The Lady of Musashino (1951)

Cautiously Recommended

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: 武蔵野夫人

Director: Mizoguchi Kenji

Writers: Yoda Yoshikata, Ooka Shohei

Cinematographer: Tamai Masao

Composer: Hayasaka Fumio

Cast: Tanaka Kinuyo, Todoroki Yukiko, Mori Masayuki, Katayama Akihiko, Yamamura Sō, Shindō Eitarō, Hirai Kiyoko, Nakamura Minako

With its rather insistent score and generally melodramatic tone, this exploration of (or perhaps lamentation about) the loosening of post-war Japanese morals – depicting a series of extra-marital affairs (both consummated and unconsummated) in the small hamlet of Musashino – proves to be, despite excellent performances and a quite breathtaking, symbolically rich final scene, a decidedly minor Mizoguchi. Iain.Stott