Pastoral: To Die in the Country

Pastoral: To Die in the Country (Japanese: 田園に死す, Hepburn: Den-en ni shisu; lit. 'To Die in the Countryside'), also known as Pastoral Hide and Seek (French: Cache-cache pastoral), is a 1974 Japanese experimental surrealist film written and directed by Shūji Terayama. Adapted from Terayama's 1965 tanka poetry collection and a 1962 television drama he scripted—both sharing the film's Japanese title—the film stars Kantarō Suga, Hiroyuki Takano, Kaoru Yachigusa, and Isao Kimura. Employing a film-within-a-film structure, it depicts an adult director (Suga)—a stand-in for Terayama—who encounters resistance from his younger self (Takano) as he attempts to complete a cinematic reimagining of his rural adolescence.

Pastoral was released in Japan on December 28, 1974. Co-produced by Art Theatre Guild and Terayama's independent production company Jinriki Hikōki Sha, both parties split the film's budget equally as part of ATG's 10-million-yen film initiative. Terayama, a prominent fixture of the underground (angura) scene, employed members of his avant-garde theatre troupe Tenjō Sajiki as cast and crew, including J. A. Seazer, who composed the film's psychedelic rock score. The film was distributed exclusively through ATG's dwindling network of art house cinemas, resulting in a limited domestic theatrical release. It was entered into the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or.