MovieChat Forums > Suna no onna (1964) Discussion > question about the end (Spoiler)

question about the end (Spoiler)

posted 20 years ago by Zoopansick
24 replies | jump to latest

It has been a while since I have seen this movie and the other day it came up when I was talking about movies with a friend. Afterwards I was thinking about it and forgot some stuff at the end. I remember that the man discovers the secret with the water and ends up staying in the house even though he got out but I forgot what happened to the woman. Something tells me that she died or was taken from the hole, can someone help me, (it's one of those things that really can bug you). I think it's kind of ironic that I forgot what happened to her because this movie is in a way very memorable. But it goes to show you how "Woman in the Dunes" is one of those movies that lingers around in your mind, but not the plot so much as the mood it created, the ideas it brings up, and of course the SAND. If anyone can help me out and tell me what happened to the woman I would really appreciate it, it was hard for me to find on video and it probably will take me some time before I can find it again. Thanks in advance.

Zoopansick

[–] Frin 20 years ago

I saw this today at the cinema. The woman has a miscarriage and the villagers take her out of the hole to go to a doctor.

--
http://www.soundalikes.com/

[–] chconnol 20 years ago

God, I haven't seen this movie since 1988 and I still remember almost the whole thing.

The End: The woman is taken from the sand pit to have her child. I did not think for a moment that she miscarried. There's nothing that I can remember that made me think that is what happened.

What made the ending haunting and even slightly upbeat is that the men who take her out of the pit forget to remove the ladder out of the pit. The man stands there looking at it fully realizing that he can escape. But he says in the narration that he wants to show the men how he made the water from that little well he made and then it cuts to some official documents showing him as missing for a long period of time (it was several years but I forget exactly how many). The message is that he did not escape but chose to remain.

The reason why he chose to remain is because at the beginning of the film, as he's going off to nap, he says that he feels his life has no purpose or meaning. In the pit, he's found some meaning. It's very existential.

Absolutely one BEST movies I have ever seen.

[–] Frin 20 years ago

I did not think for a moment that she miscarried. There's nothing that I can remember that made me think that is what happened.

Apart from the facts that:

1. She doesn't even once *look* pregnant.
2. She doesn't know she's pregnant.
3. No baby is born.
4. It's actually diagnosed as a miscarriage.

It's made very clear that that's what happening. I wrote my post about two or three hours after seeing the film - my memory isn't *that* bad!

--
http://www.soundalikes.com/

[–] chconnol 20 years ago

Well, I saw this in 1988 or so and haven't seen it since. I do remember her bleeding and that is what makes them take her out of the pit. I just don't remember it (the pregnancy, miscarriage) as being much of the "point" of the film. The point I got was that he had a perfect chance to escape and chose not to. What he imagined was a confining, nightmarish life at the beginning became something he like and enjoyed.

[–] Frin 20 years ago

The point is that he stays, I agree - but the OP already knew that and s/he was just asking about the woman.

Such a brilliant film, the cinema was only showing it for two screenings, but I'd go again if they bring it back.

--
http://www.soundalikes.com/

[–] chconnol 20 years ago

Like I said previously, it's been 15 years since I've seen this movie and it still stays with me. The ironic thing is that me and a friend went to the theater that was showing this expecting to see another film. We had the schedule mixed up and found this playing instead. We thought "what the hell...we're here anyway" and saw it. I remember reading about it in the lobby and kind of freaking out...a 2 1/2 hour movie....about a man and a woman living in a sand pit???!!! But WOW! What an experience. I'm so glad I got to see it on a big screen...the images of the sand falling down into the pit were amazing. I'm constantly recommending this movie to everyone. It's one of the best movies I have ever seen.

[–] CapnGinger 20 years ago

I saw this movie recently. I have to disagree with the above statements about the miscarriage. How can you blatantly ignore the child at the end of the film? You obviously need to see it again and realize that he's been down in the pit 7 years, and the kid he sees in the reflection of his water tank is his own son. The pregnancy was pronounced an abnormal one, not a miscarriage as you falsely claim. The eroticism is a giant part of the film. How could you even question this? Miscarriage that.

[–] carrps 10 years ago

Argh. They explicitly call it an ectopic pregnancy. That means the fetus is growing in a fallopian tube, not in the uterus. This will not result in a live birth in the vast majority of ectopic pregnancies.

[–] BenjaminAuffarth 20 years ago

frin, well your memory...
about your 4 points:
1. she doesn't look pregnant? maybe just because the scenes jump from october to december (when she has the pain and they take her)
2. she knows. she says "since october" when the man asks. she just doesn't tell her guy. Why? - Maybe because she wants him to feel free to leave her. she loves him. could be.
3. we don't know about that. we aren't told. maybe the boy at the end is his son... maybe she dies, maybe not.
4. this diagnosis was made by the villageperson whose qualification it is to have taken care of the horse of the doctor.

frin, u should really watch the film again, u missed a lot.

what I thought first was that she died, but i don't think the film was that cruel to let her die. I thought it could be his boy but why does the boy hide from him? Where is the woman? Does she think she will die and that's why she leaves the radio with him? but if she died it couldn't be his son (3 months...). I don't understand the ending.
But it is clear, he even had a rope at the end so he could leave whenever he would choose to, but he doesn't want to anymore. When they put him in the dune, he had just argued with his girlfriend, he doesn't see the meaning in his life and thinks about men and women. While in the dune he builds up ties with the woman and the new environment and it becomes his new life. I think the film is about men and women, love and hope. It would be nice to hear something from the others what they thought.

[–] Frin 20 years ago

Ohhhh I need to see it again now!

--
http://www.soundalikes.com/

[–] Mouldyman 20 years ago

I saw it last night. She has a miscarriage. This is said several times by several different people. She is taken away for medical care. This is a fact. Whether she returns or not is a moot point. After he realises he cannot leave, she is no longer neccessary.

[–] Frin 20 years ago

Thanks! I didn't think I had gone *completely* crazy!

--
http://www.soundalikes.com/

[–] youngjustice 20 years ago

I think that maybe some of the people here are watching a different translation of the movie from the others. In my version it clearly says that her pregnancy is just unusual, maybe in your it says that it is a misgarriage.

I think that the unusual translation makes more sense as it explains that kid at the end.

[–] swhite-12 20 years ago

I haven't seen the movie but I have read the book - I came here to see if it could answer some questions for me and it seems like questions are all any of us have LOL.

In the book it doesn't state whether she had a miscarriage or not. I think she did, indeed, lose the baby. I will type what it says:

At the end of that month, she found herself pregnant. Two more months went by. Large white birds kept flying over from east to west for three days in succession, and on the following day the lower part of her body was covered with blood and she complained of violent pain. One of the villagers, who was said to have a veterinarian among her relatives, diagnosed it as an extra-uterine pregnancy, and it was decided to take her to the hospital in the city in the three-wheeled truck. The man sat with her as they waited for the truck to come, letting her hold one of his hands, while with the other he kept rubbing her belly.

That is the last reference of her or the pregnancy/baby/child in the book.

If you get the book, that paragraph is on page 238.

www.klosterisland.com/forum

[–] jeff1to1618 19 years ago

some thoughts:
maybe she only knew about the pregnancy from october... probably, how would she know before she started showing? which would take probaly 4 months. then plus 3 months = 7 months... so an unusual pregnancy could mean a premature pregnancy. even a premature one of 5 months is possible (maybe less maybe more, this I am not sure about).
also, she is bleeding, I dont know if you guys know this, but when a woman is in labor there could be blood. maybe she was in labor at that time she was being removed.
yeah no idea what happened with her with the child. does it matter? point is life is arbitrary right?
also I was just thinking that her husband and child died, and he replaced them kind of. this could be some sort of cycle

[–] vinidici 9 years ago

maybe she only knew about the pregnancy from october... probably, how would she know before she started showing?

Are you serious? Good lord, you need to talk to any woman who's ever been impregnated and / or given birth! Any of them will tell you they were pretty sure they were pregnant long before it began to "show." Heck, ask your mom! She'll fill you in on the all the details (which need not be related here) of what woman experience after conception.

Secret Message, HERE!--->CONGRATULATIONS!!! You've discovered the Secret Message!

[–] rgibson103 19 years ago

Haven't seen the film, but in the book it's an extrauterine pregnancy (like a fallopian one), so a miscarriage.

_____
"The wisest man is therefore he who loafs most gracefully." ~ Lin Yutang

[–] mradosav 15 years ago

she says she's been pregnant since october. and in the film it's december. hence 2 months. an ectopic pregnancy is a very serious, life-threatening condition. in such a remote village like that, and in that age (60-early 70s), treating of ectopic pregnancies in such late stages is a very difficult task.
therefore, we can answer the following:
1. did she have a baby? no. the pregnancy was ectopic, means it has to be aborted in order for her to survive.
2. did she survive? honestly, i doubt it. even nowadays, people sometimes die from ectopic pregnancies. 40 years ago probably even more, and especially in such a late/emergency stage. and the fact that it's a remove village (or an island) with no well-equipped operational room, helicopter or ambulance to take her to a hospital soon enough, or any other way of immediate surgery, we can really believe that she won't survive it.
....
now what about him? he decides to stay. but all we know is that he doesn't return. maybe he shares his secret, and decides to live with the villagers, maybe he commits suicide, maybe he just lives in that hole for the rest of his life. it's all up for discussion.
...
the only other "hope" for our dear woman from the dunes would be that the highly-debatable "sniff diagnosis" by the villager was utter nonsense, and that all she has is some other kind of problem, maybe some stomach problems from all the sand she must've taken in from all the years, or any other random thing.
but certainly, she won't have a child.

all in all.... a really great film. amazing!

[–] hamag 19 years ago

I saw this film only once.
It was almost forty years ago.
They were showing some japanese films here in Buenos Aires (Argentina)
It made a great impact on me.
As chconnol says and as far as I remember the whole thing is that he is an entomologist, so he is supposed to be someone in society but he finds his life has no sense, no meaning, he doesn't know where to go in life.
He finds the real meaning for his life being with this woman, after so many things that happen she is HIS woman.
And when confronted with the possibility of fleeing away he chooses to replace his wife (for she is his wife now having his son no matter it is or not a miscarriage)in the work of shoveling sand, waiting for her return.
It is a film about love making you find a place in this planet.

[–] unprintable 20 years ago

I just watched it for the first time tonight. I was watching the old VHS and in mine it was translated as an "unusual" pregnancy. But she is bleeding, as that is what the vet smells when he examines her, and that usually means a miscarriage. Granted, that makes it hard to explain the child at the end of the film--the kid did appear to be six or seven, which would fit in the frame of the film. I also believe that last shot of him sticking his hand in the well takes place after some time has elapsed: he seems more comfortable there now, and the well isn't that filed with water, which I suppose would mean he's emptied it and keeps it going. But I think one undeniable claim is that the woman dies. She's led off but the film never shows her return which I would think can only mean one thing: she doesn't. As she was being carried off she's begging them not to take her out of the pit. This is because the pit's her home and her life, and she feels as though her life is worth living when she's in the pit and useful to the village. She grows attached to the way of life, perhaps so much so that being separated from it leads to her death. It's the same reason he doesn't leave at the end, because he's grown attached to his new way of life, as it's all he's known for the past year or whatever. He's used to it, and doesn't want change.

One question I'd like answered for those that have read the book, if it is answered in the book, is why he's missing for only seven years? What happens to him?

[–] Kloster_Island 20 years ago

It took me a minute to figure out your question but hey, I'm a bit slow, it's kind of (okay not really) early BUT I have only had 2 cups of coffee so far.

From what I can recall I think after 7 years they just declared him dead and was, therefore, no longer "missing".

www.klosterisland.com/forum

[–] ned38 19 years ago

just saw this movie last night on the big screen (yay library of congress!). have owned it on dvd for several years now, probably seen it a half dozen times or more. AT NO POINT is the word "miscarriage" used, or any words to that effect ("she lost the baby", etc). you may assume it's a miscarriage, but it's never actually said. nor does it say it in the book, which i've read as well. frankly, i'd like to know how you got that idea, since it's so clearly NOT in the movie.

[–] vile_n 19 years ago

Just watched the movie myself, and what the 'doctor' says in Japanese is something along the lines of "shikyuugai nin(s)hin tte yatsu kamo shirennaa", which would translate to "maybe a case of extrauterine/ectopic pregrancy."

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectopic_pregnancy) and medicinenet.com (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8604) this condition, especially if there is internal hemorrhaging, needs a surgery in which the pregnancy is in nearly all cases removed.

This would imply to me that there will be a miscarriage - hence, no baby. However, the mother's fate is not so easy to discern - in the final scene the man is in the sandpit alone, which could mean that she has died. But, there is the child whom we first see in the reflection of the water, which could mean that he has decided to stay with her and the young child is theirs.

That's my two cents.. in any case, an excellent movie :)

[–] tpupkin 10 years ago

This idea that the boy at the end is his son 7 years later is very odd. He's re-sealing his well on either the same day or close to it that the woman was taken to the hospital. He jad just had the chance to escape, but decided to come back and work on his well.

There was also a small boy in the scene of the villagers goading him to have sex. It could've been that boy coming back to see him.

I sort of suspected that they left the ladder on purpose, because they felt that with the woman likely not to come back, they would let him escape. But he didn't. Maybe they sent the boy to check it out.