Whisper of the Heart, a Studio Ghibli classic that does not get nearly enough of the love it deserves, blends fantasy and romance with sweetness and sublime innocence to create an undeniably heartwarming and imaginative tale. 

Whisper of the Heart follows Shizuku, a girl enamored with literature and writing, who spends most of her free time at the library; when she’s not reading, she’s frequently working on a translation of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for her area of Tama New Town in Tokyo. Upon discovering that all the library books she had been reading were previously checked out by one Seiji Amasawa, she embarks on an ersatz adventure following a cat throughout the city. If that sentence lapsed in reality and sensibility, it’s because the fantasy and imagination of the film made it impossible to describe it with pure seriousness. Whisper of the Heart is as sweetly romantic as it is fantastically ridiculous, indulging into the brilliant capabilities of a young and endless imagination. 

Nearly every Studio Ghibli film is immensely profound and thoughtful; their films understand the responsibility inlaid in animation and in informing younger audiences. Watching them as an adult, I’ve found myself drawn to the ones that bridge the gap between fantasy and reality, where bits of magic slip into an otherwise normal world, where characters can dare to create a world in which their dreams become reality and all their love is true. Whisper of the Heart is so earnest with both the love and ambition the characters are wrapped in, but it’s not out of naivety, rather the brilliant worldbuilding of Yoshifumi Kondō and Studio Ghibli allow the characters to live in optimism and possibility. 

The film is not just a love letter to the art of storytelling, but the role translation plays in art. As Shizuku struggles to find direct translations of Denver’s words in her translation of his song, she aims to capture the essence of his tune instead. The music is brought to life when she performs it with Seiji, an aspiring violin-maker, and the song couldn’t be a better fit for the film; Shizuku and Seiji, with love and ambition, both grapple with the question of whether to leave, or to stay home, even if for a short while. 
Though it’s not quite as commercially popular as many other Studio Ghibli films, the love and passion embedded in a sweet, fantastical tale make Whisper of the Heart a stunning delight in the animation canon.

Whisper of the Heart
1995
dir. Yoshifumi Kondô
111 min.

Screens on 35mm Tuesday, 5/28, 7:00pm @ Coolidge Corner Theatre
Part of the continuing series: Ghibliotheque