The Idiot

A tragic, introspective adaptation of Dostoevsky that uses a saintly protagonist's compassion to expose the destructive nature of love, jealousy, and human frailty in post-war Japan.

A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.