Affair in the Snow 1968

Yuriko Anzai [Mariko Okada] and her lover, high school teacher Sugino [Yukio Ninagawa], take a vacation together that she hopes will mark the end of their affair. Sugino insists that she stays with him, but Yuriko leaves alone for Muroran, where she plans to abort her and Sugino’s unborn child. In Muroran, she contacts Kazuo Imai [Isao Kimura], a former friend to whom she was once close. At the clinic, Yuriko learns that she had a false pregnancy. Reunited with Sugino, Yuriko reveals that she once spent the night with Kazuo, but that he was unable to make love to her. The next day, Yuriko intends to return to Sapporo, but heads for Niseko instead. All three meet again at an inn in Niseko, where Kazuo slaps Sugino during a confrontation. Sugino disappears into the heavy snow, followed by Yuriko and Kazuo, who fear that he might be lost. Yuriko and Kazuo spend the night in a mountain hotel, where he finally manages to make love to her. When Yuriko and Kazuo eventually find Sugino, who is partying with three young women, he tries to rape Yuriko, but is unable to do so, blaming Kazuo’s presence as the reason. On their way back from the mountains, Yuriko tells the persistent Sugino that their affair is irreversibly over. Sugino jumps off a cliff, later dying of his wounds, and the film closes with Yuriko crying.