Ten Dark Women

In Ten Dark Women (Kuroi jûnin no onna, 1961) by legendary Japanese director Kon Ichikawa, 10 women discover they are sharing the same pathologically unfaithful man, and temporarily abandon jealousy to meticulously orchestrate a collective revenge. Kaze (Eiji Funakoshi) is the pathetic cad at the centre of all of the hoopla, a philandering television producer who falls so easily in love that he can’t keep track of how many times he has cheated on his long suffering wife, Futaba (Fujiko Yamamoto), a successful restaurateur who has reached her limit. Refusing to remain a victim, Futaba forms a pact with nine of her husband’s mistresses (played by an unparalleled ensemble of studio divas) to kill him off — though she has a secret plan of her own that leads to unexpected twists.

With a brilliant, before-its-time script by Natto Wada (Ichikawa’s wife and collaborator, with whom he arguably made his greatest films, writing under a pseudonym), the film transforms both the codes of noir and the classic melodrama through a feminist inversion, going so far as to blur, reject, and reassign gender roles. Shot in widescreen DaieiScope in stunning chiaroscuro, the film is teeming with long shadows, close-ups, modernist jazz, terrific set pieces, formal precision, and some zesty dialogue, balancing its cynicism with sardonic humour and sharp social critique.

Avant-garde in the true sense of the word, Ten Dark Women was largely misunderstood and deemed too progressive at the time of its release, only gaining in importance since, making this gorgeous 4K restoration imperative viewing.

ANDRÉA PICARD

Restored in 4K in 2026 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION at IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services laboratory, from the original 35mm negatives. Grading supervised by Masahiro Miyajima and Chizuko Osada. 

Content advisory: suicide, violence, mature themes