Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1954 • Japan

Mikio Naruse's The Sound of the Mountain (aka Yama no oto) (1954) was one of the director's personal favorites among his own movies. The story itself concerns a woman, Kukiko (Setsuko Hara), trapped in a loveless marriage to Otto (Ken Uehara), living as a virtual servant to her in-laws -- the one solace she has is the sensitivity of her father-in-law (So Yamamura), who tries to better her life in increasingly bold ways. But matters become even more complicated when Kukiko finds herself pregnant, and decides to end the pregnancy without ever revealing her condition.