Uwasa no onna

In the Shimabara district of Kyoto, the city’s historic entertainment quarter, the widowed Hatsuko (a commanding Kinuyo Tanaka) runs a thriving geisha house. It is to here that her daughter Yukiko (played by Yoshiko Kuga, running the full gamut from vulnerable to emancipated) returns, having recently attempted to take her own life following an ill-fated romance. A young doctor with whom the mother is having a secret affair falls in love with Yukiko and plans to move to Tokyo with her. Mizoguchi masterfully interweaves the perspectives of mother and daughter, who gradually begin to forge a new bond. Eight years later, these two giants of Japanese cinema, Kinuyo Tanaka and Yoshiko Kuga, would collaborate once more on OGIN-SAMA, this time with Tanaka behind the camera as director and Kuga as producer. (mg)