A Film Canon

 

 

This subversively pragmatic study of geishadom reduces aesthetics to economics, replacing sexuality, ceremony and luxury with a series of 'backstage' conversations between two sisters, who disagree over whether to view prospective patrons in romantic or financial terms. In this way, Mizoguchi characterises the profession's contradictions as those of a split personality, whose clearest symptom is a pervasive debiliatation, most explicitly articuated in O-Mocha's (Isuzu Yamada) final outburst - "Why are there such things as geishas in this world?" - but just as evident on the part of the men, where it becomes something closer to impotence. In the end, it feels as if this disempowerment is absolute, rather than relative; or, alternatively, that the 'tradition' is simply empowered, rather than any of the individuals subscribing to it. This explains Mizoguchi's emphasis on the antiquated insularity of the Gion District, which represents a distant relative of the noir cityscape in its labyrinthine, claustrophobic reticulations, bolstered by the narrative focus on rapid economic changes, which disorient protagonists with respect to their own personal spaces in a matter of moments. It's only when the (temporary) prospect of an empowering professional relationship emerges that the characters are allowed to leave this space - whether aesthetically, through a rare use of deep-focus, or literally, in a series of excursions into the more modernised districts of Kyoto. Hence the poignant symbolism of a cuckolded client's final revenge upon O-Mocha, which consists of pushing her out the door of a taxi, crippling her so as to ensure that she will never again leave the Gion in this way.