The Hole

A man in a white undershirt sits on the floor of a sparsely furnished room beside a large opening in the floor. A beverage can and scattered household objects are nearby.

Set just prior to the start of the 21st century, Tsai Ming-Liang's The Hole is a vaguely futuristic story follows two residents of a quickly crumbling apartment building in Taipei who refuse to leave their homes in spite of a virus that has forced the evacuation of the area.

As rain pours down relentlessly, a single man is stuck with an unfinished plumbing job and a hole in his floor. This results in a very odd relationship with the woman who lives below him. Combining deadpan humor with an austere view of loneliness and a couple of unexpected musical numbers, Tsai Ming-Liang crafted one of the most original films of the 1990s —an end-of-the-world romance that remains disarmingly funny and feels eerily prescient in our post-pandemic world.

The Hole screens in a newly struck 35mm print, courtesy of Big World Pictures. Originally produced for French television's 2000 Seen by... series, the film was initially broadcast in a 69-minute version called Last Dance, but this longer version is the director's preferred cut.

Cosponsored by the East Asia Program in the Einaudi Center for International Studies.

In Mandarin and Taiwanese with English subtitles. Part of our "Restorations & Rediscoveries" series. Courtesy: Big World Pictures

Please visit our Content Advisory page to access resources for identifying sensitive content and evaluating the age-appropriateness of each film title.