I Live in Fear

An aging foundry patriarch in a crowded postwar town becomes obsessed with the dread of nuclear war and the possibility that his family might be annihilated. He concludes that they must flee to a distant, supposedly safer Brazil, drawing up plans and restraints to move everyone abroad. His relatives push back and petition a family court to declare him unable to manage his affairs, sparking a tense moral inquiry. A cautious family counselor is drawn into the case, watching as the man's fixation hardens into a stubborn resolve. The drama sticks to a single household as fear reshapes intimate loyalties and questions the sanity of clinging to a dream of escape.

Released in 1955, the film was directed by Akira Kurosawa with a screenplay by Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni and music by Fumio Hayasaka. It showcases Kurosawa's collaboration with a strong ensemble and his knack for social drama.

Critics of the era treated it as a stark, intimate meditation on fear and family life under the shadow of modern threats. The film turns a household quarrel into a broader reflection on responsibility, denial, and the price of escape. Its central tension between care for kin and the urge to retreat exposes how anxiety can strain honesty, loyalty, and judgment, even in ordinary rooms.

Culturally the movie sits among Kurosawa's mid career experiments with social anxiety and domestic drama. It parts from sweeping battles to zooms into a single house to reveal how fear can become a shared, invisible antagonist. The film's clinical look at mental strain resonates with postwar concerns about the nuclear age.

Box office figures are not provided in the available data. As a 1955 Kurosawa drama, it sits among midrange commercial efforts for the director, a testament to artistic ambition rather than mass market appeal. Scholars note its quiet approach contrasts with the director's more action oriented epics.