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Total Film: The Modern Guide to The Movies

Reviews

Feb 25th 2008 By Total Film

Eureka’s exemplary Kenji Mizoguchi series continues with another double-disc set from the Japanese director’s masterly late period. Uwasa No Onna (aka Woman Of Rumour) was the last film to star his favourite actress (and possibly lover), Kinuyo Tanaka, before their split. She’s the madam of a Kyoto geisha house who finds herself competing with her college-age daughter for the same man. Chikamatsu Monogatari (aka The Crucified Lovers) is a period drama, adapted from the great playwright Chikamatsu, about a merchant’s wife who falls for one of her hubbies employees. Both films show the stylistic elegance and compassion for women in a rigidly sexist society that inform all Mizoguchi’s finest work.