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Amazon.co.uk Review
Mizoguchi reckoned The Life of Oharu was his masterpiece, and who are we to disagree? Certainly it's among his most perfectly structured films, in which anger at the treatment of women in Japanese society is balanced by the director's flawless sense of period, and by expert pacing and visual composition. The story is set in the 17th century, when Japan had settled into a rigidly hierarchical society. Kinuyo Tanaka, in perhaps the finest role of her career, plays Oharu, a highborn woman of the Imperial court. Disgraced when she falls in love with a man of a lower class (Toshiro Mifune, in his only film for Mizoguchi), she's made the mistress of a feudal lord. After bearing him a son she's cast out, and gradually sinks into prostitution and penury. The inevitability of Oharu's fate is tempered by her resilience of spirit--and by the compassion of Mizoguchi's gaze. Although the story is set in the past, he fully intends parallels with modern-day Japan; just after completing the film, he told an interviewer, "Comparing today with [earlier] periods, I don't find much difference: women have always been treated like slaves." The Life of Oharu was shown at the 1952 Venice Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Lion. It brought Mizoguchi a belated international fame just four years before his death, and initiated the run of late masterpieces that rounded off his career. --Philip Kemp
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The pinnacle of Mizoguchi's feminism,
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This review is from: The Life of Oharu [DVD] (DVD)
One of the legendary director Kenji Mizoguchi's greatest masterpieces - which makes it one of the great masterworks of cinema proper - chronicles the tragedy of a woman consistently being pulled down the social ladder, from privilege to destitution, by her family (in various senses). Based on Ihara Saikaku's sensationalist 17th century novel about the life of a "voluptuous woman", this is a sublime work of art, perfectly melding a profound sense of human suffering, a detailed grasp of classical Japanese art, and a staggeringly modern sense of acuity, amidst all that weight of tradition, with the talent of one of the very greatest directors of all time. While this entry is not as famous as Ugetsu or Sansho dayu (to mention only a few other works by Mizoguchi), it is no less brilliant, no less perfect when it comes to achieving an empathic rendering of the human condition, both grounded in cultural and historical circumstances and impressively transcending them. The only thing to wish for is a more dedicated digital version, adorned with a deserving array of special features (just look at that US version of Ugetsu, such a wonderful labour of love). You'll want to watch this for the film itself, of course, if you seriously love cinema, but it certainly deserves a little more effort in its presentation as far as commercial issues are concerned.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful cinema,
By John Ryan (UK, Manchester) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Life of Oharu [DVD] (DVD)
Powerful and moving piece of cinema. Excellent performance by Kinuyo Tanaka. The transfer is good, it's worth buying.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Feminist critique,
By
This review is from: The Life of Oharu [DVD] (DVD)
The chronicle of the life of a fallen woman,with great attention to detail of period(17th century). This film showed how a woman's life deteriorates if she's in a backward society.The feudal order depicted was a way of commenting on his own times.It brought to mind Bresson's 'Au Hasard Balthasar'( see how a donkey's life deteriorates as it passes to successive owners).It was a deeply religious film.Similarly 'O-Haru' is brilliantly realized and just as shocking especially when she's shown by a teacher to his students as an example of life's transcience-'a goblin cat'.She becomes an outcast,an exile as she is a mere part of each man's possessions in a hierarchical society.
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