is an 2007

Japanese film The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...

directed by

Naomi Kawase is a Japanese film director. She was also known as , with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including ''Embracing'', about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and ''Katatsumori'', about ...

. It won the Grand Prix at the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. '' 4 ...

. It tells the story of a nurse (played by

Machiko Ono is a Japanese actress. Career Born in a rural area of Nara Prefecture, Ono was spotted by the film director Naomi Kawase cleaning out the shoe boxes at her junior high school, and cast in the lead role in Kawase's '' Suzaku'', which earned the f ...

) who is

grieving Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogniti ...

for her dead child. She works at a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

and grows close to an elderly man (Shigeki Uda), suffering from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

, who is searching in the local

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

for something connected to his dead wife that he cannot explain.

Plot

Elder Shigeki lives in a retirement home where he is lovingly cared for by Nurse Machiko, who is grieving the loss of a child. After celebrating Shigeki's birthday, the two take a trip to the countryside. The man, followed by Machiko, goes into the forest and, after two days of walking made difficult by the dense vegetation, they reach the place where Shigeki's wife is buried. Machiko learns that the man has been writing to his wife for 33 years, and is now preparing to write her the last letter.

Awards

** Awarded as "Grand Prix"

Cast

* Yōichirō Saitō - Machiko's husband * Kanako Masuda - Mako *

- Machiko * Shigeki Uda - Shigeki * Makiko Watanabe - Wakako

References

External links

* 2007 films 2000s Japanese-language films Films directed by Naomi Kawase 2007 drama films Japanese drama films Cannes Grand Prix winners 2000s Japanese films {{2000s-Japan-film-stub