Day Dream (1981) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1981 · 110 mins · Japanese

Directed by

Tetsuji Takechi

Starring

Kei Satô, Taiji Tonoyama, Kyōko Aizome, Sengoro Shigeyama, Takemi Katsushika, Saeda Kawaguchi

Loosely based on Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s 1926 short story, the film opens with an artist and a young woman in a dentist’s waiting room. He is attracted but stays silent. Later, in the same examination chair, an anesthetic triggers fantasies of the woman subjected to sexual abuse and torture. When he awakens, clues suggest visions were hallucinations.