Saikaku ichidai onna (1952)

Director:

Kenji Mizoguchi

Writers:

Saikaku Ihara (novel)
Kenji Mizoguchi (writer)

Release Date:

20 April 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The tale of a 17th century samurai's daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kinuyo Tanaka	...	Oharu
Tsukie Matsuura	...	Tomo, Oharu's Mother
Ichirô Sugai	...	Shinzaemon, Oharu's Father
Toshirô Mifune	...	Katsunosuke
Toshiaki Konoe	...	Lord Harutaka Matsudaira
Kiyoko Tsuji	...	Landlady
Hisako Yamane	...	Lady Matsudaira
Jûkichi Uno	...	Yakichi Ogiya
Eitarô Shindô	...	Kahe Sasaya
Akira Oizumi	...	Fumikichi, Sasaya's Friend
Kyôko Kusajima	...	Sodegaki
Masao Shimizu	...	Kikuoji
Daisuke Katô	...	Tasaburo Hishiya
Toranosuke Ogawa	...	Yoshioka
Hiroshi Oizumi	...	Manager Bunkichi

Also Known As:

Diary of Oharu
Saikaku: Life of a Woman (literal English title)
The Life of Oharu

Runtime:

148 min | USA:133 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | UK:PG | Hong Kong:I

Company:

Koi Productions

Trivia:

This film, which was director Kenji Mizoguchi's dream project, was severely under-financed, and the production was forced to use a warehouse instead of a regular sound stage. This warehouse happened to be located near railways, and each time a train passed by, they had to stop shooting, which made the shooting of the film even more difficult with the director's obsessive use of long, continuous, uninterrupted takes. The same warehouse was also used for Josef Von Sternberg's film 'The Saga of Anatahan'.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Aru eiga-kantoku no shogai (1975)

Why Did I Wait To See This?

I finally saw Life of Oharu at the Ontario Cinematheque in Toronto last night and what an amazing film it was.

I don't know why I held out on Mizoguchi for so long. I think it's because I watched a lot of Ozu in the day and expected more of the same heavily restrained, obliquely symbolic style which is often as alienating as it is inventive. I couldn't have been further off the mark. Mizoguchi's style is fluid and assured like Hitchcock and Bresson. He also injects a warmth of spirit and shows a genuine interest in storytelling which is often absent in much of Ozu's ouevre.

The Story of Oharu is a treatise on how women are economically exploited in a patriarchal society. This is probably one of the greatest 'women's films' ever made. It ranks above 'Breaking The Waves' and Sirk's 'Imitation of Life'. No small feat!! If you like stories that actually say something about the world in which we live, I would strongly recommend this film. It's a masterpiece of world cinema. I am definitely going to see more Mizoguchi.