is a 1936 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Uget ...

. It forms a

diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...

with Mizoguchi's ''

Sisters of the Gion or ''Sisters of Gion'' is a 1936 black and white Japanese drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi about two geisha sisters living in Kyoto's Gion district. It forms a diptych with Mizoguchi's ''Osaka Elegy'' which shares much of the same cast and ...

'' which shares much of the same cast and production team, and is considered an early masterpiece in the director's career.

Plot

Sonosuke Asai, head of the Asai Drug Company, lives in an unhappy marriage with his wife Sumiko. While he treats the servants disdainfully, Sumiko reminds him that he owes his position to her family which he married into. He makes advances to one of his employees, telephone operator Ayako, which the young woman fends off. After work, Ayako discusses this with her colleague and boyfriend Susumu, complaining that he doesn't help her collecting the 300 yen which her father embezzled from his employer and is forced to pay back. After an argument with her father, who argues that he embezzled the money to finance his children's education, Ayako leaves home. She takes up Asai's offer to become his mistress, asking him in return to give her 300 yen to pay back her father's debts. She quits her job and moves into an apartment which he pays for her. When they attend a

bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or ( puppeteers ...

performance, they are confronted by his wife who furiously accuses Asai for having an affair. Fujino, a business acquaintance of Asai, intervenes, lying that Ayako was his date, not her husband's. Ayako runs into Susumu in a shopping mall. Asked about her flashy appearance, she lies that she is now working in a beauty salon. When Susumu confesses that he contemplated the idea to marry her, she runs off in embarrassment. Shortly after, Sumiko shows up in Ayako's and Asai's apartment, demanding that he comes with her and puts an end to his affair. Ayako stays on living in her new home. Ayako meets with her younger sister Sachiko. Sachiko insists that she helps raising 200 yen for their brother Hiroshi's tuition fees. Ayako acquires the money from her admirer Fujino, leaving him once he has given it to her. She then asks Susumu into her apartment, confessing everything to him and hoping they can still marry. When Fujino shows up to demand his money back, she treats him with disrespect, and he informs the police in return. Ayako and Susumu are questioned at the police station. She overhears Susumu claim that he was dragged into the affair and never intended to marry her. As it is her first offence, she is released without charge, but into the care of her father. Back at home, Hiroshi calls Ayako a delinquent and demands that their father throws her out, while Sachiko says that she can no longer go to school due to the story being in all the papers. Ayako leaves home again. She runs into Dr. Yoko, the physician of her former lover Asai, and asks him if there is a cure for delinquency. He negates, and she continues on her way alone.

Cast

Isuzu Yamada was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades. Biography Yamada was born in Osaka as Mitsu Yamada, the daughter of Kusudu Yamada, a shinpa actor specialising in onnagata roles, and Ritsu, a geisha. Under her mother ...

as Ayako Murai * Yoko Umemura as Sumiko Asai * Chiyoko Okura as Sachiko Murai, Ayako's younger sister * Shinpachiro Asaka as Hiroshi Murai, Ayako's brother * Benkei Shiganoya as Sonosuke Asai *

Eitarō Shindō was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1936 and 1975. He is most closely associated with the work of Kenji Mizoguchi, with whom he made twelve films. Selected filmography * '' Sisters of the Gion'' (1936) * ''A ...

as Yoshizo Fujino * Kunio Tamura as Dr. Yoko * Seiichii Takekawa as Junzo Murai, Ayako's father * Kensaku Hara as Susumu Nishimura *

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor in ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), ''Rashomon'' (1950), ''Ikiru'' (1952) an ...

as Inspector

Background

''Osaka Elegy'' was the first mutual project of Mizoguchi and

Yoshikata Yoda (14 April 1909 – 14 November 1991) was a Japanese screenwriter. He wrote for more than 130 films between 1931 and 1989. He is most famous for his work with Kenji Mizoguchi. He wrote for the film ''Bushido, Samurai Saga'', which won the Go ...

, his regular screenwriter for years to come. After the film's success, Mizoguchi and producer

Masaichi Nagata was a Japanese businessman and served as president of Daiei Film. The self-proclaimed creator of Gamera, he produced the kaiju's second film ''Gamera vs. Barugon'', with the remainder of the Showa ''Gamera'' films produced instead by his son Hi ...

planned two films to be set in

Kyōto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

and

Kōbe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, which ...

, of which only the former, ''Sisters of the Gion'', was realised due to the production company's collapse. Mizoguchi himself cited ''Osaka Elegy'' and ''Sisters of the Gion'' as the works with which he achieved artistic maturity. Critics and film historians regard ''Osaka Elegy'' as one of Mizoguchi's "finest efforts" (Fred Camper, ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'') and "best films" (

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...

, Joseph L. Anderson, ''The Japanese Film – Art & Industry''), emphasising "its visual precision and its engaged but never preachy tone" (

Geoff Andrew Geoff Andrew (born 1954) is a British writer and lecturer on film, and Programmer-at-large at BFI South Bank. After gaining a First in Classics at King's College, Cambridge, he was for some years programmer at London's Electric Cinema in Notting ...

, '' Time Out'').

Notes

References

External links

* * Scharres, Barbara.
"Osaka Elegy."
''The Criterion Collection''. 5 June 1995. 21 January 2014. * Blakeslee, David.
"A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Kenji Mizoguchi's Osaka Elegy."
''CriterionCast''. 18 May 2011. 21 January 2014. * {{Kenji Mizoguchi 1930s feminist films 1936 films 1936 drama films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese drama films 1930s Japanese-language films Films directed by Kenji Mizoguchi Shochiku films Films with screenplays by Yoshikata Yoda Films produced by Masaichi Nagata