A woman vacillates between her boyfriend and her lover in hopes one of the two will make a decision.

Picture gallery

A Nara, Kayoko lives peacefully with Tetsuya, without speaking much. Kayoko keeps house while Tetsuya works in advertising. During the day, she visits Takumi, a sculptor who loves to work in nature and is also quiet. Life would go on this way if Kayoko didn't tell Takumi she is pregnant, and Tetsuya that she loves someone else. The film is full of the color red (hanezu), safflowers, sunsets, fire and blood; images of insects buzzing in the shadowy light, with the distant sound of moans from beyond the grave and flashbacks to the paths chosen by the ancestors...

Japanese director Naomi Kawase (Mogari No Mori, Jury Prize at Cannes 2007), adept at contemplation, is known for her harmonious and intimate bond with nature. It seems that for her, love stories are nothing less than byproducts of immemorial legends tied to the cycles of nature. Her close-up images are astonishing, such as a fluffy moon rising once again on its never-ending journey across the sky. But too much poetry and mystery detracts from the story, which becomes too elliptical and obscure.