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Life & Arts

Film shows dichotomy of post-war Japan

by AUSTIN HAVICAN 
The Daily Cougar

The late 1950s and early 60s represent, for most people, free love and protest -- unless you lived in Japan's post-World War II world, with its polarity of flaunted wealth and poverty. 

Mikio Naruse's interpretation of this duality is When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, a poignant film that follows 30-year-old Keiko (frequently called Mama), who's trapped as a hostess to rich businessmen in Tokyo's famed Ginza district. Widowed and financially responsible for her mother, brother and nephew, Keiko spends much of the film bumping against the boundaries of class, love and money.

For Americans, the film is easily prone to misinterpretation as a simple vignette on the life of a struggling barmaid. Instead, Naruse offers an idea of existence and life's expectations and what happens when we answer or refuse its call. The film also suggests a reconsideration of what it means to commit suicide to escape debt (via Keiko's friend Yuri) and examines the cause and effect of marrying before falling in love, and vice versa.

The Criterion Collection edition of When a Woman Ascends the Stairs offers an insightful commentary by noted Japanese film scholar Donald Richie, which proves vital for a full understanding of the film's cultural references and contains important biographical details of Naruse that pertain to his slow-paced, subtle style.

Richie proposes that every Japanese director struggles with the Japanese-ness of himself and his art. 

"The essence of the Japanese tradition … that connotes a contented resignation and a sort of observation of the way things are and a willingness to go along with them, identifies experiencing the basic nature of existence," he said in his commentary. "Savoring the comforts of being at harmony with the cycles of the universe, and an acceptance of adversity and the idea of accepting what's on your plate and eating it … this is exactly what's supposed to happen, therefore it is good."

Almost all of the tense moments in the film come at times when Keiko makes decisions between doing what is considered right, doing what she believes is logically feasible and doing something irresponsible in the harrowing moments of emotional reaction. Every decision she makes turns out to be the wrong one, and she can't escape her decisions, leaving all of Keiko's peaks flattened once again. 

The absence of hostess bars in America makes their function confusing, though it's important to understand that they are not brothels. In the commentary, Richie explains the women's occupation and the role of the bars: "In Japanese society, in that period, it was practically homo-social, just guys getting together and doing things and being uncomfortable with each other," he said. "That's one of the things the geisha did, was to act as a social oil between males boasting their egos on one hand and toning them down on the other. It's easier to do a business deal if there's some girl snuggled up on the side -- it lent a kind of normality to the closeness that the men were experiencing as they attempted to drive deals with each other. So the main effect was economic, and that was what the guys who paid the bills were paying for."

Richie also explains the role of suicide in the film.

"One of the themes that occurs in this film and other Naruse films is the possibility of suicide," he said in his commentary. "Suicide is not treated in Japan as it's treated in other, Christian countries. … There's no religious prescription or social prohibition against it, and so it's one of the known alternatives to general wretchedness of existence."

To be in debt in post-war Japanese society is to lose face, and Yuri's attempt at faking suicide to avoid her lenders ultimately proves fatal when she overdoses on sleeping medication. The many layers of the film and actions of Keiko's friends represent the multiple options she has and highlight exactly where she would've failed.

Keiko is eventually rendered immobile -- left with no options to progress -- and her life reaches a standstill.

The Criterion release also comes with a short interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiko's manager, who offers insight to Naruse's directorial style and personal demeanor. 

Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu