The Idiot (1951)
Hakuchi
166 min
A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.
- Release date
- May 23, 1951
- Country of origin
- Japan
- Music
- Fumio Hayasaka
Where to watch
Subscription
Criterion Channel
Cast
- Setsuko Hara as Taeko Nasu
- Masayuki Mori as Kinji Kameda
- Toshirō Mifune as Denkichi Akama
- Yoshiko Kuga as Ayako
- Takashi Shimura as Ono, Ayako's father
- Chieko Higashiyama as Satoko, Ayako's mother
- Eijirô Yanagi as Tohata
- Minoru Chiaki as Mutsuo Kayama, the secretary
- Noriko Sengoku as Takako
- Kokuten Kōdō as Jumpei
- Bokuzen Hidari as Karube
- Eiko Miyoshi as Madame Kayama
- Chiyoko Fumiya as Noriko
- Daisuke Inoue as Kaoru
- Jun Yokoyama
- Shōichi Kofujita
- Keiko Izumi
- Haruko Chichibu
Crew
- Akira Kurosawa · Director
- Fyodor Dostoevsky · Writer
- Eijirô Hisaita · Writer
- Akira Kurosawa · Writer
- Fumio Hayasaka · Composer
- Toshio Ubukata · Cinematographer
- Akira Kurosawa · Editor
- Takashi Matsuyama · Production designer