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Musashino fujin (1951) More at IMDbPro »

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
intensely moving, 4 January 2004

Author: rutkins from London, England

intensely moving story about a woman trapped between her stoic/moral beliefs, and the changing times brought about by the end of WW2. Similar themes discussed in Ozu's films 'floating weeds' + 'end of summer', but with a more direct and stark style.

Fascinating look at how upper middle class in Japan react to war and its aftermath, as well as to adultery and suicide.

As in Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator', the image of tall grass serves to express the calm fertility of nature with a dream-like quality, in contrast to the malignant hustle and bustle of the city.

An excellent drama, despite the less than perfect quality of the print (even though it is a new print)

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Good, not great, 17 May 2006

Author: bartman_9 from Belgium

The Lady from Musashino is the tragedy of a woman destroyed by sticking to her own personal values while all around her society is in moral decay.

Another fine Kenji Mizoguchi / Kinuyo Tanaka collaboration, though not in the same league as their great ones (Oharu, Sansho, Ugetsu). The film is occasionally a bit too literal and obvious, with Western influences on Japanese society seen rather one-sidedly as an absolute negative (judging from this movie, you'd think Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir is solely responsible for all of Japan's ills).

Nevertheless, the movie's final image is a great cinematic representation of all that was gained and all that was lost in post-war Japan.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Musashino fujin (1951), 4 May 2005

Author: SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Being a huge fan of other work from the period, I have recently heard of much praise for the director Kenji Mizoguchi. This film went straight to the top of my list of films to watch. It is a fascinating look at post-war Japan. The film begins in the midst of war, we hear planes, and bombs going off. A young couple who lose their house move in with their parents. Whilst digging a bomb shelter a human skull is discovered and the dying mother says that the place is cursed. This film is not supernatural in the slightest though. It is a beautiful portrait of morality and changing times. Towards the beginning of the film their are many narrative ellipses. A father comforts his daughter by assuring her that he will not die. In the next scene he has died. We are never given strong details of what exactly happens, and some viewers may not be used to this quick paced technique. The important thing is that it works, we as the audience do not need to see how the father or mother dies. We do not need to see the end of the war. What is important is what happens after these events. The first twenty minutes is like a prologue, and a very good and interesting one. Once the film really gets going we see how sensibilities are changing. Men believe in adultery and the political climate is heating up. Akiyama is one man who believes that there is nothing wrong with cheating on his wife, and that it is natural. He attempts to initiate an affair with Tomiko. Tsutomu tries to seduce his cousin Michiko. Michiko is shown as the lasts sense of morality in a fast changing society. She knows her husband is unfaithful (or at least would be), she is in love with Tsumotu, but she refuses to give up on the commitment of marriage. After her husband does leave her, she attempts suicide in one of cinemas greatest sacrifices, in an attempt to stop her husband gaining the property. It is heartbreaking how far Michiko will go, how she refuses to conform. The performances are fantastic, never over the top and really capture the essence of their characters. The beautiful use of scenery, in which we see the last remnants of peaceful nature, such as the lake and the long flowing beautiful grass. It is a great film, which may have lost some of its relevance over the years. No matter, it is a fantastic picture that should be seen by all fans of cinema.

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Urban myths, 5 July 2009

Author: GyatsoLa from Ireland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Lady of Musashino is a really fascinating look at the upper middle classes of post war Japan and is characteristic of those films that wrestled with Japans identity in the immediate aftermath of defeat. And as it is a Mizoguchi film, it is gorgeous to look at, beautifully made.

The story itself is quite a conventional love story, wrapped up in the changing morality of the period. The heroine, Michiko, is descended from Samurai stock, and is acutely aware of her position as upholding family tradition in a rapidly changing world. She is caught between her husband and neighbour, both with fashionably loose (western) morals and her desire to maintain her status, seen by her contemporaries as being a little too superior and arrogant. Her world is turned upside down by the return from war of her beloved cousin, Tadao. He is young, easily falls into a world of easy drink and sex, but is clearly in love with her. She refuses his advances, which comes close to destroying everything.

Tanaka and Mori are outstanding as the two leads. Both are very believable. The story is fascinating to modern eyes as it is so wrapped up in the period, although it avoids a harsh look at the inequalities and poverty of the period which can be seen in similar contemporary films from the likes of Kurosawa (Stray Dog) and Ozu (Record of a Tenement Gentleman). The film is also uses some slightly easy moralising and sides a little too easily with the rather uptight Michiko.

The ending is particularly curious - Musashino is clearly doomed to be swallowed up by a rapidly expanding Tokyo. The film regrets this - but clearly sees this as ultimately a good thing. I'm not sure modern viewers would agree! But this is a fine film, although not quite up there with the very best from this director. Well worth watching for those interested in the period, but not my first choice for anyone interested in Mizoguchi's work.

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