| The Woman in the Dunes | |
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Japanese theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Hiroshi Teshigahara |
| Produced by | Kiichi Ichikawa Tadashi Oono |
| Written by | Kōbō Abe |
| Starring | Eiji Okada Kyoko Kishida |
| Music by | Tōru Takemitsu |
| Cinematography | Hiroshi Segawa |
| Editing by | Fusako Shuzui |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | February 15, 1964 |
| Running time | 123 min 147 min (director's cut) |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
The Woman in the Dunes (砂の女 Suna no onna, literally "Sand woman," also translated as The Woman of the Dunes) is a film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and based on the novel of the same name by Kōbō Abe. The novel was published in 1962, and the film was released in 1964. Kōbō Abe also wrote the screenplay for the film version.
The surreal and, at times, absurd nature of The Woman in the Dunes has been compared to existentialist works such as Sartre's No Exit and Beckett's Happy Days. Aside from its intriguing premise, this film is notable for the life that Teshigahara brings to the ever-shifting sand, which almost becomes a character in its own right.
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An entomologist, Jumpei Niki (played in the film by Eiji Okada), is on an expedition to collect insects which inhabit sand dunes. When he misses the last bus, villagers suggest he stay the night. They guide him down a rope ladder to a house in a sand quarry where a young widow (Kyoko Kishida) lives alone. She is employed by the villagers to dig sand for sale and to save the house from burial in the advancing sand.
When Jumpei tries to leave the next morning, he finds the ladder removed. The villagers inform him that he must help the widow in her endless task of digging sand. Jumpei initially tries to escape; upon failing he takes the widow captive but is forced to release her in order to receive water from the villagers.
Jumpei becomes the widow's lover. However, he still desperately wants to leave. One morning, he escapes from the sand dune and starts running while being chased by the villagers. Jumpei is not familiar with the geography of the area and eventually gets trapped in some quicksand. The villagers free him from the quicksand and then return him back to the widow.
Eventually, Jumpei resigns himself to his fate. Through his persistent effort to trap a crow as a messenger, he discovers a way to draw water from the damp sand at night. He thus becomes absorbed in the task of perfecting his technology and adapts to his "trapped" life. The focus of the film shifts to the way in which the couple cope with the oppressiveness of their condition and the power of their physical attraction in spite of — or possibly because of — their situation.
At the end of the film Jumpei gets his chance to escape, but he chooses to prolong his stay in the dune. A report after seven years declaring him missing is then shown hanging from a wall, written by the police and signed by his mother Shino.
The film adaptation of The Woman in the Dunes won the Special Jury Prize at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival[1] 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).[2] In 1965, Teshigahara was nominated for the Best Director Oscar (losing to Robert Wise for The Sound of Music).
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Harakiri tied with The Cassandra Cat |
Special Jury Prize, Cannes 1964 |
Succeeded by Kwaidan |
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