This article constitutes a comparison of two films — Patriotism (1965) by Yukio Mishima and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) by Paul Schrader, a biographical film about the Japanese writer and director of the first film. The article focuses on how the latter film imitates the former, both in formal style and in showing the act of suicide. The analysis also covers problems of adaptation, theatricality, homoerotism and the tradition of Japanese cinema.