How deep do the scars of war run? Kei Ishikawa’s take on A Pale View of Hills, based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s book of the same name, explores a new perspective on the world and how it heals after the devastation of World War II. Ishikawa’s protagonist is Etsuko (Suzu Hirose), a woman living in 1950s Japan after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and an older version of Etsuko (Yō Yoshida) who is now living in England in the 1980s. The two timelines braid together a complex story of Etsuko’s early life as a survivor of the bombings, along with her journey as a mother later in life after suffering a family tragedy. Examining the aftereffects of the war on the Japanese people — specifically the prejudice around those who survived in Nagasaki — and the lives of immigrants in England, A Pale View of Hills gives a layered approach to a story with familiar elements but a unique narrative twist.
‘A Pale View of Hills’ Tells the Story of a Woman at Two Stages of Her Life

Image via Cannes

When we first meet Etsuko (Hirose), she is a housewife in 1950s Japan who has just found out that she’s pregnant. Her husband, Jiro (Kôhei Matsushita), spends most of his days as a salaryman, leaving for work early in the morning and returning late at night. When Jiro’s father, Ogata (Tomokazu Miura), arrives suddenly for an extended stay, their lives must change to accommodate the house guest. At the same time, in the village, Etsuko meets a young girl named Mariko, who is a survivor from Nagasaki. She and her mother, Sachiko (Fumi Nikaido), live on the outskirts of the town, and Sachiko is engaged in a romantic relationship with an American soldier named Frank.
Jump to the 1980s, and we meet Niki (Camilla Aiko), Etsuko’s second daughter, who is returning from London to their family home in the countryside in England. Etsuko (Yoshida), 20 years older now, has suffered through the death of her English husband and also her first daughter, Keiko. Niki, a burgeoning writer, is curious about her mother’s past and desperate to know about her life before England so that she can write about it.
As Etsuko begins to narrate the story of the past, detailing Ogata’s visit and her new friendship with Sachiko, the story slowly morphs and evolves, and we begin to realize that Etsuko herself is an unreliable narrator. As the past is unveiled, and we learn what happened to Keiko and the family dynamics between Keiko and her sister, her mother, and her stepfather, Ishikawa pulls back the curtain on a complicated family made more complex due to the interpersonal relationships within the family.
‘A Pale View of Hills’ Is Picturesque With a Covert Mystery That Is Both Intriguing and Eerie

Image via Cannes

Kei Ishikawa and cinematographer Piotr Niemyjski offer a rich and lush landscape both of the little Japanese town Etsuko lives in and of the English countryside. With strong production design that makes each setting incredibly unique with little details all over the film to tell us more about the characters, the Japanese setting is not only strong in terms of being a period piece, but it also utilizes the nature around the village to its advantage.
Stunning sunsets turn a simple scene into an eerie and foreboding one, especially as Etsuko’s story becomes more unreliable. As the pieces of each story come together, we learn what truly happened to Keiko in the ’80s, as well as the truth of Etsuko’s origins and how she came to the UK. Ishikawa slowly evolves the story beyond just a simple narrative, making us question not just Etsuko’s narration but also what exactly the truth of the past is and how it affects the present.

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Although Etsuko and Sachiko live a relatively peaceful life, the aftermath of the destruction of the nuclear bombs is very much present. Characters who have radiation scars or are known to be from Nagasaki are ostracized and seen as unclean due to their exposure to radiation. It’s a side of the post-war rarely seen portrayed in film, especially for a Western audience, where we can see not only the lasting damage from the war to the land but also that it is creating rifts within the country itself with its own citizens.
The contrast between the older characters who remember and flourished in Japan before the war and the younger characters who are growing up in a new reality also reflects on the themes of past and present. On top of that, Niki’s relationship with her own identity as a Japanese-British person is also clearly contrasted in her relationship with her mother, who is a Japanese immigrant. These moments add to the layers of the story in A Pale View of Hills, allowing it to dive deep into identity without expanding the story’s scope too wide.
‘A Pale View of the Hills’ Thrives in Its 1950s Storyline the Most

Image via Cannes

The strongest performances of the film reside with Suzu Hirose and Fumi Nikaido in the ’50s storyline in Japan. Although the one in the ’80s is inherently connected to it, it’s the earlier storyline where the film really flourishes. Hirose plays the younger Etsuko with a quiet grace. She is a woman struggling with leaving her art behind, as an accomplished musician, as she’s relegated to becoming a housewife who takes care of her husband. Without too many friends in her small town, she finds an easy friendship with Sachiko.
Nikaido’s Sachiko operates against the grain of society. She is not a perfectly coiffed Japanese housewife. She’s stylish, a single mother, and is in a romantic relationship with a foreigner. The townspeople look down on her for that and for the fact that she is a survivor of Nagasaki. As a result, her daughter, Mariko, is similarly ostracized by the children of the town. Nikaido plays Sachiko both with her steely strength and determination to succeed and also with a quiet frailty that reveals she isn’t quite as strong as she lets on. When her friendship with Etsuko blossoms, we see more of her true personality, which only builds on the intrigue of her impact on Etsuko. Although both Camilla Aiko and Yō Yoshida have great chemistry as mother and daughter in their ’80s storyline, it’s Nikaido and Hirose who really steal the show.
With a subtle blend of genres and two parallel storylines, there is a lot to unpack with A Pale View of Hills, and Kei Ishikawa does this effortlessly and creates a deeply moving and enigmatic story that will stick with you long after the film is over. Its understated filmic language does not bash you over the head with its metaphors or themes, but sinks in slowly over time, making its impact that much more long-lasting.
A Pale View of Hills premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.

A Pale View of Hills

Two storylines compete in a slow burn mystery that gives a new perspective on post-World War II Japan.

Release Date

September 5, 2025

Runtime

123 minutes

Director

Kei Ishikawa

Writers

Kei Ishikawa

Pros & Cons

A surprising and complex story that slowly reveals itself with an unreliable narrator.
Suzu Hirose and Fumi Nikaido star as two complicated women with a close bond.
The film slowly blends in elements of other genres to create an intriguing mix of moods throughout the film that go together harmoniously.