There are times when the academic in me comes out and I really want to talk about a film in the context of something greater than itself. That context may be the director’s body of work, a genre, a time period, or possibly a national cinema. Mikio Naruse’s When A Woman Ascends the Stairs is one of those films.
Why do I want to discuss it in relation to other films? Perhaps it’s the assertion that Naruse is one of Japan’s great directors; it is not unthinkable for his name to come up alongside the names of Ozu and Mizoguchi. He also has an extensive body of work spanning the decades from the early thirties to the late sixties. And while his work has been discussed in terms of his early experimental period and his later
post-war work, the themes have remained consistent throughout.
These are the reasons I would like to talk about When A Woman Ascends the Stairs beyond the experience of a single viewing.
However, there is one very good reason why I cannot. Simply, I’ve never seen another Naruse film. What I know about him, I know from reading. Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, these directors I know, I love, and I’ve seen a number of their films. There is a lot that I can talk about. Why is Naruse different? One reason: his films are not widely available in the west. Occasionally there will be a screening, a retrospective, something of that sort, but for the most part our choices are limited. In the US we
have access to all of one of his films, When A Woman Ascends the Stairs, on DVD. If you’re lucky you may be able to find another film, Lady Chrysanthemums, on VHS. Your choices are slightly less limited in Europe but not by much.
I can’t tell you why Naruse’s films are so hard to see in the West but I can tell you that it is a shame. This is another point where I would like to discuss him in the context of his contemporaries. Since I can’t I will skip all of that and discuss When A Woman Ascends the Stairs in more limited terms.
The story of When A Woman follows Keiko, an aging bar hostess working in the Ginza district. She has reached a point in her life where she must decide between her options of marriage and the opening of her own place.Keiko is a unique woman in her world of liquor, men, geisha, family responsibility, and, those ideas that are always just out of reach, love and happiness. She tries to stay above the world around her, she never gives in to the men, but in the end, how long can a woman hold out when all of the tides are against her? And when her choice is between virtue and love, can we really blame her for giving in to either option?
When A Woman Ascends the Stairs is a melodrama. It is a sensitive exploration of the choices given to women trapped in Japan’s class system. The choices become a matter of survival. But even death does not bring freedom.Keiko is never given the option of making the right decision. Whatever path she follows, it will be wrong for someone and she has obligations to all.
While the visuals of When A Woman never moved me as much as, for example, those found in an Ozu film and while I never felt quite as invested in the fate of Keiko as I did in Mizoguchi’s heroine of Osaka Elegy, When A Woman touched me. Naruse’s Keiko becomes a sympathetic character and the themes he explores are just as important and relevant as anything found in any of our other favorite Japanese films.Naruse shows his social consciousness. We care about Keiko. There is a point to be made and by the end of the film, we get it.
Keiko is trapped in her life by the demands and social strictures of the world she lives in. Repeatedly she performs the action described by the title of the film, but her ascension is not one to be envied. She is not ascending to something greater, she finds at the top of her stairs the dead end that she can never hope to escape. Her climb is an exercise in futility. She will continue to travel up and up, finding at
the end only the same dingy bars and the same groping men.
Perhaps one day I will be able to tell you more about Naruse and his films. Until that point comes, all I can say is When A Woman Ascends the Stairs is worth your time. It’s a sad, poignant story that is still relevant for today’s audience. It may not be the greatest Japanese film I’ve ever seen but I am glad that I have seen it. And I look forward to the opportunity to discover more of Mikio Naruse.
A hint for those of you who are curious: it’s available on Netflix.
When A Woman Ascends the Stairs
1960
Japanese with English Subtitles
111 minute
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