The Lady Of Musashino

This is a film which you need to see more than once … I am writing as a european. On its face, the story might be a fairly straightforward nineteenth century novel, complete with young soldier returning from the wars to involvement with a rather older, rather unhappily married, cousin; there are marital errors, property shenanigans, suicide; a classic, if medically dubious, death bed scene. It is, of course, based on Ooka’s 1951 novel, itself resting on Stendhal and Le Rouge et le Noir. So far, so good, and very well presented, with all of Mizoguchi’s visual skill: framing, variation of view and attitude, giving depth and perspective to the picture. At the beginning I thought “what a pity he could not do this in colour” later I realised that in fact, as I wondered how the scenes would look in colour, I saw them all the more subtly and more effectively alive as I did so. That is what a great director and camera man can do. Many of the pictures are striking and significant. Michiko and her socially inferior husband are first seen escaping from the bombing through the fog of war along a country road; Tsutomu appears later emerging from the mist, a soldier returning from a brutal war, marching along a woodland road … effective, and matter of fact. The domestic scenes are broken by settings in beautiful scenery - and so on …

There is, however, much more to this film. In the opening scene smoke is rising in the distance as Tokyo is bombed. A little later someone remarks in passing that this time the bomb “they” have used was not the conventional sort. Before the war Japan was clawing its way into the twentieth century, still socially a tightly regulated, ceremonial nation. For this film – indicated, casually mentioned, unemphatic – Japan stands as background in the swirl of post war instability and traumatic change: as remote but as central to everything as the world outside Tchekov’s cherry orchard. That is why the film is fascinating. Recognise that, as a European, you probably fail to grasp all the social import of what you see … if you are English, or even British, you are fairly delicately tuned to class distinctions and conventions, but here I felt that I was likely to miss implications. There is a great deal to study and understand. A lot of critical information is given in the opening minutes, but only becomes significant much later … the “nasty” household rations that have been collected, for example …

We have the plot – but we also get an examination of Japanese society at a time of stress and change. (Compare the forecast future for Musashino with Miyazaki’s treatment of Tokyo’s “New Tama” suburban development in the cartoon film Pom Poko – same doomed world!)

I think that this film is probably generally under-rated. Striking how it draws remarks about Stendhal, Tchekov, George Eliot – a classic piece of work! Watch it three times over …

This is only the second Mizoguchi film that I have seen and on that evidence he ranks with Ozu and Kurosawa as a great Japanese director of world cinema. Only four of his films are available here and I am certainly looking forward to seeing them all. Mizoguchi was a perfectionist and always adopted a visual style and length of scene to match his purpose. Scenes are photographed from a certain distance and last for just as long as he considered necessary for the psychological realisation of the scene itself. The pictorial beauty ravishes the eye even on the small screen. In this example of his storytelling skill we are presented with a insightful view of the grasping Japanese middle classes, morally bankrupt from the effects of the Second World War. He contrasts this loveless world with the simple values of a woman who refuses to follow her heart even although her husband is cruel and unfeeling towards her. I will not reveal the ending; suffice it to say that the key woman in the story ends by accepting that you cannot stand in the way of change even if it seems to be a backward step. I would not say that this film is perfect but it is illuminating of the human condition, the effect that our own personal choices have on the lives that we lead and our often powerless condition to stop others from disabling our lives (if only temporarily). At one point one of the characters says that freedom gives him power. He discovers that often it does not: it is often an illusion that leaves us in chains.

The story includes adultery, lechery and avarice: the basic ingredients of your average soap opera, and Mizoguchi seems aware of this crassness at the heart of his film. He works extremely hard to keep it under control, and to ensure that the film's central theme - changing times - remains to the fore. It's a shame, because otherwise everything in the picture works beautifully, from the design to the camera-work to the direction, an organic whole reflecting exactly the manner in which society has changed since the end of the war - and how it will inevitably change further (the picture starts with shots of a sylvan glade and ends with a view across the expanding city). Worth noting, too, just how excellent the acting is.

If you know Mizoguchi you don't need to read any further. If you are into Japanese films and don't know this guy, well rent this out - he's the one the other Japanese Directors called "master". If you just watch Hollywood, etc., and fell on this by accident, you have two options.

Carry on in your own world, with a lot of mediocre films, interspersed with some good ones, or forget the prejudices about subtitles, black and white, etc and open up to some of the greatest things the cinema has to offer. As it happens, this is not his best, but still so much better than the majority of other films.

I gave this a 5 overall, but there are moments of brilliance above a 5, that stay with you. I’d give something like 'The Terminator' a 4, but it has no moments of brilliance, it has a far less talented director. There’s a really big gap between the two films, two types of films. One a master film-maker bringing the art to new heights, the other popular hollywood, that leaves you empty afterwards. Hollywood can be great -but for your own sake, check out "The Master". (Something like 'Sansho The Baliff' could be a good start).

A wife tries to continue living by the standards taught to her by her parents while the majority of the people around her fall in with the postwar influence from the west (American music, clothes and 'morals'). In this she has to fight the temptation of falling for her cousin despite her husbands affairs. Some devices such as trying to control their passions in the middle of a hurricane are a bit cliched but generally the acting and direction keep the film interesting. Fighting social change in the onslaught from the USA is obviously a theme as pertinent now as then.