Ugetsu (1953)

Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari)
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Written by Yoshikata Yoda; Adapted by Matsutarô Kawaguchi from an idea by Hisakazu Tsuji and stories by Akinari Ueda
1953/Japan
Daiei Studios
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#274 of 1001 Movies You Must See Brefore You Die

[box] All things are full of weariness;/ a man cannot utter it;/ the eye is not satisfied with seeing,/ nor the ear filled with hearing. – Ecclesiastes1, ver. 8 [/box]

This is a sad and beautiful movie.

The story is set in the 16th Century during Japan’s brutal Civil Wars.  Genjûro (Masyuki Mori) is a humble potter in a small village.  He has a devoted wife Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka) and small son.  The couple’s neighbors are the farmer Tôbee and his wife Ohama.

Genjûro decides that he can profit from wartime shortages by taking his pots to a nearby town.  Tôbee, who does not look to be too bright, has longed dreamed of being a samurai.  The two make an initial run with some pots and make a handsome profit. Genjûro now begins frantically increasing his stock and loses a lot of his patience and humanity in the process. The fighting is getting closer to the village and the wives beg their husbands to flee.  Instead, they decide to take the pots to a more distant town across a lake.  The wives go along but Genjûro sends Miyagi and his son home before they get very far.

The men succeed beyond their wildest dreams.  Fairly early on, Tohee takes his share of the profits and runs off to buy some ramshackle samurai armor and seek employment.  In the process, he abandons Ohama.  The mysterious Lady Wakasa (Machiko Kyô) and her attendant buy a number of pots from Genjûro and ask him to deliver them to her castle.

By a fluke of chance, Tohee does manage to become a samurai with his own retinue. Ohama is seduced by Lady Wakasa and remains in the castle enjoying exquisite pleasure as her husband.  In the meantime, the wives endure all the savagery that war can dole out to women.

This is, at least in part, a fantastical story and the images perfectly match the eerie feeling of the tale as well as the sordid reality experienced by the women.  This may be the third time I have seen this film.  Maybe because of the fantasy or the style, I have never really connected with this acknowledged masterpiece.  I want to love it but I don’t.  Well worth at least one watch, however.

Ugetsu was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTMsz_KDIE

Trailer