Three people climb a mountain. Ayako and her husband Ryokichi, and his colleague Osamu. Ayako and Ryokichi fall, and find themselves hanging onto a rope. Osamu is at the top holding the rope, but they could all die. Ayako decides to cut the rope, and her husband falls to his death. Did she cut the rope to survive or was it a deliberate act to kill her husband? The judge finds her innocent, but that is not the whole truth. It is one of director Masumura Yasuzo’s best works that clearly shows his take on the world of passion and affair. The protagonists’ emotions are laid bare by the extreme situation the protagonists find themselves in on the mountain, and unbridled love cannot be stopped. Wakao Ayako, who plays Ayako, conveys the character’s emotions through her eyes, and her presence dominates the movie. The film was remade in Korea in 1964 by director Yu Hyun-mok.