Sisters of the Gion

• Isuzu Yamada: Omocha
• Yoko Umemura: Umekichi
• Yukiko Todoroki: Sayo Murai
• Benkei Shiganoya: Shimbei Furusawa
• Eitaro Shindo: Kudo
• Taizo Fukami: Kimura

The Sisters of Gion in 1936, is a company study by Kenji Mizoguchi.

Action

The film depicts the story of two sisters, both geishas, ​​but with a very different attitude to their profession. The older, Umekichi, holds a lot of traditions and therefore remains its patron Shimbei Furusawa also loyal when he goes bankrupt and impoverished. Her younger sister Omocha other hand, cares little about loyalty and outdated standards and tries to make himself stand by as many men. Again and again she tried to convince her older sister thereof, do the same. But Omocha goes too far and ends up after a confrontation with a jealous suitor at the hospital, while Umekichi is left by Furusawa. When the two sisters meet again in the hospital, but it is clear that neither of the two can be deterred from their beliefs and their way of life.

Background

Mizoguchi is the example of the two different sisters the cultural and social differences in the Japan of the 1930s is that is torn between the old traditions and all the modern western influences that assailed the country within a few decades, and it totally transformed. He remains true to his line to consider the family as a microcosm of society and to put women at the center of his films. Together with the produced in the same year film Osaka Elegy is considered " The Sisters of Gion " the first great masterpiece Mizoguchi, both of which also mark the beginning of a long collaboration with screenwriter Yoshikata Yoda.

Despite the high artistic value and the controversial topic was " The Sisters of Gion " not a financial success. Although the production of the film took only a few weeks, the production company Daiichi Eiga went bankrupt, which was also attributed to a boycott of the rental company.