a.k.a. ''A Man and a Woman Behind the Fusuma Screen'' is a 1973
Japanese film in
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...
's
''Roman porno'' series, directed by
Tatsumi Kumashiro
was a Japanese film director known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning '' Roman Porno'' films, such as ''Ichijo's Wet Lust'' (1972) and '' The Woman with Red Hair'' (1979). He was the most highly acclaimed director of the early Nikkatsu ...
and starring
Junko Miyashita
is a Japanese actress who had a long and varied career working both in pink film and mainstream cinema.
Career
Junko Miyashita was born in Tokyo on January 29, 1949. She was working as a waitress at a coffee shop when she was recruited to wor ...
. The mainstream film journal ''
Kinema Junpo
, commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...
'' included it in their choices for best ten films of the year of 1973.
Synopsis
In 1918, against the background of political events following the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, a
geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female J ...
serves a new customer. Though he is about to be married, and it is against the rules, she falls in love with him.
Cast
*
Junko Miyashita
is a Japanese actress who had a long and varied career working both in pink film and mainstream cinema.
Career
Junko Miyashita was born in Tokyo on January 29, 1949. She was working as a waitress at a coffee shop when she was recruited to wor ...
: Sodeko
* Naomi Ōka: Yuko
* Hideaki Ezumi: Shinsuke
* Hatsuo Yamaya: Pinsuke
* Go Awazu: Koichi
* Moeko Ezawa: Hanae
* Meika Seri: Hanamuru
Critical reception
''The World of Geisha'' was very successful with the public and critics in Japan.
The mainstream film journal ''
Kinema Junpo
, commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...
'' selected it as the 6th best Japanese film of 1973.
In ''Currents in Japanese Cinema'', Japanese film critic
Tadao Sato
was a Japanese film critic, theorist and historian. His real name was .
Overviews
Born in Niigata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, He published more than a hundred books on film, and was one of Japan's foremost scholars and historians addressin ...
describes the film as a "masterful porno film rich in emotion, anarchy, and nihilism." Director
Nagisa Oshima
NaGISA (Natural Geography in Shore Areas or Natural Geography of In-Shore Areas) is an international collaborative effort aimed at inventorying, cataloguing, and monitoring biodiversity of the in-shore area. So named for the Japanese word "nagisa ...
took an opposite view of the film in a well-known essay written before his own ''
In the Realm of the Senses
''In the Realm of the Senses'' (french: link=no, L'Empire des sens, Japanese: , ''Ai no Korīda'', "Bullfight of Love") is a 1976 erotic art film written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of a ...
'' (1976). Oshima called Kumashiro's film "a little too refined," and took it to task for failing to "realise the effect of pornography." Oshima complained about the ''Roman porno'' films that they took "sex as their subject matter and not as their theme. The themes of their most highly regarded films tend to be something like adolescent rebellion; sex is merely the seasoning." He concludes, this "is precisely why these films are attractive to superficial critics, and young film buffs."
Contemporary Western critics were also positive towards the film. A January 1974 ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' review noted that Kumashiro showed a "definitely savvy directorial flair", but that there was "(n)othing banal, or pretentious" about the film. Further, the "love scenes... are handled with wit and insight", and the "sex bouts... all have a rightness in tone." The review continues, "It is technically fine and ranks with some well-known costumers." "Right placement," ''Variety'' concludes, "could have this gaining some following abroad and not for its sex scenes but its feeling for period, time and mores and social outlooks that are reflected from the sensual rather than the social side of its characters."
[Mosk. ''Yojohan Fusuma No Shitabari'' (film review). '']Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', 1974-01-02. François Truffaut called ''The World of Geisha'' a "great movie," adding, "The acting is perfect, and the film is humorous. In its praise for female beauty and derision for male stupidity lies the generous spirit of
Jean Renoir."
Later commentators on Japanese cinema continue to hold the film in high esteem. The Weissers, in their ''Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films'' (1998) comment, "The structure of the film is its most interesting aspect. Director Kumashiro is playing intentional games with linear storytelling, creating a narrative which flows unhampered, unrestricted by time."
In his ''Behind the Pink Curtain'', Jasper Sharp calls ''The World of Geisha'' Kumashiro's "most articulate attack" against censorship and state-imposed morality.
[Sharp, p. 138.]
Themes and style
Kumashiro's screenplay was based on
Kafū Nagai
was a Japanese writer, editor and translator. His works like '' Geisha in Rivalry'' and ''A Strange Tale from East of the River'' are noted for their depictions of life of the demimonde in early 20th-century Tokyo.
Biography
Nagai was born Sōki ...
's ''Yojohan Fusuma No Shitabari'', one of several erotic novels the author circulated underground after having been censored by the government in 1907.
Kumashiro uses his simple, but complexly told, story to make a comment against censorship and militarism.
One characteristic of Kumashiro's cinematic style which is present in ''The World of Geisha'' is the avoidance of
sync sound through the use of titles. Titles can be used ironically in the film, as when the geisha house rules are presented, "No.1: Don't fall for your first client", while Sodeko can be seen obviously breaking that rule.
Cutaways are another technique Kumashiro uses prominently in ''The World of Geisha''. Most reviews of the film comment on the opening love-making session which lasts over one-third of the film's total running time. This long scene is intercut with subplots involving the other geishas and their clients. Kumashiro's usage of inserts contrasts with that of traditional directors such as
Ozu. Inserts in an Ozu film have a calming and transitional purpose, whereas Kumashiro uses them to shock the audience while also, in ''The World of Geisha'', providing historical context. Historical events used as inserts in ''The World of Geisha'' include the Korean uprisings, Russia's
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...
, the Japanese
Rice Riots of 1918
The were a series of popular disturbances that erupted throughout Japan from July to September 1918, which brought about the collapse of the Terauchi Masatake administration.
Causes
A precipitous rise in the price of rice caused extreme econom ...
, and a police order censoring the news of these riots.
Tadao Sato
was a Japanese film critic, theorist and historian. His real name was .
Overviews
Born in Niigata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, He published more than a hundred books on film, and was one of Japan's foremost scholars and historians addressin ...
notes that the lead male character in the film, who has been raised in a brothel and is accustomed to the company of prostitutes, is a variation on the traditional ''
nanpa
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international calling ...
'' character: an irresponsible type dedicated to sensual pleasures rather than hard work. Kumashiro, according to Satō, makes his characters sympathetic through their devotion to sensual pleasure.
[Satō, p. 244–245.] Kumashiro often used
Eirin's form of censoring visual depictions of genitals –
fogging – against itself in an exaggerated form, as satirical commentary. In ''The World of Geisha'', he does this while also "censoring" titles, such as Sodeko's, "I'm coming again!!", which is marked out with "X"s, as were reports of Japanese casualties in Siberia in the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
.
By using these two forms of censorship in juxtaposition, Kumashiro draws a parallel between
Taishō period censorship, and Eirin's, and the government's contemporary forms of censorship.
Availability
''The World of Geisha'' was released theatrically in Japan on November 3, 1973.
Nikkatsu marketed the film to the English-speaking world with the ad, "The essence of the geisha world! The art of pleasing men! ...dainty butterflies... and how these colorful beauties entertain their diverse guests night after night to the strains of the three-stringed samisen."
''The World of Geisha'' was re-released on DVD in Japan on December 22, 2006, as part of
Geneon
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distributi ...
's sixth wave of Nikkatsu ''Roman porno'' series.
In the U.S., ''The World of Geisha'' has been released on home video by both
Image Entertainment
RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 34 ...
and
Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
.
Bibliography
English
*
* Mosk. ''Yojohan Fusuma No Shitabari'' (film review). ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', 1974-01-02.
*
*
*
*
*
Japanese
*
*
*
*
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:World of Geisha, The
1973 films
Films directed by Tatsumi Kumashiro
1970s Japanese-language films
Nikkatsu films
Nikkatsu Roman Porno
1970s Japanese films