{"id":116,"date":"2006-03-30T11:39:45","date_gmt":"2006-03-30T18:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=116"},"modified":"2024-05-28T23:11:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T06:11:00","slug":"life-of-oharu-the-life-of-a-woman-by-saikaku-the-1952","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=116","title":{"rendered":"Life of Oharu, The \/ Life of a Woman By Saikaku, The (1952)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I am nothing but a spectacle of an ill-fated woman.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster-125x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-53637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster-125x300.png 125w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster-426x1024.png 426w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster-53x128.png 53w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster-112x270.png 112w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Life-of-Oharu-Poster.png 465w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA lady-in-waiting (Kinuyo Tanaka) has an affair with a lower-ranking page (Toshiro Mifune), leading to the exile of her entire family. As she struggles to help make ends meet, Oharu is eventually reduced to prostitution and begging.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><strong>Genres:  <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Downward Spiral<\/li>\n<li>Feminism and Women&#8217;s Issues<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>Japanese Films<\/li>\n<li>Kenzi Mizoguchi Films<\/li>\n<li>Prostitutes<\/li>\n<li>Toshiro Mifune Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, the central character in this &#8220;exquisitely shot&#8221; Kenzi Mizoguchi film &#8212; which offers a &#8220;shocking view of the sad role women have played in Japan&#8221; &#8212; may very well be the epitome of &#8220;the victimization of women throughout history&#8221;. Indeed, Oharu is literally the pawn of others&#8217; needs and desires, exploited by men (and her family), then &#8220;tossed aside&#8221;. Through heart-rending flashbacks (Oharu looks back on her own downward spiral) we&#8217;re forced to watch &#8220;one bad thing after another happen to Oharu&#8221; &#8212; it&#8217;s a tough story to stomach, but the film&#8217;s undeniable &#8220;poetic quality&#8221; makes it a haunting, valuable experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kinuyo Tanaka&#8217;s sympathetic portrayal as the tragic Oharu<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/Oharu2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/Oharu2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"763\" height=\"569\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-825\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Luminous b&#038;w cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/life-oharu-cinematography2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/life-oharu-cinematography2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"477\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13813\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A powerful depiction of social injustice in medieval Japan\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See?<\/strong><br \/>\nYes. This is one of Mizoguchi&#8217;s most affecting films, and certainly a must-see classic of Japanese cinema. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foreign Gem<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0045112\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?f=\/e\/a\/1997\/12\/12\/WEEKEND9921.dtl\">SF Gate Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I am nothing but a spectacle of an ill-fated woman.&#8221; Synopsis: A lady-in-waiting (Kinuyo Tanaka) has an affair with a lower-ranking page (Toshiro Mifune), leading to the exile of her entire family. As she struggles to help make ends meet, Oharu is eventually reduced to prostitution and begging. Genres: Downward Spiral Feminism and Women&#8217;s Issues Flashback Films Japanese Films Kenzi Mizoguchi Films Prostitutes Toshiro Mifune Films Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, the central character in this &#8220;exquisitely shot&#8221;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=116\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97187,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions\/97187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}