
Synopsis
A former sailor works as a custodian in the psychiatric hospital where his wife is a patient. Her inability to recognize him and their daughter's troubled visit bring the family's history into the institution's daily life. Memories, imagined escape and distorted perceptions interrupt ordinary chronology, making the boundaries between the man's hopes and his circumstances increasingly uncertain.
Watch the film ↓- Video edition
- Wikimedia Commons
- Original language
- No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
- This copy runs
- 71:11
- Subtitles
- No subtitle track in this language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified. No subtitle track in this language.
Wikimedia Commons · Teinosuke Kinugasa · Public domain
Cast

Historical context
Kinugasa worked with writers associated with Japan's Shinkankakuha movement to seek a form beyond conventional naturalism. The film relies on editing, movement and optical effects; its original screenings also belonged to a culture of live benshi narration.
Sources and availability
General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.
Availability checked on September 12, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Masao Inoue — Shōchiku; Shōchiku · Public domain
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