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Flame of My Love

Original title: Waga koi wa moenu
  • 19491949
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
442
YOUR RATING
Flame of My Love (1949)
DramaRomance
A woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi, jus... Read allA woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi, just as the party is being disbanded by the government. Eiko and Omoi are jailed because of a... Read allA woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi, just as the party is being disbanded by the government. Eiko and Omoi are jailed because of a fire at a factory instigated by Chiyo, a servant girl from Eiko's home in Okayama, who wa... Read all
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
442
YOUR RATING
    • Kenji Mizoguchi
    • Kôgo Noda(novel)
    • Kaneto Shindô
    • Yoshikata Yoda
  • Stars
    • Kinuyo Tanaka
    • Mitsuko Mito
    • Kuniko Miyake
    • Kenji Mizoguchi
    • Kôgo Noda(novel)
    • Kaneto Shindô
    • Yoshikata Yoda
  • Stars
    • Kinuyo Tanaka
    • Mitsuko Mito
    • Kuniko Miyake
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 3User reviews
    • 5Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos22

    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)
    Kinuyo Tanaka in Flame of My Love (1949)
    Kinuyo Tanaka in Flame of My Love (1949)
    Kinuyo Tanaka in Flame of My Love (1949)
    Flame of My Love (1949)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Kinuyo Tanaka
    Kinuyo Tanaka
    • Eiko Hirayama
    Mitsuko Mito
    Mitsuko Mito
    • Chiyo
    Kuniko Miyake
    Kuniko Miyake
    • Toshiko Kishida
    Ichirô Sugai
    Ichirô Sugai
    • Kentaro Omoi
    Shinobu Araki
    • Eiko's father
    Zeya Chida
    Eitarô Ozawa
    Eitarô Ozawa
    • Ryuzo Hayase
    Sadako Sawamura
    Sadako Sawamura
    Koreya Senda
    Koreya Senda
    • Prime Minister Inagki
    Eijirô Tôno
    Eijirô Tôno
    • State Councillor Ito
      • Kenji Mizoguchi
      • Kôgo Noda(novel)
      • Kaneto Shindô
      • Yoshikata Yoda
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Connections
      Referenced in Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1975)

    User reviews3

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    FLAME OF MY LOVE (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1949) ***1/2
    Equally well-known by another metaphorical name – MY LOVE HAS BEEN BURNING – this may be a period piece but it’s set in an era that was relatively recent at the time of filming, the 1880s; though a good many of Mizoguchi’s works that I’ve watched touched upon the political climate of their particular time-frame, this one revolves entirely around the efforts of a party (the Liberals) to push their personal agenda (promoting Women’s Rights) – which, being so radical, would necessitate a change in the country’s Constitution!

    Again, the leading role is played by Kinuyo Tanaka and based on a real person: she quarrels with her conservative parents over her support of the Liberals; however, she can’t bring herself to follow her partner to Tokyo…until a friend of the family is sold into slavery to pay off her father’s debts! However, when she arrives in the big city and searches for her former companion, he seems changed and clearly considers her presence there intrusive; it transpires that he’s sold out to the Government and is spying on the Liberals (the Election being just around the corner)! Having struck a relationship with the leader of the party, she stays on; arriving at an appointed meeting-place one day, she sees her old girlfriend being beaten up (this must surely have been quite a shockingly violent scene for its time!) and tries to intervene – the latter, in contempt and desperation, burns down the place; the Police then turn up and arrest several people – including the heroine, her new partner and the young girl.

    The two women share the same cell: the young girl, however, has grown bitter with the passage of time and is abrasive even to her caring older friend; still, together they endure hardship in the prison quarry – until it’s discovered that the young girl is pregnant (from the man who had bought her); she loses the baby…but, then, a General Amnesty of political prisoners is called and the three protagonists are re-united. With this, though, Tanaka’s problems merely take a different turn: her partner is exposed as a libertine who shamelessly keeps the young girl as a concubine (a situation revealed to her by the latter’s former master/lover)! Nevertheless, he’s elected to Parliament; disillusioned yet undaunted in her hope of one day getting to see Japanese women attain Equality, Tanaka ultimately decides to return to her hometown (a sequence tinged with irony as the heroine overhears some people praising the humanitarian qualities of the Liberal candidate!)…but, on the train, she’s joined by the young girl (who, realizing she was being exploited even by those who should know better, is looking forward to a more dignified existence).

    While on paper all of this might seem less than appetizing (being a mix of politics and melodrama), Mizoguchi’s assured handling makes all the difference – resulting in a compelling portrait of an era, highlighted by impressively-staged crowd scenes and any number of powerful individual moments depicting tension, cruelty, heartache and faith.
    helpful•4
    1
    • Bunuel1976
    • May 22, 2008

    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 5, 1979 (United States)
      • Japan
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
    • Production company
      • Shochiku
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 36 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Mono

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