Print by Utamaro
Utamaro and His Five Women (“Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna”)
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Written by Yoshikata Yoda from a novel by Kanji Kunieda
1946/Japan
Shôchiko Eiga
First viewing/Hulu Plus
[box] Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. — Oscar Wilde [/box]
Interesting, if confusing, story by an artist about art.
Utamaro was an 18th Century Japanese wood-block artist famous especially for his lifelike portraits of beautiful women. His work was later an influence on the Impressionists.
The film begins with a young art student, Seinosuke, shopping for a print as a present for his fiancee Yukie. When he leafs through a few, he spots one by Utamaro. It is beautiful but contains a remark disparaging the Chinese style as “unsightly”. Seinosuke studies with Yukie’s father, a master of that style. He is immediately out for revenge and challenges Utamaro to apologize or die.
Utamaro refuses to do either and says that an argument about art should properly be decided by art. Seinosuke draws a portrait of the moon goddess. Utamaro pronounces this beautiful but unsightly and “dead”. In ten seconds he transforms the image into a living woman with a few strokes of the pen. Seinosuke becomes a convert and abandons his status, and Yukie, to become a disciple of Utamaro, who does his best work in brothels and other low dives. Seinosuke catches up with him as he is drawing on the beautiful back of a courtesan.
The courtesan elopes with the lover of teashop owner Okita (the great Kinuyo Tanaka). Yukie appears to beg Seinosuke to come home. He refuses and wants nothing more to do with her unless she is willing to become the wife of a common artist. Then he just refuses, having been seduced by the vengeful Okita.
Utamaro suffers from “artist’s block”. His manager decides what he needs is a view of the women the local shogun orders to disrobe and then go fishing in the sea. Utamaro is indeed inspired and selects one as his model. The shogun hauls Utamaro off to jail and Sinosuke takes off with the model. Utamaro is handcuffed for 50 days. Yukie cries a lot throughout. Okita trails the eloped couple relentlessly.
I’m not so sure I have the plot right and I know I left out a lot. I found this one fairly confusing with way too many subplots. The ending in which Okita’s jealousy (that leads to unmitigated disaster) is found to be the epitome of true love was the most baffling of all.
Plot aside, I thought this was very interesting. Utamaro’s passion for his work seems very modern. So is the artist’s attitude that women are human beings whose feelings matter. The scene with the women in the surf is just masterful. I found the film beautiful to look at throughout even though the print on Hulu Plus is no great shakes.
Clip – opening 10 minutes (subtitled)