The Life of Oharu (1952)

Original title

西鶴一代女

Directed by

Kenji Mizoguchi

Genre

drama film

Country

Japan

Runtime

2h 28m

Rating

7.7 of 10 from 196 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Oharu is a woman born into a samurai family who becomes a concubine and later a prostitute. The film follows her long life as she faces one hardship after another, all while trying to hold onto her dignity.

slow-burnmelancholicsomberatmosphericreflectiveaustereemotionally intense

What happens

The Life of Oharu (西鶴一代女, Saikaku ichidai onna; lit. "Saikaku: Life of a woman") is a 1952 Japanese historical drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. The screenplay by Yoshikata Yoda is based on various stories from Saikaku Ihara's 1686 work The Life of an Amorous Woman. Kinuyo Tanaka stars as Oharu, a one-time concubine of a daimyō (and mother of a later daimyō) who struggles to escape the stigma of having been forced into prostitution by her father. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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