Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu to marry so that she can remain close to Shinnosuke.
Direction
Mizoguchi's flowing long takes make suffering look gorgeous.
Acting
Kinuyo Tanaka's restrained devastation speaks volumes.
Cinematography
Shadows and screens embody what society forbids.
Director
Kenji Mizoguchi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mizoguchi adapted this from a Tanizaki novella he'd already filmed once in 1934 as 'Sisters of the Gion' — he clearly had unresolved feelings about this story.
The 'oyu' title refers to a widowed head-of-household; her inability to remarry reflects actual Edo-period legal constraints on women that persisted in custom.
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