Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

lreynaert 'Life of O Haru' is a very characteristic movie for Kenji Mizoguchi with its theme of forbidden love, its criticism of social conventions and its realistic and incisive description of the fate of women, the behavior of males and the effect of being sincere in a society, here a feudal one.In this feudal society, love (sexual intercourse) between a member of the nobility and a commoner is a transgression of the barrier between the social classes. When it is discovered, like in this movie, it is disastrous for the lover, the girl and her family. A real nightmare begins for the girl O Haru. Her beauty and sincerity are exploited to the bone, by brothel keepers, by those who need a male heir to ensure the continuation of the political and social power of a clan or by males (also a member of her family) in a position of 'strength '.The choice of the scenes, of which some are extremely painful, and the angles of the shots illustrate masterfully the balance of power in a society run by absolute power (the shogun), a world without feelings and mercy. As always with K. Mizoguchi, his direction of the actors is admirable; not one false note. This movie is a true masterpiece. A must see.

MARIO GAUCI Japanese cinema was virtually unknown in the West prior to Akira Kurosawa's victory at the 1951 Venice Film Festival with RASHOMON (1950); its success spurred fellow director Kenji Mizoguchi (whose career was basically in the doldrums at that stage) on to complete a dream project of his. Even so, due to the scarcity of sound stages after WWII, this film was shot in a large warehouse which was later also used by Josef von Sternberg for his own Japanese venture, ANATAHAN (1953). Consequently, THE LIFE OF OHARU (itself awarded the Silver Lion at the following year's edition of the Venice Film Festival) became Mizoguchi's own breakthrough effort – despite having already been in the business for thirty years! Actually, it turned out to be the first of five consecutive works of his to compete for this coveted prize.Having been personally involved with them, the trials and tribulations of geishas was a favorite theme of the director's and THE LIFE OF OHARU would seem to be its cinematic apogee'; in fact, eminent film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum went so far as to call it "the most powerful feminist protest ever recorded on film". It was also the twelfth collaboration between Mizoguchi and his leading lady Kinuyo Tanaka (who even turned to directing films herself the following year, the first Japanese woman to do so – to her mentor's apparent chagrin!). Conversely, the brief, almost unrecognizable appearance of Toshiro Mifune (albeit in a pivotal role) marked his only stint in a Mizoguchi film. While its very subject matter makes it perhaps less immediately appealing than the Japanese film-maker's subsequent masterpieces, THE LIFE OF OHARU still emerges as an exceptional work in his distinguished canon (in spite of its being cluelessly awarded a measly **1/2 rating in Leonard Maltin in his "Film & Video Guide"!).The film is long and episodic – everything that can possibly go wrong for Oharu does: the daughter of a samurai serving in the Imperial palace, she falls for a lower class page. He's beheaded for violating the social code when they're caught together, while Oharu and her family are exiled. A servant of a lord arrives looking for a concubine and settles on the heroine; after bearing the lord's son, his clan banish her for draining his energy! She's consequently forced into prostitution by her highly-indebted father, but is dismissed for being too proud before long. Next, she's hired by a wealthy merchant who takes advantage of Oharu upon learning of her past – an action which incurs the wrath of his jealous wife. A period of happiness married to a fan-maker is cut short when he's murdered by thieves, whereupon she decides to become a nun; however, Oharu's expelled once again when caught seducing a textile merchant to pay off her debts! Now reduced to street begging, she's taken in by two prostitutes – but is laughed at by her customers for being old and ugly. Oharu is then visited by her mother with the news that she's been invited back into her son's clan – but the elders veto the idea and, because of her 'shameful' behavior, is only allowed one glimpse of him! At the end of the picture, we see her resuming a beggar's existence… Oharu's emotional turmoil is brought vividly to life by Tanaka's magnificent central performance – the actress herself was 42 at the time but, given Mizoguchi's penchant for medium shots, she manages to convincingly get away with portraying a woman from the age of 18 through to 50 – as well as an excellent music score by Ichiro Saito. Despite a generally downbeat tone, the film is relieved occasionally by humorous passages (such as the fastidious specifications required in choosing the lord's mistress and the ultra-servile attitude of the host at the brothel towards extravagant customers). The circular nature of the narrative is also evoked in visual terms: the film's very opening sequence is re-enacted towards the end; besides, the image of a cat stealing off with the wig of the merchant's wife is echoed by Oharu's imitation of a growling feline when confronted by the scorn of her customers.Having missed out on a rare Sunday morning screening on Italian TV (in the original language, no less), I'd long considered purchasing the film on VHS but had discarded this plan in view of the fact that the full-length version is supposedly 148 minutes (against the 137-minute print on the VHS). Still, I couldn't pass it by any longer when the R2 DVD also presented the shorter cut (even if I didn't have to buy it); hopefully, Criterion will sooner or later release their own edition to go with the other Mizoguchis – UGETSU (1953) and SANSHO THE BAILIFF(1954). Unfortunately, 30 minutes from the end, my DivX copy froze and wouldn't proceed any further – so I had to hastily convert it to DVD-R (a highly time-consuming process) in order to finish viewing the film!

ali gara The movie is about dramatic tale of a girl from noble samurai family at the service of Imperial Court in Kyoto, who fells in love with a man from a lover rank, and with her love unleashes the calamities emanating from conservative Japanese society and fate. After her fault was discovered she and her family were exiled and her beloved got executed for his transgression. Before his execution he sends Oharu a message instructing her to be happy with a man she would love and not to submit to the authority of the feudal structure by surrendering herself to the dictum of society. With the combined forces of society and fate Oharu experiences most tragic things that may befall on a woman. She gets sold as a concubine to a noble court to breed a heir for the Lord, then her son was taken away from her and she was dismissed. Later in order to pay his debts her father sells her into Shimabara to be a courtesan. Afterwards she was forced to prostitution and once lady at imperial court Oharu's calamitous life of ends up as a beggar. So we see a steep fall of a woman from top of the society to the bottom. However she stays loyal to the request of her beloved – all the time she was forced to surrender her body, but she keeps her soul. In this utterly materialistic and cruel world, with its stunning means of subjugation – she rejects all these values. Oharu rejects going to house of Lord as a commodity although she may well gain her lost status and favor of the Lord there. She cries only when her son was taken away from her, she cries when her fan maker husband gets killed, etc. For e.g. when she was living in destitute as a prostitute – her mother comes and brings her good news that the Lord wants to live with her. Her mother also puts emphasis on material aspects of this news, whereas this only instigates hope in Oharu for a chance to meet her son but for nothing else in material terms. But again it comes out that she was summoned for the shame she brought to the royal court and she was convicted to be exiled. They do not give her a chance to meet her son. She runs away and ends her tumultuous career as a beggar.So, Mizoguchi represents life of a woman who was made subject to customs of utterly materialistic and oppressive feudalistic society. In a sense Oharu emerges as a victorious from this struggle, she keeps what her first beloved asked from her. But she is not represented as an active actor – struggling and showing resistance. She is very passive, submissive and docile. So her victory is not in material sense. She experiences a downfall from the highest rank of being lady at imperial court to be a concubine at a lover court, and then she becomes a courtesan, then a prostitute and ends up as a beggar. But alongside with this fall there is rise of Oharu in idealistic terms with her denial and defiance in the face of this materialistic dictum. She never surrenders to and internalizes the values of the society she lives in. So this fall in materialist terms is accompanied with the rise of her soul with its lofty values. In this sense it is meaningful that she ends up as a beggar which can be seen as total rejection of material life.Lastly, it is interesting that events are not presented from the point of view of Oharu. Neither it is from the other – feudalistic side. Actually Oharu herself is a passive actor. It is more like an objective camera representing us a tale of a women. This respect of the movie makes it one sui generis among many others that were shot on the similar topics.

Atavisten It was sickening to witness how Ohara was treated by the noble men of high rank and even by her father. She is a strong and proud woman, but she has a series of misfortunes of things she could not very well control herself. Because of her looks, her pride and her birth she is put, mostly by force, into various agreements that are disgrading and she meets little compassion.That said, as this is based on a novel by Iharu Saikaku, it has strong tendencies towards being epic in approach. This is not a bad thing, but it takes on being a fairytale almost instead of gaining credibility like say 'Donzoko' by Kurosawa. For emotional impact Mizoguchi is an absolute master however and this tragic tale could not be outdone by any other.