The Life of Oharu [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Kenji Mizoguchi

Overview

Life of Oharu features Kinuyo Tanaka in the title role. Oharu is a middle-aged prostitute in 17th century Japan. As she prays before a statue of Buddha, Oharu reviews her past. Her road to degradation began when, as a teenager, she disgraced her family by falling in love with a samurai (Toshiro Mifune). Oharu became the mistress of a prince, who cast her off after she bore his son. She was then sold into prostitution by her father, and thus began a catch-as-catch-can existence alternating between brief happiness with those she genuinely loved and servitude to those she despised. A potential happy ending, reuniting her with her royal son, is dashed by the much-maligned Oharu herself, who opts for the life of a beggar. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, a lifelong advocate of equitable treatment for Japanese women, Life of Oharu was adapted from a novel by Saikaku Ibara.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/09/2013
UPC:	0715515107310
Original Release:	1952
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:16:00
Sales rank:	12,119

Special Features

New audio commentary for the opening of the movie by film scholar Dudley Andrew; Mizoguchi's Art And The Demimonde, an illustrated audio essay featuring Andrew; The Travels of Kinoyo Tanaka, a 2009 film by Koko Kajiyama documenting the actor's 1949 goodwill tour of the United States

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kinuyo Tanaka	Oharu
Toshiro Mifune	Katsunosuke
Ichiro Sugai	Shonzaemon, Oharu's Father
Chieko Higashiyama	Myokai
Noriko Sengoku	Sakurai
Sadako Sawamura	Owasa
Yuriko Hamada	Otsubone Yoshioka
Eitaro Shindo	Kohei Sasaya
Daisuke Kato	Tasaburo Hishiya
Kikue Mori	Myokai, the Old Nun
Jukichi Uno	Yakichi Senya
Masao Mishima	Taisaburo Hishiya
Takashi Shimura	Old Man
Kyoko Kusajima	Sodegaki
Eijiro Yanagi	Forger
Akira Oizumi	Fumikichi, Sasaya's Friend
Toranosuke Ogawa	Yataemon Isobei
Masao Shimizu	Kikuno Koji
Ichiro Saito	Composer

Technical Credits

Kenji Mizoguchi

Yoshikata Yoda

Kenji Mizoguchi	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Hideo Koi	Producer
Yoshikata Yoda	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Though maybe not director Kenji Mizoguchi's most perfect film (Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff usually garner this title), Life of Oharu is arguably his most important work. When it won the 1952 Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival one year after Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon did the same, Oharu not only solidified the reputation of Japanese cinema but also ended Mizoguchi's decade-long artistic tailspin and freed him from studio constraints, allowing him to create his later masterpieces. Yet the film was almost not completed thanks to cost overruns and Mizoguchi's fanatical perfectionism. Based on a 17th century farcical classic by libertine playwright Sakiku Ibara, both the play and the film details the fall of a woman from imperial courtesan to untouchable. Yet while Sakiku uses Oharu's decline as a means to satirize Japan's rigid feudal culture, Mizoguchi strips away all parodic elements and views her tortured life as noble and sacred. As in his other works, Mizoguchi presents a woman's suffering vividly and sympathetically, framing it in long takes and fluid camera movements in a coolly contemplative style. The result is a film that seems aloof yet packs a remarkably strong emotional punch. Quiet and profound, Life of Oharu is a masterful work by a filmmaker reaching the pinnacle of his creative powers.

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow