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Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Suna no onna (original title)

123 min  -  Drama | Thriller  -   25 October 1964 (USA)
8.4
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Ratings: 8.4/10 from 6,169 users  
Reviews: 54 user | 71 critic

Jumpei Niki, a Tokyo based entomologist and educator, is in a poor seaside village collecting specimens of sand insects... See full summary »

Writers:

Kôbô Abe (novel), Kôbô Abe (screenplay), and 1 more credit »
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Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 1 nomination See more awards »
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Cast

Credited cast:
Eiji Okada ...
Entomologist Niki Jumpei
Kyôko Kishida ...
Woman
Hiroko Itô Hiroko Itô ...
Entomologist's wife (in flashbacks)
Kôji Mitsui Kôji Mitsui
Sen Yano Sen Yano
Ginzô Sekiguchi Ginzô Sekiguchi
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kiyohiko Ichiha Kiyohiko Ichiha
Hideo Kanze Hideo Kanze
Hiroyuki Nishimoto Hiroyuki Nishimoto
Tamotsu Tamura Tamotsu Tamura
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Storyline

Jumpei Niki, a Tokyo based entomologist and educator, is in a poor seaside village collecting specimens of sand insects. As it is late in the day and as he has missed the last bus back to the city, some of the local villagers suggest that he spend the night there, they offering to find him a place to stay. That place is the home of a young woman, whose house is located at the bottom of a sand pit accessible only by ladder. He later learns that the woman's husband and child died in a sandstorm, their undiscovered bodies buried somewhere near the house. The next morning as he tries to leave, he finds that the ladder is gone - he realizing that the ladder he climbed down was a rope ladder which is anchored above the pit - meaning that he is trapped with the young woman as the walls of the pit are sand with no grip. He also realizes that this entrapment was the villagers and the young woman's... Written by Huggo  

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

Sand | Insect | Entomologist | Sandstorm | Sand Dune  | See more »

Taglines:

The most provocative picture ever made. See more »

Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

(USA) See more »

Also Known As:

A Mulher de Areia See more »

Company Credits

Show detailed company contact information on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

 | (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See full technical specs »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Kyôko Kishida and director Hiroshi Teshigahara had a number of artistic differences in the film, ranging from Kishida's character's manner of dress to her symbolic importance. Kishida wanted to portray her character as a universal "every-woman" while Teshigahara insisted that her character was uniquely Japanese. Teshigahara's vision eventually won out. See more »

Quotes

Man: It's like building a house in the water when ships exist. Why insist on a house?
Woman: You want to go home too.
See more »

Connections

Featured in Music for the Movies: Tôru Takemitsu (1994) See more »