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● Movie Guide · Last updated May 18, 2026

Lost in Translation: Plot, Cast, Ending & Where to Watch

2003 · United Kingdom · Drama, Comedy, Romance · 1h 42m · Japanese

Lost in Translation is a 2003 United Kingdom drama film directed by Sofia Coppola. This guide covers the plot, full cast, an overview of the ending, where to watch, and similar films you might want next.

Read Ending Explained → Movies Like Lost in Translation Where to Watch
DramaComedyRecommended
Original Title
Lost in Translation
Director
Sofia Coppola
Writers
Sofia Coppola
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
1h 42m
Release
Sep 18, 2003
§ 01 Plot · 6 min read

Lost in Translation Plot Summary

Lost in Translation is a 2003 romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis when he travels to Tokyo to promote Suntory whisky. He befriends another disillusioned American, Charlotte, a recent college graduate and married for two years. Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, and Fumihiro Hayashi are also featured. The film explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan. It does not use mainstream narrative conventions and is atypical in its depiction of romance.

● Quick takeaway

Lost in Translation (2003) is a United Kingdom drama film, directed by Sofia Coppola, running 102 minutes. Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America. Stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Critical reception: IMDb 7.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes 95%, Metacritic 91/100. Tagline: "Everyone wants to be found.." This guide covers the plot, full cast, ending, and where to watch.

§ 02 Cast · 6 roles

Cast and Characters

Bill Murray headshot
Bill Murray
as Bob Harris
Murray is the film's gravitational centre and the role Sofia Coppola has said she would not have shot without him; she chased him for nearly a year on phone messages he never returned. Bob is a man on the wrong side of his career and his marriage, parked in a Tokyo hotel for a paycheque, and Murray plays him almost entirely in deadpan reactions — the elevator with the Japanese businessmen, the photographer shouting 'Roger Moore!' on the Suntory set, the strangled fax from his wife about shelves.
Scarlett Johansson headshot
Scarlett Johansson
as Charlotte
Johansson was seventeen when Coppola cast her — a child actress moving into adult parts with no Murray-scale presence yet — and the film is structured around her quietness rather than around her dialogue. Charlotte is a recent Yale philosophy graduate who has begun to suspect she married the wrong person, and Johansson plays the role in long held looks out the Park Hyatt window. The opening shot of her in pink underwear became one of the most-litigated images of the early 2000s.
Giovanni Ribisi headshot
Giovanni Ribisi
as John
Ribisi plays Charlotte's husband as the friendly background irritant the film needs him to be — a celebrity photographer who genuinely loves his wife and is also genuinely incapable of noticing she is unhappy. His scenes are short, his absences long, and his bumping into the actress Kelly in the Park Hyatt lobby is the small public humiliation that pushes Charlotte toward Bob's company. The role is calibrated to register as inattention rather than betrayal.
Anna Faris headshot
Anna Faris
as Kelly
Faris plays Kelly as a single comic note held for two minutes of screen time and then dropped — a Cameron-Diaz-figured young American action star promoting her new film at the Park Hyatt, whose press-junket cheerfulness reads to Charlotte as everything she does not want to become. The character is the film's clearest joke at the expense of celebrity affect, and Faris's willingness to play her at full self-parody is the reason the joke lands.
Akiko Takeshita headshot
Akiko Takeshita
as Ms. Kawasaki
Takeshita plays the Suntory account-handler who picks Bob up from Narita, walks him through every public-relations obligation on the schedule, and bows him through the lobby of the Park Hyatt. The role is a study in occupational courtesy: she never breaks register, never acknowledges Bob's exhaustion, and her steady professionalism becomes the wall against which Bob's jet-lagged confusion gently breaks for most of the first act.
Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe headshot
Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe
as Press Agent
Minamimagoe plays the Japanese press agent who functions as Bob's interpreter on the Suntory shoot — the figure standing between Bob and the director Suntory has hired, condensing minute-long Japanese instructions into 'with intensity' and 'more intensity' as the film's running joke. The performance is tightly disciplined: the comedy lives in what he chooses not to translate, and the role exists to make the cultural gap visible without making the Japanese figures the joke.
§ 03 · Spoiler Zone · Read with care

Ending Overview

How does Lost in Translation end? Our spoiler-aware breakdown walks through the final act beat by beat — including the choices, motivations, and ambiguous final shot that viewers most often debate.

Read full Ending Explained →
§ 04 Watch · Updated May 18

Where to Watch Lost in Translation

Availability may vary by region and change over time.

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Amazon Video
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Google Play Movies
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Y
YouTube
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A
Amazon Video
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§ 06

Frequently Asked

What is Lost in Translation about?

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

Where can I watch Lost in Translation?

See the Where to Watch section below for the current streaming, rental, and purchase options in your region.