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Saikaku ichidai onna (1952) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   1,295 votes
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Director:
Kenji Mizoguchi
Writers:
Saikaku Ihara (novel)
Kenji Mizoguchi (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Saikaku ichidai onna on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 April 1964 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
The tale of a 17th century samurai's daughter. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
2 wins & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
Life's a bitch! more (15 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Kinuyo Tanaka ... Oharu
Tsukie Matsuura ... Tomo, Oharu's Mother
Ichirô Sugai ... Shinzaemon, Oharu's Father
Toshirô Mifune ... Katsunosuke
Toshiaki Konoe ... Lord Harutaka Matsudaira
Kiyoko Tsuji ... Landlady
Hisako Yamane ... Lady Matsudaira
Jûkichi Uno ... Yakichi Ogiya
Eitarô Shindô ... Kahe Sasaya
Akira Oizumi ... Fumikichi, Sasaya's Friend
Kyôko Kusajima ... Sodegaki
Masao Shimizu ... Kikuoji
Daisuke Katô ... Tasaburo Hishiya
Toranosuke Ogawa ... Yoshioka
Hiroshi Oizumi ... Manager Bunkichi
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Diary of Oharu
Saikaku: Life of a Woman (literal English title)
The Life of Oharu
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Runtime:
148 min | USA:133 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This film, which was director Kenji Mizoguchi's dream project, was severely under-financed, and the production was forced to use a warehouse instead of a regular sound stage. This warehouse happened to be located near railways, and each time a train passed by, they had to stop shooting, which made the shooting of the film even more difficult with the director's obsessive use of long, continuous, uninterrupted takes. The same warehouse was also used for Josef Von Sternberg's film 'The Saga of Anatahan'. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Aru eiga-kantoku no shogai (1975) more

FAQ

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5 out of 10 people found the following comment useful.
Life's a bitch!, 13 May 2002
10/10
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

Kenji Mizoguchi's Life of Oharu is the tragic, humanistic tale of, well, the life of a woman named Oharu. Born into luxury, she errs with a man of lower class. For this offense, she is exiled along with her parents, convicted of letting their child run wild. As the film progresses, Oharu goes through about a thousand hardships - hell, any normal person would have killed herself after experiencing just the first of Oharu's hardships! Life of Oharu is very heavy, but it avoids emotional manipulation. It even has a couple of humorous moments. If you doubt me, watch the scene where the jealous wife pesters her husband, trying to force him to admit that he first met Oharu at a brothel. The man is being shaved by his personal barber, and his wife keeps riding up on his side. So the husband lifts his mirror and walks a few spaces away, just to have his wife sidle up right against him again! The climax to this particular episode (the part with the cat, if you're confused) is also quite humorous. Still, most of the film is heart-rending. It's also amazingly directed by Mizoguchi. His camera movement is exquisite, absolutely exquisite. I was left a little disappointed in Sansho the Bailiff, often said to be his best film, but the direction of Oharu is original and masterful. The acting is also wonderful. 10/10.

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