The film summarizes the four fundamental moments of the existence of Mishima, the famous Japanese writer.
Beauty - Inspired by the novel The Golden Pavilion. The absolute protagonist is the golden temple that fascinates and inhibits its novice at the same time to the point of making him incapable of the act of love and of speaking fluently. It is the hatred for Beauty, which will lead him to the destruction of the celebrated jewel emblem of perfection, to finally feel free and equal to others.
Art - From the novel The House of Kyoto. Osamu, the young narcissistic actor, obsessed with his own body that he detests, discourses on ideal physical beauty while lying in bed with a woman. Although reluctant, he agrees to have a sado-masochistic relationship with her that will soon lead him to discover his own body irremediably disfigured. There is no more choice, the only solution is death.
Action - From the novel Runaway Horses. Isao, a young cadet, is a fervent patriot whose only belief is absolute dedication to his emperor. With his companions he decides to purge the Nation of the demon of capitalism but his conspiracy fails and Isao is ready for the most sublime act of catharsis in the samurai tradition: suicide (seppuku). The Harmony between Pen and Sword - It is Mishima's suicide, the culmination of his novels represented in the first three parts. Just as his literary creativity appears entirely devoted to death, so the death that Mishima will give himself appears as the last of his works, the act that satisfies his cruel anxiety to resemble them by annulling himself: the extreme paradoxical attempt to unite Art and Life. It is November 25, 1970.
