Young Kinu Yamabe is drawn to low-born Onimaru, who is vital and charismatic, but viewed by his father as a demon. After her first period, Kinu suffers the fate of any women born near the Sacred Mountain: she must leave the Mountain and serve as a priestess.

Many directors have adapted Brontë’s novel (Arnold, Buñuel, Rivette, Wyler): now it’s Yoshida’s turn! Transposing this simmering tale of obsessive love to feudal Japan in the Muromachi period, Yoshida’s version is stark, ghostly, and imbued with a glittering mysticism, yet the wind still howls.