Customer Reviews

Woman of the Dunes (AKA Woman in the Dunes) - 147 Minute Director's Cut [Region 2 Import]

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In this surreal avant-garde film the sand runs through mind and soul like an endless flood.

Middle-aged teacher and entomologist Junpei Niki is out collecting insects by the coast, near a pore village, one hot summer day. While he passionately explores the dunes living organisms he forgets the time and after a while he is sought out by local inhabitants who tell him that he has lost the last bus that would have brought him back to his home. As nice and hospitable as they are, they offer him to spend the night with their aunt, a lonely widow who lives in a house placed in a dune. Junpei happily accepts the offer, but the next day he realizes to his great astonishment that there is no way out of the widows house and that he has been the victim of a thought-out conspiracy.

Hiroshi Teshigara`s metaphorical character drama is an adaptation of a Kôbô Abe novel from 1962 and takes place exclusively inside and outside a worn house that's been built in a dune. The film opens, as most movies do, with the main character being faced with a problem, but oppose to most movies, the point-of-no-return occurs at the same time as the dilemma.

"Woman in the Dunes" is a minimalistic work driven by three characters. One is a man, the other is a woman and the third character is the sand. With chronological narrative this claustrophobic and somewhat allegorical fable about two strangers enforced interaction is told. The quiet buildup in this brilliantly photographed black and white movie is escalated by the instrumental music, where the effect of drums and percussion instruments really serves their purpose, and lifts the films persistent, ominous moods. With long takes, erotic undertones, captivating perspectives, engaging performances and a camera that paints pieces of art in sand, Heroshi Teshigahara creates a mysterious fable about imprisonment, human communication and survival.

Everything about this film sings quality, art, and style, from the visual arrangement and sound accompaniment of the opening credits, to the almost surreal yet somehow believable ending. This Japanese release does not play on Region 1 DVD players, but provides a much better reproduction of the original print than the version released for the U.S. The visual composition is flawless. The relationship between the woman and her captive/helper/husband is intense but realistic. The indefinability, instability, incomprehensibility, and corrosive nature of the sand completes this rich parable of--what? Life, sex and death? Does it mirror our nearly universal yearning to break free from the mundane prison of everyday life, or of marriage in which a husband secretly dreams of escape and imagines that he is trapped only temporarily, while a wife remains silent and obedient, feeling apologetic as if the unhappiness of her husband were her fault? Maybe, or perhaps there are other meanings. This film makes you think, and is truly one of the masterpieces of cinematic art.

I saw this movie at age 16 when it first came out in the early 60s.
Since then, I have seen it maybe over 72 times. NEVER tire of it.
I understand it is one pf Pianist Glenn Gould's favorites. I fully share his opinion.
The film takes the serious viewer into a world that cannot rationally be explained. And the striking final images leave you numb, a powerful reflection about life...