**WARNING: some spoilers are here, but only concerning the beginning of the story.**
This is the second movie in Teshigahara's loose trilogy of films concerning the way we perceive identity. The other films are Pitfall (1962) and The Face of Another (1966). Woman in the Dunes follows entomologist Niki Jumpei in a search for rare insects in the deserted dunes near a beach. He misses his last ride home and is forced to find a place to sleep nearby. Some men lead him to a house which lies at the bottom of a sand dune, where he is offered a place to sleep by a woman who appears to live there. After he wakes up it dawns on him that he will not be able or allowed to leave. He is forced to keep the house free of the never ending stream of encroaching sand coming from the dunes. He also begins to bond with the woman.
The story plays out beautifully, slowly, which gives us plenty of time to think over the message of this movie. While the meaning of Niki's life before was becoming famous by means of his entomology, it is now the question if he worked to live or lived to work, and how he will fare in his new situation. The question is also raised if there is any difference between his former situation in the city, and his new predicament in the dunes. The acting is subtle, the lighting through the cracks of the house is fantastic, beautifully emphasizing the presence of the dirt, sand and sweat. The cinematography is great: the atmosphere of the movie is claustrophobic, accentuated by shots of Niki seen from behind wooden planks of the house, which are the symbolic bars of his wooden prison cell. You are really dragged into Niki's sorry situation and you feel for him. This is my favorite in Teshigahara's loose trilogy by far, one of my favorite Japanese films and it is a great film all together. Recommended to all.
*Sorry for my sometimes wooden English, it is not my mother tongue.*
