DVD RC2 (playable in all European DVD-players), NTSC

Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Producer:
Cast: Kyoko Kishida, Eiji Okada, Hiroko Ito
Running time: 124 minutes
Released: 1964 [Japan]
Genre: Drama
Sub-genre:

Audio: Japanese
Subtitles (removable): English, Japanese
Features: B&W
Distributor: Asmik [Japan] 2002

Directed by then-37-year-old Hiroshi Teshigahara, based on the novel by Kobo Abe (with his own screenplay) "Woman in the Dunes (Suna no Onna)" won the jury prize at Cannes and earned two Oscar nominations. It follows an entomologist who is invited to spend the night - after missing his bus - at a house in the remote village he was visiting while searching for insects. Soon, he finds himself trapped by the villagers at the bottom of a sandpit where he is forced to shovel sand with a woman who lives there. There's a reason why the villagers are doing this, but their action, the sand, and the man's relationship with the woman, and particularly his gradual acceptance of the situation all suggest a rich parable of life, sex and death. This is undeniably one of the most hypnotic films ever made, with photography that gives nature a palpable texture. Brilliant atmospheric score by Tooru Takemitsu.