The Fossil

An industrialist is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is abroad in Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes him to imagine her as the personification of his impending fate. As his dialogue with his imagined mortality continues, he meets the living woman, the template for his fantasy, and together, they tour rural churches. Gradually, he comes to some kind of peace about the diagnosis. When he returns to Japan, he is met with a series of challenges that profoundly test the lessons he has learned.

• Release date
• October 4, 1975
• Runtime
• 201 min
• Genres
• Drama, Fantasy
• Director
• Masaki Kobayashi

Cast

Shin Saburi Tajihei Itsuki Keiko Kishi Madame Marcelin Gō Katō Narrator Hisashi Igawa Funazu Mayumi Ogawa Akiko Itsuki Komaki Kurihara Kiyoko Itsuki Kei Yamamoto Akihiko Kishi Orie Satō Kishi's wife