“Woman in the Sands” ( 砂 の 女 ) - a film by Hiroshi Tesigahara , released in 1964 . A film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Kobo Abe .
| Woman in the sand | |
|---|---|
| 砂 の 女 / Suna no onna | |
 | |
| Genre | drama |
| Producer | Hiroshi Tesigahara |
| Producer | Kiichi Ichikawa Tadashi ono |
| Author script | Kobo Abe |
| In the main cast | Eiji okada Kyoko Kishida |
| Operator | Hiroshi Sagawa |
| Composer | Tohru Takemitsu |
| Film company | Toho Teshigahara productions |
| Duration | 123 minutes 147 minutes (directorial version) |
| A country |  Japan |
| Tongue | Japanese |
| Year | 1964 |
| IMDb | |
The film was included in the Criterion Collection as part of a collection of three films by Toshigahara on Kobo Abe (along with Alien Face and Western), several short films and a documentary film on the cooperation of the director and writer [1] .
Content
Story
Amateur entomologist Niki Jumpei, hunting for insects in the desert, is late for the last bus, and locals invite him to spend the night in their village in the house of a young woman. The house is at the very bottom of the pit in the sand, where Jumpei is lowered down the rope ladder. The mistress of the house, a young widow, is committed to scrubbing sand caused by sandstorms every day, otherwise the sand can swallow her house and the whole village.
The next morning, Jumpei discovers that the staircase has disappeared, and he was a prisoner in this pit and now must help the woman in her work. At first, he strongly opposes this, tries to escape, but after several fruitless attempts, he resigns himself to the situation.
Cast
- Eiji Okada - Nicki Jumpei
- Kyoko Kishida - Woman
- Hiroko Ito - Niki's wife
- Koji Mitsui
- Sen yano
- Ginzo Sekiguchi
Awards and nominations
- 1964 - Special Prize of the Cannes Film Festival Jury (Hiroshi Tesigahara)
- 1965 - Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
- 1965 - two Blue Ribbon Awards: for Best Film and Best Director (Hiroshi Tesigahara)
- 1965 - 4 Mainity Awards : Best Film (Hiroshi Tesigahara), Best Director (Hiroshi Tesigahara), Best Music (Toru Takemitsu), Best Artist (Totetsu Hirakawa, Masao Yamazaki)
- 1966 - nomination for an Academy Award for Best Director (Hiroshi Tesigahara)
Artistic Features
"Woman in the Sands," according to director Hiroshi Tesigahara , is a documentary fantasy. Like other similar plot works (for example, “Behind Closed Doors” by Jean-Paul Sartre , “The Fighter Angel ” by Luis Bunuel or “Happy Days” by Samuel Beckett ), the film “Woman in the Sands” is an allegory . First of all, this is an allegory of the conflict between East and West with their different attitude to freedom and life: the main character Nicky at the beginning of the film is the embodiment of a Western-style person, he is dressed in European-style clothes, he is ambitious, appreciates the scientific approach to life and evidence of material well-being, however, he is emotionally far from the world around him, he is only one of the millions of Tokyo residents with his many documents and schedules. Over the course of many months of life, Niki’s sands undergo evolution from indignation to fate, humility, he loses all evidence of his past life (for example, he is already dressed in national clothes) and even loses his desire to leave his place of imprisonment, but he acquires inner freedom. It affects the film's philosophy of Taoism with its call to be in harmony with the world, and not to resist it. [2]
Critics noted the stylistic, visual perfection of the tape, its intense eroticism, the skill with which the dunes were removed, moving like a living creature. [3]
Notes
- ↑ Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara - The Criterion Collection
- ↑ P. Erens. Suna no Onna // International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. - 4th ed. - St. James Press, 2001. - Vol. 1. - P. 1167-1169.
- ↑ J. Crow. Woman in the Dunes - Review (link not available) // Allrovi.com
Links
- "Woman in the Sands" on the Internet Movie Database
- Woman in the Sands (English) on allmovie
- Review of the film "Woman in the Sands"