A Pale View of Hills Review: Memory Can Forgive

Kei Ishikawa’s A Pale View of Hills, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, is a hauntingly beautiful film about making peace with our pasts.

The year is 1982 and Niki (Camilla Aiko) has turned up unannounced at her mother Etsuko’s (Yoh Yoshida) house in the suburbs of England. At first, it seems like Niki is coming to check up on her mother, who lives alone in the house Niki grew up in, since Etsuko’s husband has passed and her eldest daughter Keiko has recently taken her own life. Etsuko is trying to sell the house and tells Niki to take what she wants now because everything is going to be thrown away soon. From the start, we see Etsuko is not a sentimental woman. 

We soon discover the reason for Niki’s visit is not entirely sentimental either. Niki has recently dropped out of college and is trying to make it as a writer. After an article of hers about the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp gains some traction, her editor suggests she interview her mother about Etsuko’s post-World War II experiences in Nagasaki, as he feels it would add to her credibility in talking about nuclear weapons.

Etsuko is reluctant to open up about what her life was like in Japan and initially refuses to participate in Niki’s piece. However, once Etsuko can no longer ignore her recurring nightmares about her past in Japan and her daughter’s suicide, she begins to open up to her daughter about her past life. 

The story then shifts to 1952, the summer that Etsuko (Suzu Hirose) was pregnant with Keiko and living in Nagasaki with her first husband, Jiro (Kouhei Matsushita). With no friends to spend time with and a somewhat cold relationship with her husband, Etsuko becomes infatuated with a woman called Sachiko (Fumi Nikaido) who lives in a shed with her young, unfriendly daughter Mariko and has grand dreams of moving to America one day. While Etsuko and Sachiko often disagree, the two women quickly build a connection that will change the trajectory of Etsuko’s life forever. 

A Pale View of Hills has an eerie feel to it. The suspicion of danger is always looming. In the scenes that take place in 1952, in Nagasaki, there is an unsettled feeling as life has continued on following the US’s dropping of the atomic bomb 7 years prior. In 1982 England, Etsuko’s house feels haunted by the memory of the impressive yet reclusive Keiko following her passing. 

This speaks to the film’s core theme of memory and the ways in which we look at our pasts. Etsuko is suffering quickly from her eldest daughter taking her own life. While she tries to compartmentalize and ration through the way she feels in her own quiet, dignified way, she remains haunted by memories of that fateful Nagasaki summer. 

Objectively, for the majority of Etsuko’s friendship with Sachiko, Etsuko, pregnant with her first child at the time, judged the way Sachiko parented. Mariko was a spiteful and ornery child with whom no one connected with. During her time spent with this mother-daughter duo, Etsuko took on the role of the martyr, constantly being there for Mariko when she felt Sachiko had abandoned her.

Sachiko knew how Etsuko pitied them, but she refused to acknowledge her savior complex and let Etsuko be whoever she wanted as long as she could get the help she needed to try and figure out a way to get her and her daughter to America. 

While Etsuko is confused as to why this particular summer is haunting her all these years later, it becomes clear that Etsuko feels a subconscious connection between Sachiko’s relationship with Mariko and her own relationship with Keiko, but her memory isn’t allowing her to look at either relationship clearly. 

She won’t address Keiko’s passing head-on and therefore can’t make peace with it. Similarly, she can’t take an honest look at the ways in which she judged Sachiko’s mothering capabilities and why this particular moment in time would be haunting her right after her daughter has taken her own life. 

Kei Ishikawa’s film is a beautiful and profound look at the ways in which we try and soften harsh truths about ourselves. Through Piotr Niemyjski’s dreamy cinematography, we watch the life of a woman plagued by regret, trying to come to terms with the decisions she has made in life. 

A Pale View of Hills is at its best when it centers on Etsuko, both in her present and past. While the film includes major plot points of the book, such as Etsuko’s scorned father-in-law, Ogata (Tomokazu Miura), in order to remain faithful to the source material, it hurts the film’s focus. The inclusion of his storyline makes the story feel too broad, where it should be tight and focused on the hazy memory and bountiful regrets of one woman. While his storyline may help to build dimension in the book, it feels almost completely unnecessary to the film that is already attempting to accomplish a lot. 

Ishikawa’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel is a thought-provoking meditation on memory, regret and letting go. While at times the film feels overly ambitious and undelivered on, it’s still stands as a nuanced take on the ways in which we grapple with our mistakes. A Pale View of Hills shows the struggle of attempting to hold yourself accountable for your missteps while also showing yourself grace in your darkest moments.

A Pale View of Hills premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15-17, 2025 in Un Certain Regard. Read our list of 20 movies to watch at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival!