This 1960 film directed by Mikio Naruse and with a relatively sparse, but well-observed, screenplay by Ryuzo Kikushima (a regular Kurosawa writer), continues in the same stylistic vein (slow-pace, low-key camerawork, restrained drama, etc) as much of the film-maker's earlier work, in the process revisiting many of the man's oft-used themes - namely, a central (female) protagonist (and country?) struggling to come to terms with the modern (patriarchal) world, balancing spiritual vs. Material well-being in a society of (at best) confused morality.
As the central metaphor for the dilemma faced by Hideko Takamine's ageing and conflicted bar hostess, Keiko, Naruse (and Kikushima) have devised a simple ascent of the staircase into her workplace, where Keiko, whilst yearning for the simple life (and love) she experienced with her now deceased husband, enters into a 'dog-eat-dog' world of pretence and moral ambiguity. Takamine is outstanding here as the confused protagonist, torn between the materialist security offered by her job (which allows her to play the good Samaritan to her disadvantaged family) and the moral respectability she values and that might be delivered by a marriage to one of her many admiring potential patrons. Naruse's cast is consistently strong with, in addition to Takamine, Masayuki Mori particularly good as the businessman, Fujiskai, Tatsuya Nakadai impressing as the philosophical bar manager, Komatsu, and Reiko Dan also good as the young and flighty hostess, Junko.
Given Naruse's regular focus on the plight of (essentially) 'lower class' characters and the feel of a kind of 'social-realist light' drama, a superficial comparison might be made with the work of other directors working in a similar vein, such as Ken Loach or the Dardennes, but Naruse's subtle style is less overtly political, making his cinema more akin to that of his fellow countryman, Yasujiro Ozu. Oddly enough, the other film When A Woman... reminded me of (purely from a thematic, rather than stylistic, perspective) is Wong's In The Mood For Love.
As the central metaphor for the dilemma faced by Hideko Takamine's ageing and conflicted bar hostess, Keiko, Naruse (and Kikushima) have devised a simple ascent of the staircase into her workplace, where Keiko, whilst yearning for the simple life (and love) she experienced with her now deceased husband, enters into a 'dog-eat-dog' world of pretence and moral ambiguity. Takamine is outstanding here as the confused protagonist, torn between the materialist security offered by her job (which allows her to play the good Samaritan to her disadvantaged family) and the moral respectability she values and that might be delivered by a marriage to one of her many admiring potential patrons. Naruse's cast is consistently strong with, in addition to Takamine, Masayuki Mori particularly good as the businessman, Fujiskai, Tatsuya Nakadai impressing as the philosophical bar manager, Komatsu, and Reiko Dan also good as the young and flighty hostess, Junko.
Given Naruse's regular focus on the plight of (essentially) 'lower class' characters and the feel of a kind of 'social-realist light' drama, a superficial comparison might be made with the work of other directors working in a similar vein, such as Ken Loach or the Dardennes, but Naruse's subtle style is less overtly political, making his cinema more akin to that of his fellow countryman, Yasujiro Ozu. Oddly enough, the other film When A Woman... reminded me of (purely from a thematic, rather than stylistic, perspective) is Wong's In The Mood For Love.