White-collar worker Yamashita finds out that his wife has a lover visiting her when he’s away, suddenly returns home and kills her. After eight years in prison, he returns to live in a small village, opens a barber shop (he was trained as a barber in prison) and talks almost to no-one except for the eel he “befriended” in prison. One day he finds the unconscious body of Keiko, who attempted suicide and reminds him of his wife. She starts to work at his shop, but he doesn’t let her become close to him.
Director: Shôhei Imamura. AKA The Eel / うなぎ
Writers: Shôhei Imamura, Daisuke Tengan, Motofumi Tomikawa, Akira Yoshimura (novel).
Stars: Kôji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baishô, Akira Emoto, Fujio Tokita, Shô Aikawa, Ken Kobayashi, Sabu Kawahara, Etsuko Ichihara, Tomorô Taguchi, Chino Terada, Sanshô Shinsui, Kôichi Ueda, Ken Mitsuishi, Hiroyuki Konishi, Shôichi Ozawa, Shinshô Nakamaru, Sei Hiraizumi, Seiji Kurasaki, Toshirô Ishidô.
Cinematographer: Shigeru Komatsubara.
Composer: Shinichirô Ikebe.
1997 Cannes Film Festival – Winner of the Palme d’Or.
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A good film. I voted it 7/10 on IMDb.
Thank you!
I can’t see much information about a director’s cut of this film (which I haven’t yet seen). Does anyone know more?
Yeah I haven’t been able to find any information either about the 2 different versions, this director’s cut seems to have first appeared on the Japanese market when it was released on DVD in 2004: https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/KSXD-24630
It appears the director’s cut is 134 minutes versus the theatrical cut at 117 minutes. It looks like it was also released on DVD in Australia in 2005: http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Reviews.asp?ID=6249
Palme d’Or winner!
Oops, forgot to add that, thanks for the reminder!
Is there a valid link to this movie?
Hi Nathan,
You can download the softsubbed version from here:
https://filetransfer.io/data-package/9YxrnAd9#link
please where can i find the film ??
thanks for putting this up. Saw the theatrical release on DVD here in Australia about ten years ago. While any Imamura is never enough, the shorter film was much better and quite different. The prelereinary scenes was dropped so the film began when the main character was being released from prison. Many of the other scenes edited out also. Was a stronger film but grateful to be able to see this version