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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 821

A Page of Madness

192671 minJapan

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.

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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.

Languages and subtitles

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.

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