Filmmaker Takashi Miike may be known for his extremism, but -- unlike many American horror films -- the terror in his films is earned, developed through stories with strongly psychological, even surrealist, underpinnings. Shigeharu still mourns the death of his wife seven years earlier. His son wants him to move on. His business associate Jun suggests a plan: hold auditions for a film they never intend to make, giving Shigeharu a pool of candidates from which to select a new wife. He wants a traditional wife. A happy wife. One that is "beautiful, classy and obedient." Don't worry, Jun tells him. He'll spot the right girl, because happy people don't act well. Shigeharu finds out it's not as simple as that, of course. He falls in love with an abused woman who is looking for revenge for her unhappy life. Metaphors abound here. AUDITION at times seems like a meditation on filmmaking itself, and at other times, a critique of male deception and Japan's oft-misplaced desire for tradition and obedience.