One of the great classics of world cinema, as probing and rigorously worked as a Greek tragedy. In 11th-century Japan, two children are kidnapped and sold into slavery while their mother Tamiki withers away on a distant island, dreaming only of being reunited with her children. After many years, the son escapes, assumes his rightful post as provincial governor, and sets about deposing the cruel bailiff who brought tragedy upon his family. The story is cast in epic form, but its distanced determinism vies with the direct engagement of the characters to effect the richest form of drama, a purity of emotion. In Mizoguchi, it has been noted, the long-shot is as psychologically astute as the close-up. As Tamiki, Kinuyo Tanaka is as haunting as in Ugetsu (where she plays a ghost). Her presence, established in the early sequences, is thereafter felt largely through her absence; banished to an off-screen hell, she is nonetheless perceived, not as an apparition but as a feeling, like a voice carried by the wind. A most extraordinary performance in an unforgettable film.