Woman of the Dunes (1964)

Essential Viewing

Japan
Feature Film
Original Title: 砂の女
Director: Teshigahara Hiroshi

Writer: Abe Kōbō

Cinematographer: Segawa Hiroshi

Composer: Takemitsu Tōru

Cast: Okada Eiji, Kishida Kyōko

Teshigahara’s enigmatic, allegorical magnum opus – chronicling the escape attempts of an insect fancying school teacher, mysteriously imprisoned in a sandy dungeon with a taciturn woman by unscrupulous villagers, and forced into back-breaking manual labour – is, with its erotically charged performances, Segawa’s striking photography, and Takemitsu’s unsettling score, perhaps Teshigahara’s finest film and something of a masterpiece. Iain.Stott