Mulheres da Noite

Kenji Mizoguchi is arguably the greatest Japanese film-maker ever and it is truly a pity, therefore, that this is only the fifth film of his I have watched; luckily, the host of the Italian TV programme which showed WOMEN OF THE NIGHT promised that they will be screening a few more of his films in the near future. In any case, even if I found precious little reading material on the film, that same host dubbed it a "masterpiece" and a French review I found on the Internet said that it was "absolutely unmissable"! Having now watched it, I can verify that it was no idle praise.

Mizoguchi is well-known for being a feminist director and his extensive filmography is full of studies of downtrodden Japanase women of both contemporary and past eras. This happens to be the first bona-fide "women's picture" of his I have watched and even if it may be a notch less appealing than his very best films, UGETSU (1953) and SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954), it is nevertheless an exceptionally well-made and moving film with a typically strong central performance from Mizoguchi regular Kinuyo Tanaka. Besides, Mizoguchi's remarkably unsentimental outlook ensures that facile answers to the questions raised are kept well at bay but without rendering the film unnecessarily depressing or bleak.

The plot deals with three post-WWII women (from the middle-aged Tanaka to a teenage acquaintance of hers) who all gradually and unwillingly turn to prostitution to make ends meet. The "women of the night" are depicted as being either cynical and bitter (like Tanaka who, despite being infected with disease, still keeps on prostituting herself so as to carry out her revenge on all manhood after being betrayed by her employer/lover), nymphomaniacs (who usually take out their own frustrations on the newer 'recruits') or, worse still, disease-ridden yet pregnant (like Tanaka's younger sister). The kindly doctors who shelter the loose women when in labor are ultimately powerless to prevent them from going back to plying their dangerous trade once they have delivered their usually stillborn children. The devastating final sequence (superbly executed through Mizoguchi's peerless mise-en-scene) portrays just such an occurrence in which Tanaka literally tries to beat some sense into her sister when she joins her on the streets once more, at which point the rest of the prostitutes either vent their anger on the two for scaring off potential customers with all the commotion or take the sisters' side for seeking a way out of their profession.

Mizoguchi is never subtle in his films. His films would work better in black and white even if color was the norm in Japan. In this film the great Kinuyo Tanaka, who has starred in other Mizoguchi films, is Fusako, a war widow who also buried a son who has to become a prostitute to live. Her sister Naksuko, played by Sanae Takasuga and their sister in law Kumiko (Tomie Tsunoda) also become ones also. Osaka is depicted as being full of prostitutes, and that could have very well been accurate at the time. Mizoguchi, fascinated in many of his films with the downtrodden, does his usual superior job but the film really is essential due to the acting of Kinuyo Tanaka and Sanae Takasuga. They bring a realistic, grim situation to live. Of course, this film is not a happy one, but if you can take that, this is another near masterpiece of Kenji Mizoguchi.

Women of the Night (1948)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Set in post WWII Japan, director Kenji Mizoguchi's film deals with a pair of sisters (Kinuyo Tanaka, Sanae Takasugi) who find themselves going into prostitution due to the rather dire living conditions. WOMEN OF THE NIGHT is certainly a hard-hitting little gem that manages to hold no punches in regards to its subject matter. Several countries released films dealing with the aftermath of WWII but what's so fascinating about this film is the fact that it deals with subjects that most other places wouldn't touch. This includes prostitution obviously but there's also abortion, drug use, sexual transmitted diseases and other subjects that were a big no-no during this era. This off-topic subjects certainly help keep the film very fresh for today's viewers. Another fascinating thing were some of the streets where it's obvious they haven't been fixed up since WWII. I'm guessing these streets with debris all over them weren't just made up for the film and instead they are actually locations and these images really make you understand the desperate situation of the people living there. We get three different women and their stories of how they were forced to go into the business and each of them are quite touching on their own. I will say that the ending was a bit over-the-top and didn't reach the punch it was going for but it certainly didn't ruin the movie. The two lead performances are certainly wonderful and they're just so raw that you feel as if you're watching real people struggling. There are some rather bleak and ugly images to be found here and especially during a sequence where we see the downside of this lifestyle as most of the women are suffering from various mental problems. WOMEN OF THE NIGHT runs a very quick 74-minutes and it's certainly quite memorable.

Three disparate women end up selling themselves to survive in a bleak post-war Osaka. Like a number of Mizoguchi's films, 'Women of the Night' is a harsh commentary about the conditions and behaviours that many women were forced to endure in pre- and post-war Japanese society. The film is not particularly nuanced, and the director delivers his message with a heavy and unsubtle hand as the women's lives rapidly go from bad to worse to horrible (one of the women, desperate for money, tentatively approaches a sleezy procuress and the next time we encounter her, she's a tough, diseased, street-walking junkie). Despite the occasional weaknesses in pacing and character development, there are some devastating scenes, notably when a young run-away, intrigued by the 'glamorous lifestyle' of a dance-hall hostess, discovers just how mean the mean-streets of Osaka can be. The ending of the film is weaker than the build-up - the final scenes of the prostitutes fighting on a set that appears to be the ruined shell of a church with intact stain-glass windows (featuring the Virgin no less) are artificial, overly melodramatic, and a bit trite. Mizoguchi 'wears his heart on his sleeve' in his films about the travails of Japanese women but he has done so better in other films, such as 'Sisters of the Gion' (1936), 'The Life of Oharu' (1952) or 'Street of Shame' (1956). Watched with English subtitles.

I had seen this movie back when I was a kid, in the 1960's. Thought it was great. Today, though, I can see why I liked it so much back then, but how the acting is actually pretty bad, and the story is pretty inconsistent with actual history. Never the less, it was a nice trip into nostalgia for a Saturday afternoon. Just don't expect too much.