is a 1966 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Yoshishige Yoshida , also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Graduating from the University of Tokyo, where he studied French literature, Yoshida entered the Shōchiku studio in 1955 and worked as an assistant ...

. It is based on

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal a ...

's novel '' The Lake''.

Plot

Miyako, comfortably married to businessman Yuzo Mizuki, is having an affair with Kitano, who is himself engaged. She allows Kitano to take nude pictures of her, but the photos end up in possession of Ginpei, who had been waywarding her. Miyako agrees to meet Ginpei, who threatens to inform her husband of the affair, in Katamayazu, Lake Shibayama ( Ishikawa Prefecture). She is followed by Kitano and still later Kitano's fiancée Machie. Ginpei has prints made of the negatives at a local photo shop in Katamayazu. The shop owner blackmails Miyako, but while he is satisfied with money, Ginpei wants to possess Miyako, whom he feels attracted to since he first saw her with Kitano. At the same time, he confesses that he might be less in love with Miyako herself than with her image. After sleeping with Ginpei, she pushes him off a cliff. When she returns to her hotel room, she is confronted with her husband, who has been informed of the affair and her whereabouts by Kitano. On the way back to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

with her husband, Miyako spots Ginpei, who has survived, on the train. She explains to Ginpei that her attempt to kill him did not happen out of hatred. Ginpei turns away from her, leaving her behind alone.

Cast

* Mariko Okada as Miyako *

Shinsuke Ashida was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1952 and 1996. Selected filmography Film * '' Gendai-jin'' (1952) * '' Mahiru no ankoku'' (1956) * ''An Actress'' (1956) * '' Underworld Beauty'' (1958) * '' Arashi no naka o tsup ...

as Yuzo *

Shigeru Tsuyuguchi is a Japanese actor. Biography Tsuyuguchi was born in Tokyo and raised in Ehime.Nihon Eiga Jinmei Jiten　2　190-191 He attended Ehime University, but withdrew before completing his degree and joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company in 1955. His c ...

as Ginpei * Tamotsu Hayakawa as Kitano * Keiko Natsu as Machie

Legacy

''Woman of the Lake'' was screened at the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, in 2008 as part of a retrospective on Yoshida's work.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woman of the Lake 1966 films 1966 drama films Japanese drama films Films based on Japanese novels Films based on works by Yasunari Kawabata Films directed by Yoshishige Yoshida Films set in Ishikawa Prefecture 1960s Japanese films