Cast:
Ayako Wakao, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Eitarô Ozawa
The spirit of Resnais runs deep in this existential melodrama. A young woman on a mountaineering holiday is accused of murdering her husband. Tied to a mountain between her brutalising spouse and her secret lover, disaster strikes. To prevent all three from plunging to their deaths, the woman is forced to choose between cutting her husband’s rope or that of her lover.
An elliptical narrative structure shot in Masumura’s trademark ‘scope explores dark themes of gender, guilt and voyeurism in this blistering film.
Probably Masumura’s greatest film.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Film Comment
One of Japanese cinema’s most striking portraits of a modern woman.
James Quandt , Ontario Cinematheque