Archive of films Downfall of Osen / Orizuru Osen
Japan
1934, 78 min
Section:
Tribute to Kenji Mizoguchi
Year: 2017
A maid named Osen prostitutes herself to support messenger Sokichi’s education. In later life he’s a prosperous doctor who has forgotten his benefactor, until one night on a rain-swept station platform… This deeply poignant love-tragedy has the richly expressive visuals of a late silent movie and a daringly convoluted flashback structure.
Synopsis
A deeply poignant love-tragedy about two ex-employees of a crooked art dealer: the maid Osen prostitutes herself to support the education of the messenger Sokichi. In later life he’s a prosperous doctor who has forgotten his benefactor, until one night on a rain-swept station platform … Shot silent but released with music and narration, this has the richly expressive visuals of a late silent movie and a daringly convoluted flashback structure. The flashbacks are steeped in the atmosphere of the Meiji era, drawing as much from Mizoguchi’s childhood memories as from the novel by the great Izumi Kyoka, capturing a period that was remote from the audience by 1934. The seminal Mizoguchi theme of a woman sacrificing her own happiness for the man she loves is brought alive by the incandescent Yamada Isuzu (also the star of Osaka Elegy – and later the Lady Macbeth figure in Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood).
Tony Rayns
Print was provided by National Film Center at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
Contacts
Shochiku Co., Ltd.
4-1-1 Tsukiji, Togeki Bldg. 12th Floor, Chuo-Ku, 104 8422, Tokyo
Japan
Tel: +81 355 501 623
Fax: +81 355 501 654
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.shochikufilms.com
National Film Center
3-7-6, Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, 104-0031, Tokyo
Japan
About the film
Black & white, 35 mm
Section: | Tribute to Kenji Mizoguchi |
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Director: | Kenji Mizoguchi |
Screenplay: | Tasunosuke Takashima podle románu / based on the novel Baishoku Kamo Nanban by Kyoka Izumi |
Dir. of Photography: | Minoru Miki |
Music: | Akitada Matsui |
Art Director: | Yoshiji Oguri |
Producer: | Masaichi Nagata |
Production: | Dai-ichi Eiga |
Cast: | Isuzu Yamada, Daijiro Natsukawa, Genichi Fujii, Shin Shibata, Mitsusaburo Ramon |
Sales: | Shochiku Co., Ltd. |
Contact: | National Film Center |