Woman in the Dunes

An intense and beautiful psychological drama that, in a condensed form, addresses a couple of essential aspects of modern life, without losing touch with reality.

The film follows an entomologist who one day meets a woman living in a sand dune. He stays the night, and the next day he discovers that he cannot leave. The film garnered much deserved attention outside of Japan when it was released. It was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1964 and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Hiroshi Teshigahara, born in 1927 in Tokyo, was educated at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, a background that is reflected in Woman in the Dunes’ formal beauty. Much of the film is told through close-ups: a sand dune, a woman’s breast, a face, a piece of furniture—removing the objects from their contextual framework and allowing space for abstract contemplation.

«More than almost any other film I can think of, «Woman in the Dunes” uses visuals to create a tangible texture—of sand, of skin, of water seeping into sand and changing its nature (…) There has never been sand photography like this (no, not even in «Lawrence of Arabia»), and by anchoring the story so firmly in this tangible physical reality, the cinematographer, Hiroshi Segawa, helps the director pull off the difficult feat of telling a parable as if it is really happening. The score by Toru Takemitsu doesn’t underline the action but mocks it, with high, plaintive notes, harsh, like a metallic wind. The first time I saw the film, it played like a psycho-sexual adventure.»

– Roger Ebert –

Cinemateket i Oslo

Director

Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927-2001) was a Japanese filmmaker associated with the Japanese New Wave of the 1950s and 60s. Woman in the Dunes is his most famous film.

This film is part of