Suna no onna
(Woman in the Dunes)

Japan (1964): Drama

A shy entomologist (Eiji Okada) comes to work at a Japanese coastal town. The villagers offer him both shelter and female companionship. He is lowered into a sand pit, where he is introduced to a woman (Kyôko Kishida). The following morning, he discovers that the villagers have left him trapped in the dune with the woman. Later that day, he is informed that the woman has been forced to shovel sand from the pit, in search of a water supply that will service the entire village; whenever she stops shovelling, she is denied food. Slowly, he becomes accustomed to his strange new surroundings. He makes love to the woman, who becomes pregnant with his child. Though she is resigned to remaining in the pit, he attempts to escape, only to be recaptured and returned to his "home." After a second escape, he changes his mind about leaving, determined to find that elusive water supply on behalf of the woman and his new neighbors. Kobo Abe adapted this classic existential fable from his own novel. (Teshigahara-Toho/Pathé) (Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide)

· Directing 1965: Hiroshi Teshigahara
· Foreign Language Film Award 1964: (Japan) (Kiichi Ichikawa & Tadashi Oono, producers.)

2 nominations