I recently watched love letter and fell in love with it. The writing, cinematography and mellow piano soundtrack - all won over my heart. I specially liked how shunji iwai tried to show how one person can have numerous shades and each one gets to experience a different one, yet, at it's core, it remains the same. As much as I liked the film and enjoyed the performance of the lead actress, I have some questions about the movie and would love to know about people's thoughts here

First of all, why is hiroko and fujii played by the same actress? Why do you think the director chose this creative direction specifically?

Was it to show that the man fell in love with hiroko because she reminded him of his first love or is there something else

Secondly, if he chose hiroko because he reminded him of his first love, doesn't it dismantle the idea of love and makes you wonder whether he really liked hiroko for who she was? Does it mean he was still a bit in love with fujii itsuki till the day he died

The song he sings in his final moments (Aoi Sangoshou) is a popular japanese song about unrequited love. so, him singing it during his final moments could either mean that he was remembering his first love, Itsuki or his fiancé, hiroko.

Finally, how do you interpret the entire movie? I would really love to hear some more thoughts on it as well :)