is a 1964 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-g ...

by director

Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from J ...

Plot

Sadako, a corpulent young woman, lives with her common-law husband Koichi, a librarian who has an ongoing affair with his colleague Yoshiko. Although she looks after Koichi's little son from a previous marriage like a real mother, his family picks on her and denies her being written into the family register. While her husband is away, Sadako is raped by a burglar, Hiraoka, who needs money for his heart medication. During the following weeks, Hiraoka repeatedly attacks Sadako, develops an obsession for her and tries to talk her into living with him in Tokyo. Sadako is reluctant to his plan, and although she lets go of her intention to poison him during their burdensome walk through a snowy landscape, he eventually dies of his heart disease. At the end of the film, Sadako has found the self confidence to file a suit against her husband's family to be included in the family register.

Cast

Masumi Harukawa , born , is a Japanese actress. Filmography * 1963: ''The Insect Woman'' * 1964: '' Unholy Desire'' * 1964: ''Kunoichi Keshō'' * 1967: ''Zatoichi's Cane Sword'' * 1968: ''The Human Bullet'' * 1968: '' Curse of the Blood'' * 1974: '' Pastoral: T ...

- Sadako Takahashi *

Kō Nishimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's ''The Bad Sleep Well'' and '' Yojimbo'', Kihachi Okamoto's ''Sword of Doom'', Yoshitaro Nomura's ''Zero Focus'', and Kon Ichikawa's '' The Burmese Harp'' ( ...

- Koichi Takahashi *

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 ...

- Hiraoka * Yūko Kusunoki - Yoshiko Masuda * Ranko Akagi - Tadae Takahashi *

Tomio Aoki ''aka'' was a Japanese film actor. Aoki became famous as a child actor after debuting at the age of six in silent films directed by Yasujirō Ozu. His leading role in Ozu's 1929 short comedy ''Tokkan kozo'' gave Aoki his nickname. '' I Was Bor ...

Kazuo Kitamura was a Japanese actor. His son is actor Yukiya Kitamura. Kitamura met Shōhei Imamura when he was a student of Waseda University and became a close friend so often worked with Imamura. Kitamura joined Bungakuza theatre company and started his act ...

- Takahashi *

Yoshi Katō was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 175 films between 1949 and 1988. He won the award for Best Actor at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in ''Hometown''. He married the actress Isuzu Yamada in 1950, but ...

- Seizo Takahashi *

Tanie Kitabayashi was a Japanese actress and voice actress. Born Reiko Ando in Tokyo, she began as a stage actress. Kitabayashi was a founding member of the famed Mingei Theatre Company, founded in 1950. Early in her career, she became well known for portraying o ...

- Kinu Takahashi *

Seiji Miyaguchi was a Japanese actor who appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai and many others. He succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71. Distinctions One of Kurosawa's iconic ''Seven Samurai'', Miyaguchi won the 195 ...

- Genji Miyata *

Shoichi Ozawa was a Japanese actor, radio host, singer, and prominent researcher and expert on Japanese folk art. He also founded the Shabondama-za theater company. Ozawa, who was born in Tokyo, graduated from Waseda University. He began acting after college, ...

- Kazuyuki Tamaru

Themes

''Unholy Desire'' embodies many of the central interests in Imamura's career, including strong, lower-class women who survive in spite of their oppressive surroundings, and an earthy, humorous approach to sex. For film scholar Alexander Jacoby, ''Unholy Desire'', like its predecessor, Imamura's ''

The Insect Woman is a 1963 Japanese drama film directed by Shōhei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival, where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award. It was also awarded numerous national film prizes. Plot ...

'', is "about the triumphs of amoral women over circumstances". Both films' heroines are "survivors, using any means necessary to endure".

Reception

Jeva Lange of ''Screen Slate'' called ''Unholy Desire'' "one of the oddest yet most rewarding pieces in Imamura's considerable repertoire." According to Jasper Sharp of ''

Midnight Eye Midnight Eye is a non-profit review website launched in 2001 by Tom Mes, Jasper Sharp, and Martin Mes. The website features reviews and analyses of Japanese films, as well as book reviews and interviews with filmmakers. In June 2015, it was announc ...

'', ''Unholy Desire'', despite being overlong, "marks the most complete consolidation of the themes that inform mamura'sinitial cycle of features".

Awards

''Unholy Desire'' received the

Mainichi Film Awards The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

for Best Actor (Kō Nishimura), Best Supporting Actress (Yūko Kusunoki), Best Cinematography (

Shinsaku Himeda was a Japanese cinematographer from Kakogawa, Hyōgo Prefecture. Himeda dropped out of Teikoku Art University and started working as an assistant cameraman at the Nikkatsu Tamagawa studio in 1937. In 1949, he promoted to cinematographer. He m ...

) and Best Sound Recording (Koshiro Jinbo). Kō Nishimura also received the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor.

References

External links

* * * * {{Shōhei Imamura 1964 films 1964 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Shohei Imamura Nikkatsu films Films based on Japanese novels 1960s Japanese films