Worldwide first on 4K UHD!

A landmark of the Japanese New Wave and one of the defining works of two-time Palme d'Or winning director Shōhei Imamura, The Insect Woman is a sweeping, unsparing portrait of a woman's life across four turbulent decades of Japanese history.

Born in poverty in rural Japan in 1918, Tomé spends her life trying to escape the constraints of class, circumstance, and the men who exploit her, moving through factory work, domestic servitude, and eventually the sex trade.

Sachiko Hidari (A Fugitive from the Past, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters) gives a career-defining, heroic performance filled with extraordinary physicality, in a towering, devastating work of humanist cinema that is perfectly befitting of Shōhei Imamura’s key philosophy - to make “messy, really human, unsettling films."

Includes a 60-page Hardcover Booklet featuring original production stills and an essay by Gabriel Massó.

1500 copies only.

Special Features & Technical Specs:

Disc One - 4K UHD


2160p Ultra high-definition NEW Dolby Vision / HDR10 presentation on 4K UHD, restored from the original camera negative
NEW Audio commentary by Japanese film specialist Jasper Sharp
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono
Aspect Ratio 2.38:1
Optional English Subtitles

Disc Two - Blu-ray


1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray of the 4K restoration
NEW Audio commentary by Japanese film specialist Jasper Sharp
NEW A Bug's Life - Japanese cinema expert Dr Irene González-López on The Insect Woman
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono
Aspect Ratio 2.38:1
Optional English Subtitles

Hardcover Booklet

An exclusive 60-page hardcover booklet featuring production stills and an essay by Gabriel Massó: Cycles, Transitions, Ellipses.