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Plot

Life of Oharu features Kinuyo Tanaka in the title role. Oharu is a middle-aged prostitute in 17th century Japan. As she prays before a statue of Buddha, Oharu reviews her past. Her road to degradation began when, as a teenager, she disgraced her family by falling in love with a samurai (Toshiro Mifune). Oharu became the mistress of a prince, who cast her off after she bore his son. She was then sold into prostitution by her father, and thus began a catch-as-catch-can existence alternating between brief happiness with those she genuinely loved and servitude to those she despised. A potential happy ending, reuniting her with her royal son, is dashed by the much-maligned Oharu herself, who opts for the life of a beggar. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, a lifelong advocate of equitable treatment for Japanese women, Life of Oharu was adapted from a novel by Saikaku Ibara.
MPAA Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
136min.
Theatrical Release Date:
01/30/2005
Director(s):
Kenji Mizoguchi
Starring:
Kinuyo Tanaka , Toshiro Mifune , Ichiro Sugai
Themes:
Mothers and Sons,Star-Crossed Lovers,Prostitutes,Rise and Fall Stories
Tone:
Bittersweet,Downbeat,Meditative,Melancholy,Passionate,Reflective,Stylized
Keywords:
English [nationality],Japan,abuse,bum,execution,exile,exploitation,forces [military],humiliation,life,love,marriage,prostitute/prostitution,samurai,sexual,sexual-abuse,suicide,woman
Language:
Japanese