Woman in the Dunes

For the novel this film was adapted from, see The Woman in the Dunes.
Not to be confused with Lady of the Dunes.
Woman in the Dunes

Japanese theatrical poster
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara
Produced by Kiichi Ichikawa
Tadashi Ōno
Written by Kōbō Abe
Starring Eiji Okada
Kyōko Kishida
Music by Toru Takemitsu
Cinematography Hiroshi Segawa
Edited by Fusako Shuzui
Distributed by Toho
Release dates
  • February 15, 1964 (1964-02-15)
Running time
 123 minutes
147 minutes (director's cut)
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Budget $100,000

Woman in the Dunes or Woman of the Dunes (砂の女 Suna no Onna, "Sand woman") is a 1964 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and starring Eiji Okada and Kyōko Kishida. It received positive critical reviews and was nominated for two Academy Awards. The screenplay for the film was adapted by Kōbō Abe from his 1962 novel.

Plot

A schoolteacher, Junpei Niki (Eiji Okada), is on an expedition to collect insects that inhabit sand dunes. When he misses the last bus, the villagers suggest that he stay the night. They guide him down a rope ladder to a house in a sand quarry where a young widow (Kyōko Kishida) lives alone. She is employed by the villagers to dig sand for sale to be used in concrete, and to save the house from burial in the advancing sand.

When Junpei tries to leave the next morning, he finds the ladder removed. The villagers expect him to become the woman's husband, to assist her in digging sand, and to have a child with her. Junpei initially tries to climb the sand, but it keeps collapsing. Junpei becomes the widow's lover, but he still yearns to leave. One morning, using an improvised grappling hook, he escapes from the sand dune and starts running while being chased by the villagers. However, he is unfamiliar with the geography of the area and becomes trapped in quicksand. The villagers free him and return him to the house.

Eventually, Junpei resigns himself to his fate. He requests time to watch the nearby sea, and the villagers offer to grant it if he makes love to the woman while they watch, but she fends him off. Through his persistent effort to trap a crow as a messenger, he discovers a way to draw water from the damp sand at night and becomes absorbed in the task of perfecting the technique. When it is discovered that the woman is pregnant, Junpei is given a chance to leave, but he chooses to stay. A report, after seven years, written by the police and signed by his mother, has declared him missing.

Cast

Critical reception

The film has a rating of 100% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 critical reviews with an average rating of 8.7 out of 10.[1]

Roger Ebert wrote "Woman in the Dunes is a modern version of the myth of Sisyphus, the man condemned by the gods to spend eternity rolling a boulder to the top of a hill, only to see it roll back down."[2] Strictly Film School describes it as "a spare and haunting allegory for human existence".[3] According to Max Tessier, the main theme of the film is the desire to escape from society.[4]

The film's composer, Toru Takemitsu, was praised. Nathaniel Thompson wrote, "[Takemitsu's] often jarring, experimental music here is almost a character unto itself, insinuating itself into the fabric of the celluloid as imperceptibly as the sand."[5]

Awards

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival[6] and, somewhat unusually for an avant-garde film, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the same year (losing out to Italian film Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow).[7] In 1965, Teshigahara was nominated for the Best Director Oscar (losing to Robert Wise for The Sound of Music). In 1967, the film won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Suna no Onna (Woman in the Dunes) (1964)". Flixster. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Ebert, Roger (February 1, 1998). "Woman in the Dunes (1964)". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  3. ↑ Acquarello. "Suna no Onna, 1964 [Woman in the Dunes]". Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Rethinking Japan: Literature, Visual Arts & Linguistics (1991). Psychology Press. p. 60.
  5. ↑ Thompson, Nathaniel. "Woman in the Dunes". tcm.com. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Woman in the Dunes". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  7. ↑ "The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-11-05.

External links

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