Rent Woman of the Dunes (1964)

Arthouse Classic - Woman of the Dunes review by Steve

Profound allegory which is both philosophical, and ultimately heartbreaking. A travelling entomologist finds himself trapped with/by a passive, submissive widow who seems to have accepted her life, endlessly digging out the deep pit of sand which serves as her home.

And inexorably, the academic conforms to his new reality in reduced circumstances. Within this premise is the whole of the human condition; it is impressively pliable. And we observe how perspective and proximity transform our understanding.

But this isn’t really a head movie. The shifting emotional relationship between the cohabiters is central. The actors are exceptional, including Eiji Okada as the captured male. And especially Kyôko Kishida as the lonely, pragmatic woman of the dunes. Among the greatest screen performances.

Slowly she engages our empathy. And pity. The expressive images of the sand, the sensual closeups of the lovers and the weird atonal soundtrack combine to make it a unique sensory experience. This is an astonishing Japanese art film; once seen, never forgotten.

Mesmerised - Woman of the Dunes review by griggs

Woman in the Dunes had me mesmerised and uneasy. Its hypnotic pull was so intense that I felt like I was suffocating along with the characters. It’s one of the few films ever to impact my dreams, leaving me with a sense of intrigue and curiosity. All night, I felt like I had sand all over me and kept tossing and turning to shake it off.

Pure and Fearsome - Woman of the Dunes review by joannajuki

This is a hypnotic film. A man is captured by a hidden dune-locked community, but his jailer is a beautiful woman. They are locked together in a life and death struggle against the encroaching sand, and while he takes every opportunity to escape, they can't escape their physical attraction. The grit intrudes and binds them, but she shyly asks, aren't the women in Tokyo more beautiful? He brushes aside this question with a derisive "Don't be stupid."

Pain, pregnancy, quicksand, conspiracy - an uneven playing field between man and woman that sinks them both. The long, intimate takes, the silence of the characters, emphasize inexorable and threatening presence of the sands. I wanted to see it again, having seen it in the 70s, but I still don't remember the ending.