赤い殺意 (aka Intentions Of Murder) (1964)

A bovine drudge (Masumi Harukawa) is "married" to an insensitive, verbally abusive, chronically ill man (Ko Nishimura). One night, while her husband is away on business, a young man (Shigeru Tsuyuguchi) breaks into her home and robs, beats and rapes her. She doesn't report the rape but the rapist continues to stalk her and she unwillingly (though this is never made certain) enters a sexual relationship with her rapist. Directed by Shohei Imamura (VENGEANCE IS MINE). I've greatly admired the films of Imamura and while I can see why the subject matter interests him, he handled such similar themes much better in the superior INSECT WOMAN. We're supposed to feel empathy for the plump housewife but she's such a born victim and complicit in her own fate (unlike say, Thomas Hardy's Tess, another born victim) that it's difficult to accede. And we're asked to sit through 2 1/2 hours of her self victimization. The film finally lost me halfway through when her rapist stalker attempts to strangle her and throw her off a train but has a seizure and begs her to get a pill out of his pocket. Instead of doing the logical thing and splitting, she does and then he continues to molest her and then go to his place for wild sex! After that, I just sat in numbness and waited for the thing to finally end. The best thing about the film is robust wide screen cinematography of Shinsaku Himeda. The score is by Toshiro Mayuzumi.