marriages in the mountain temple of Tokeiji, in Kamakura. But to obtain their divorce papers, they must first endure two years of monastic service at the Buddhist nunnery. While their men roam outside the gates, some with regret in their hearts, others with revengeful plots in their heads, romance blooms between one of the women and an aspiring writer who lives next door. Hilarity and tragedy both ensue in this tale of sisterhood, women's rights and patriarchal oppression.