The Insect Woman spends no time making sure its title is accurate as it opens on footage of an insect struggling to crawl up a small hill. This creature is clearly putting all of its strength into this task, yet, it's no use, it just can't make any progress. After the title flashes on-screen, we cut to our actual story concerning Tome Matsuki (Sachiko Hidari), a woman growing up in poverty and without a blood-related father to call her own. Much like the bug seen in the opening scene of the movie, Tome puts all her effort into trying to move up in life (in her case, "moving up" means bettering her social and economic status) but it just ends in despair. Over the course of the forty-five years chronicled in The Insect Woman, Tome is trapped in vicious cycles that refuse to allow her to advance. She's as trapped as that little bug was.
