When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
If there are two things to learn from the 1960 Japanese movie, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, they are: 1) life is cruel and 2) it’s a man’s world.
The Criterion DVD box description reads:
…a delicate, devastating study of a woman who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo’s very modern postwar Ginza district, entertaining businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society.
This is an attractive, heartbreaking film featuring the captivating and caged Hideko Takamine as the heroine Keiko, and Tatsuya Nakadai, the cool, calm, and collected bar manager who is secretly in love with her. A story about a woman living a life of quiet desperation, it’s undramatically tragic. Definitely worth watching, if for nothing else than the costume design and overall Japan aesthetic of the time.
And speaking of Tatsuya Nakadai, the prolific actor with large eyes and a chiseled visage, you can watch him in Kill! (Kiru) as part of the museum’s Sixties Swordplay film series on Target Sunday, August 2. If he looks familiar, it’s because he’s been in countless notable films.
He even played the aging, ruined warlord in the epic Ran!
Come check out the samurai films on Sunday, August 2. Also, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is available at the SF Main Library, right next door to the museum!
5 Responses to “When a Woman Ascends the Stairs”
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xensen on July 27th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
That’s a very nice dvd box cover.
nico on July 27th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I don’t believe in marriage but I’d ask the Criterion Collection to marry me.
Speaking of 60s ladies of cinema, have I mentioned that you need to see Shinoda’s Pale Flower?
otomeki5 on July 28th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
would it be insensitive of me to say that ‘life is cruel + its a man’s world = tragic beauty’? one scene from ozu yasujiro’s ‘tokyo story’ that ill never forget is when hara setsuko is sitting with her sister. the lighting is a little hazy but it works to cast a silvery halo around her in black and white. kagawa kyoko asks “life is disappointing, isnt it?” and the camera faces hara setsuko and she says with an avalokiteshvara smile “yes. it is.” that smile is eternal and absolutely transcendent. its the beauty of the tragic woman.
bittermelon on July 29th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Yes, my roommate’s friend works at Criterion and he/she gets discounts on all their products. Jealousy. They have a stellar design team.
Otomeki5, you are absolutely right (and not insensitive at all). Some of the best movies around happen to be about the plight of tragic lives, especially of women. I like how you described the scene from Tokyo Story (the SFPL has a lot of Ozu FYI for readers of this blog). I once read an article that described the beauty of tragic women, why they’re so alluring.
According to Wiki: Naruse, the director of “When a Woman…” said: “From the youngest age, I have thought that the world we live in betrays us; this thought still remains with me.”
And for many, this is true.
namastenancy on July 29th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I remember when I first saw this – at the late, much missed Surf Theater. I could not believe how exquisite the photography was but it did not compensate me for the tragic ending. I also fell in love with Tatsuya Nakadai and wish that more of his movies were released on DVD.