Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Woman in the Dunes (1964) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Hiroko Itō, Kōji Mitsui DIRECTOR: Hiroshi Teshigahara CINEMATOGRAPHY: Hiroshi Segawa MUSIC: Toru Takemitsu PRODUCTION: Teshigahara Productions, TOHO

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for Woman in the Dunes (1964). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: Nominated for 2 Oscars. 11 wins & 3 nominations total

Awards Won: ★ Jury Prize

Nominations: ○ International Submission to the Academy Awards ○ Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (37th Academy Awards) ○ Academy Award for Best Director (38th Academy Awards)

CRITICAL RECEPTION

The film has a rating of 100% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. It was one of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's ten favorite movies.

Roger Ebert inducted Woman in the Dunes into his Great Movies list in 1998. Viewing the work as a retelling of the Sisyphus myth, he wrote: "There has never been sand photography like this (no, not even in Lawrence of Arabia), and by anchoring the story so firmly in this tangible physical reality, the cinematographer, Hiroshi Segawa, helps the director pull off the difficult feat of telling a parable as if it is really happening." Strictly Film School describes it as "a spare and haunting allegory for human existence". According to Max Tessier, the main theme of the film is the desire to escape from society.

The film's composer, Tōru Takemitsu, was praised. Nathaniel Thompson wrote, "[Takemitsu's] often jarring, experimental music here is almost a character unto itself, insinuating itself into the fabric of the celluloid as imperceptibly as the sand." Ebert also stated that the score "doesn't underline the action but mocks it, with high, plaintive notes, harsh, like a metallic wind".