the
infatuations of old men
by Douglas Messerli
Yoshikata Yoda and Kenji Mizoguchi (screenplay), Kenji Mizoguchi (director) 祇園の姉妹
Gion
no Shimai (Sisters of the Gion) /
1936
Two sisters, Umekichi (Yōko
Umemura) and Omocha (Isuza Yamada), working as geisha’s in the gritty Gion
district of Kyoto, have opposing viewpoints of their roles in Japanese society.
The elder Umekichi, educated in traditional Geisha manner to sacrifice all
personal values to the pleasure of the males they serve, is willing to take in
her former patron, Simbei Furusawa (Benkei Shiganoya) into her household with
her sister, despite the fact that Furusawa—a former successful businessman who
has suddenly become bankrupt—knowing that it will mean further deprivations.
Given all the years of his support, she remains devoted to him, almost as might
be his wife (perhaps even more so), committed by the traditional patterns
inherent in the geisha tradition.
The younger Omocha has no such outdate
notions. Having been educated in the modern school system, and having taken up
the geisha tradition merely in order to survive, she sees what she describes as
the truth, that the men paying her and her sister for their pleasures, deserve
to abandoned when they can no longer function as supporters. An amazing
proto-feminist, particularly given the 1936 date of this film, Omocha uses men
to obtain what she desires, flirting with them, lying, and twisting their lusts
to fit her own needs and desires. When not in Geisha “costume” Omocha wears
smart, modern clothing lure both the doting seniors with billfolds full of
money and their younger assistants, who might, often illegally, provide her
with her needs and desires.
When her sister is offered an opportunity
to dance as an important Geisha event—requiring the purchase of a quality
kimono that the sisters cannot afford—Omocha flirts with a salesman, Kimura
(Taizō Fukami) demanding he make her one of the finest materials and design.
Although he attempts to resist her demands, she easily convinces him of her
sexual interest and he willingly promises her the expensive kimono for her
sister.
Soon after, Omocha plots for the removal
of the elderly Furusawa from their home, by negotiating with a another elderly,
quite crooked businessman, Jurakudo (Fumio Okura), to become her mother’s
patron, and, soon after, suggests to the failed elder of their household that
he is no longer wanted, offering him a substantial amount of money (received
from Jurakudo) for him to return to his wife.
Almost simultaneously Omocha finds herself
a new patron after businessman Kudo (Eitarō Shindō) discovers that he has been
cheated by his head salesmen, Kimura. Visiting the Giron in order to evaluate
and dismiss Kimura’s obsession, he himself is overwhelmed by Omocha’s
attentions, and determines to take her under his own patronage.
What becomes apparent in all these
behind-the-door negotiations is just how paternalistic and patronizing the
whole of the male-dominated society truly is. Yet, we also see how horribly
cynical and perverse Omocha is in her successful transactions for love.
Approached by Jurakudo, the elder sister
is still confused by his sudden offering of patronage, and when, quite by
accident, the almost idiotic Kimura—arguably the clueless villain of the entire
film—stumbles in upon the situation, revealing that he has just seen Furusawa,
still in Kyoto, now living with his ex-salesman.
Hearing of Furusawa’s situation, Umekichi
rushes off to see him, leaving the speechless Jurakudo aside. Discovering that
her sister has created this situation, Umekichi determines to move in with
Furusawa, removing all her possessions from her former residence.
In an odd way, Mizoguchi’s dark film is
a tale of the elderly, women and men beyond their prime seeking love and
survival in the only way they know how—grabbing on and holding to anyone who
might possibly offer them the semblance of what they might have once imagined
was love. We can hardly imagine that any of the major figures—except the
beautiful Omocha—might be truly involved in sex acts; rather, what they all
seek is the niceties of what they might remember from their youth, the polite
offerings of food and drink, the gentle ministrations of caring and
consolation. The relationship between Furusawa and Umekichi is not at all about
sex, but chimes out their remembrances of years of bedtime caresses and kisses.
There is utterly no reason why the sexually active Omocha should at all
comprehend the seemingly perverse desires of these elderly men and truly commit
herself to their death-life caresses. She uses them, without realizing that
there are even more dangers in not committing than there are to her greedy
acceptance of these temporary sexual infatuations.
If the elder generation might be willing
to forgive the dissolution of love, the younger generation, encapsulated in the
vengeful and blind Kimura—who wants merely what he has paid for—has no such
capabilities. Calling Kudo’s wife to report on his boss’s sinful behavior,
Kimura moves in on Omocha, luring her into a taxi ride from which he violently expels
her, perhaps crippling her for life.
Upon hearing of her sister’s condition,
the loving Umekichi rushes to her hospital beside, only to discover when
returning to Furusawa to reclaim her belongings that even he has left her,
returning to this wife and a new position she has obviously acquired for him.
Both sisters, one suffering the results
of her sexual machinations, the other having to face the failure of her own
commitment to her Geisha ideals, are left alone, without financial support and
with no ability—one now elderly, the other perhaps without even the use of her
limbs—to support themselves. Omocha’s bitter damnation of the whole world in
which they have been forced to involve themselves makes it clear that, no
matter which position one might take in the Japanese society of the day—commitment
to or manipulation of that imprisoning acceptance of the society’s quiet
embracement of prostitution—the women are forced to suffer its destructive
structures..
Los Angeles, August 22, 20915
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