An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled 'Woman in the Dunes', of a woman, with a patterned cloth covering her face, lying in the sand holding a shovel that is shooting fireworks from the tip. The painting is rendered entirely in grayscale.

Woman in the Dunes

(1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara)

I was needing a good, older movie to fall asleep to at 2 am so I tried this one. The beginning was slow enough so I thought surely I’d fall asleep in no time. But nope. Gradually the plot got creepier, the characters became stranger and the mystery totally kept me sucked in. Kyōko Kishida’s performance was so haunting living in the sandy house. I was completely hooked on understanding this culture that revolved around sand. I know older movies are sometimes even painfully boring to start up but this one ended up being a great psychological thriller.


A black and white screenshot from the film 'Woman in the Dunes' showing the dimly lit silhouette of a nude woman lying on a tatami floor. Her face is covered with a rag. A black and white animated gif of a scene from the movie 'Woman in the Dunes' showing a man photographing a nervous woman in front of her house, surrounded by sand. A black and white screenshot of the male and female lead characters making love in the sand from the movie 'Woman in the Dunes'.

© 1964 - Teshigahara Production