It takes its title from a gramophone recording of Pablo de Sarasate's violin composition, Zigeunerweisen, which features prominently in the story.

Vacationing in a small seaside village, Aochi, a professor of German language, runs into Nakasago, a former colleague turned nomad.

Six months later, Aochi visits Nakasago to find that he has settled down and is having a child with Sono, a woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to Koine.

[2] Suzuki's de facto blacklisting ended with the release of his critically and commercially unsuccessful 1977 film A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness.

It was shot entirely on location without access to studio resources; it runs 144 minutes, in contrast to the former's 90-minute maximum; and its intellectual characters and period setting and subject matter invited a more literary audience as opposed to the younger genre fans that formed Suzuki's cult following.

[5] On the other hand, freed of studio constraints, Suzuki was able to carry his style even further in the direction his genre work had taken and abandon traditional narrative entirely in favour of random occurrences and incongruous and misleading associations.

He presents, comments on and challenges the conceptions of the Taishō era, specifically the wide introduction and assimilation of Western culture into Japan and its effect on the Japanese identity.

[4][5] Producer Genjiro Arato was unable to procure exhibitors for Zigeunerweisen and exhibited the film himself with his company Cinema Placet in a specially-built, inflatable, mobile tent.

[5] Critics named Zigeunerweisen the "must-see" film of 1980, it garnered four Japanese Academy Awards and reignited Suzuki's career.

It features a 25-minute interview with Suzuki discussing the making of the Taishō Roman Trilogy, a biography and filmography of the same, the theatrical trailer and a gallery of promotional material and photographs.

Also nominated were Naoko Otani for Best Actress, Toshiya Fujita for Best Supporting Actor, Yōzō Tanaka for Best Screenplay, Kazue Nagatsuka for Best Cinematography and Mitsuo Onishi for Best Lighting.