A complex tale of a “simple” woman who has nothing in the world except an indomitable instinct for survival. Sadako was raised as a maid in the household of her husband, who continues to treat her as a serf. While the husband is away, Sadako is raped-an act that jars loose long-suppressed memories of childhood sexuality, but also precipitates Sadako's awareness of her somnambulistic, bovine existence. A bizarre relationship develops between the rapist, who continues to stalk the frightened woman with both tender and violent professions of love, and Sadako, whose intentions to murder him lead to a remarkable denouement. Imamura's “explosive” style introduces handheld camera, slow motion, and extreme close-ups where they are least expected, allowing him his distanced, atypical view of violence and sensuality-what critic Joan Mellen characterized as “Imamura's belief in the basic irrationality of human existence.”