The Insect Woman

Nippon konchuki
Directed by	Shohei Imamura
Written by	Keiji Hasebe, Shohei Imamura
Starring	Emiko Aizawa, Masumi Harukawa, Sachiko Hidari
Music by	Toshirô Mayuzumi
Editing by	Matsuo Tanji
Distributed by	Nikkatsu
Release date(s)	November 16, 1963
Running time	123 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Insect Woman (にっぽん昆虫記, Nippon konchūki^?) is a 1963 film directed by Japanese director Shōhei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.^[1]

Plot

A woman, Tome, (Sachiko Hidari) is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The film is a metaphor for life in Japan through the middle twentieth century, including World War II. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.

Tome is molested from childhood by her stepfather. As a young adult she moves from her rural village to find work in factory, where she engages in an affair with her boss. She works later as a maid, and then as a prostitute.

Cast

• Emiko Aizawa - Rui
• Masumi Harukawa - Midori
• Sachiko Hidari - Tome Matsuki
• Emiko Higashi - Kane
• Daizaburo Hirata - Kamibayashi
• Seizaburô Kawazu - Karasawa
• Teruko Kishi - Rin
• Tanie Kitabayashi - Madam
• Kazuo Kitamura - Chuji
• Asao Koike - Sawakichi
• Masakazu Kuwayama - Owagawa En's Lover
• Hiroyuki Nagato - Matsunami
• Shoichi Ozawa - Ken
• Sumie Sasaki - En
• Taiji Tonoyama - Foreman
• Shigeru Tsuyuguchi - Honda
• Jitsuko Yoshimura - Nobuko

References

1. ^ "Berlinale 1964: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1964/03_preistr_ger_1964/03_Preistraeger_1964.html. Retrieved 2010-02-19. 

External links

• Nippon konchuki at the Internet Movie Database
• "にっぽん昆虫記 (Nippon konchuki)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1963/cm003470.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-16.