Woman of the Dunes (1964)Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman of the Dunes (1964) is a film that might make us feel that our confinement isn’t so bad… but may invade the subconscious virus nightmares many of us have been having.
A young entomologist wandering by the sea is tricked by local villagers into climbing down a long ladder into a huge pit to help a mysterious woman. She has lived in the pit for years and spends almost all her time preventing her home from being swallowed up in the daily sandstorms.
As the trapped man’s efforts to escape are thwarted, he begins a strange and erotic relationship with the woman. The beauty of the black-and-white photography set against his terrible and claustrophobic plight give the film a surreal and timeless quality.
Christine Whitehouse
Bookings Unit Manager