"We wish to thank... the various film magazines and all the writers... who have helped us make this film." "A Kindai Eiga Kyokai Production" "Kenji Mizoguchi The Life of a Film Director" "Taking parts are:" "Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshikata Yoda" "Masashige Narusawa, Kumeko Urabe" "Matsutaro Kawaguchi, Eiji Nakano" "Eitaro Shindo, Dai Arakawa" "Takako Irie, Ganjiro Nakamura" "Masaichi Nagata, Goro Kontaibo" "Seiichiro Uchikawa, Kyoko Kagawa" "Michiyo Kogure, Isuzu Yamada" "Machiko Kyo, Nobuko Otowa" "Daisuke Ito, Kazuo Miyagawa" "Yasuzo Masumura, Ayako Wakao" "Kiyohiko Ushihara, Kakuko Mori" "Eitaro Ozawa, Eijiro Yanagi, and others." "Photographed by Yoshiyuki Miyake" "Sound Recording by Shinpei Kikuchi" "Edited by Mitsuo Kondo  Keiko Fujita" "Produced and Directed by Kaneto Shindo" "At 58 years of age... on August 24, 1956 at 1:55 am..." "Kenji Mizoguchi died." "Kyoto Municipal Hospital" "I quite understand your wishes... but we can't allow you to enter the hospital." "It disturbs the patients." "We'll just stay in the passage... that is all we need." "Kyoto is closely linked with the memory of Mizoguchi." "He died in this hospital." "We are making a film of his life... for the last 10 days we have been interviewing." "I thought one could take only the exterior... the 4th floor passage is quite enough." "We will just shoot it as is..." "no lighting." "We won't bother anyone." "No photographers are ever allowed... no matter who they may be." "The nurses are busy." "The patients cannot be disturbed..." "Private Ward 4th Floor" "Kenji Mizoguchi's Grave" ""Street of Shame"" "Your films very often were about women..." "Interview of Mizoguchi:" "February 11, 1950" "Yes, but at first it was not my idea." "Director Minoru Murata who died 10 years ago... was almost a brother to me... and his films were about... the world of men." "We couldn't both treat the same subject." "The company gave me the woman's side." "And it was commercially wise." "Then as often happens..." "I came to like the idea." "I read in an article you wrote... after making "Osaka Elegy" and "Sisters of the Gion"... both masterpieces in my opinion..." "You felt you had gained a better understanding of human nature." "Youth seems to be a time of action... making a good film is not directed by reason... but by an inner passion." "I had gained a deeper understanding of human beings." "Although even now I may not have understood them." "That is how I feel..." "That is how I feel..." "Masashige Narusawa: scenarist" "Mizoguchi was born over there... on May 16, 1898... his parents' first son." "This was the neighborhood." "A temple atmosphere." "After his father's business failed... they moved to the popular district of Asakusa." "He was taught a bit at home... then went to a public school where he met Kawaguchi." "Matsutaro Kawaguchi: writer" "Is the school where you met still standing?" "I have no idea." "I must find out." "I passed by the former brothel district of Yoshiwara... the other day and had a look around." "Everything has changed." "Ishihama School Founded June 1907" "Mizoguchi entered the same year." "Nothing forms a man as much as his childhood." "For that reason I'm sure... we shall never find another director as completely Japanese... as Mizoguchi was." "Of course we shall always have good directors." "But none able... to depict the very essence of our mentality... and show us as we are." "He was completely Japanese." "Typical Japanese." "I think it was just that characteristic... the Western cinema world admired in him." "Yes, the special quality... of his films in which there is no trace of foreign influence." "That is what they admire." "You don't find that in anyone else." "His older sister took care of him." "What was she like?" "They say their father is from aristocracy or high ranking samurai." "But he ended up a craftsman who roofs a house with slates." "Though I'm not sure." "Their father was a drunkard who did not like to work." "Then viscount Matsudaira... met Suzuko, Mizoguchi's sister..." "Was she a geisha in Nihonbashi?" "That's right." "Where was Viscount Matsudaira's Tokyo House located?" "I think he lived in Shimoshinmei." "Before that, I think he lived in Teppozu." "Wasn't his home town Shinshu Ueda?" "That's correct." "So she became his mistress." "Then she left Nihonbashi, and moved to Viscount's mansion in Teppozu." "She lived there?" "As his mistress, yes." "But didn't she marry him?" "Eventually, yes." "Legally married." "So she became Suzuko Matsudaira." "She supported her brother in many ways." "Many of Mizoguchi's films depict grudge against a father figure." "None depicts the father favorably." "I think the father in "Osaka Elegy" is modeled after his own." "Here he passed his early years." "After finishing school he went to Morioka... but he soon came back." "At 17 he worked for a pattern designer... but he didn't stay." "He enrolled in the painting school of Seiki Kuroda." "At 19 he worked for a newspaper in Kobe... that lasted a year." "It was by chance he began his cinema career." "He lived near the Nikkatsu studios." "He became a friend of an actor... named Tomioka... who knew Wakayama, a director." "He joined Nikkatsu very easily." "His ambition was to act but he was made an assistant director, an errand boy." "It was June 1920." "He was 22." "After varied attempts he found his chosen path." "Nikkatsu Mukojima Studio Glass Stage" "Now it is a glass stage, but it was a tent when I started." "There was no glass stage." "Gengo Otsubo: cameraman (Nikkatsu)" "It was before the age of the glass stage." "Is my story too old?" "Not at all." "Please go ahead." "Today's lighting is good in its way." "But in the days of the tent, it used to open up when the wind blew." "Even when the tent stayed, the wind blew open the joints... and let the sunlight in to shine on the stage." "We had to continue shooting that way." "But we naturally wanted to improve, and the glass stage was built in 1913." "That makes sense." "It was the sunlight." "The sunlight through the glass." "Today artificial lighting is used." "There's no glass ceiling." "In the past we shot under the sunlight through the glass." "When the weather..." "Changes from cloudy to sunny, each time a cameraman must adjust by himself, since we did not have assistants back then." "You never know when the sky changes." "There was no motor back then, so with the right hand.... busy rotating the camera, we had to adjust like this." "Panning was done differently, too." "Like this, with the left hand... while the right hand was still rotating." "I think cameramen today are better off." "We did everything by ourselves." "From shooting to developing." "Cameramen did everything." "It was a lot of responsibility, and made the job exciting for cameramen." ""What is the result of the scenes I have shot?"" "The moment of seeing the developed film is especially exciting." "Since I was developing myself..." "I was able to adjust the process based on the condition of the shooting." "How many days did it take to shoot one film?" "Probably a week." "That must have felt like a second." "Yeah." "But that was the standard back then. 10 days at the most." "Although it took much longer to shoot "Dokuro no mai"." "Kiyohiko Ushihara: director" "I began working at Shochiku the year it was founded." "The studio was a tent." "But soon they built a glass studio." "The East and South walls were glass... the rest was wood." "After they built entirely in glass... right up to the roof." "A square glass box." "What was Mizoguchi like?" "He was a gentle person." "Really?" "He was fond of women and sake, but he was gentle nonetheless." "So he loved women." "Yes." "He was a lady-killer." "Did you ever talk to him?" "Yes." "You worked at the same studio." "Yes." "I don't know anything about his personal life." "He was a good person." "Honest and sweet." "He had a deep voice, but his manner was soft like a woman." "He was great." "He was Eizo Tanaka's assistant, right?" "Right." "Eizo Tanaka... a talented new director at Nikkatsu, made..." ""The Kyoya Collar Shop", a naturalistic film by far his best." "Mizoguchi was his assistant." "In 1920 Tanizaki and Kurihara made " Amateur Club"." "In 1919 Kaeriyama made "The Glow of Life"." "In 1921 Osanai made "Souls on the Road"." "These 3 films mark the growth of... the cinema into an art." "In two short years Mizoguchi became a director." "At that time men still played women's roles." "When the camera lens proved too cruel... 18 famous actors including Kinugasa... were forced to retire." "The studio was short-handed and Mizoguchi was promoted." "His first film was a melodrama." ""The Resurrection of Love" 1922" "In one year beginning September 1923... he made 7 films." "Dramas, action and horror films, he tried his hand at every genre." "When we go on location... we'd bring 2 scenarios." "The same actor would wear 2 sets of costumes, so we could shoot 2 different films in the vicinity of one location." "Shooting 2 films on the same location was a common practice back then." "When Henry Kotani came back... from the USA, he came to the Kamata studio in a motorcade," "where director Kako and I were shooting in a tent." "Henry's car entered the gate." "The tent was by the gate." "Henry got off the car in a gallant manner, took the reflector from... the assistant's hand, climbed on... the wall, and adjusted the reflector like this." "The light came this way..." "It was around Osanai that... the pioneers of the cinema gathered." "Daisuke Ito: director" "Osanai's admirers both young and old... including even Tsutsumi who became a director... were capable actors, technicians and writers." "They could do everything." "I wrote mainly for the theatre." "I showed him my plays... long before Osanai began in films." "It was he who guided my first steps." "What was the script like in the early days?" "At the Nikkatsu studios... the director stood beside the camera and read it." "The actors followed his instructions." "Perhaps it was Kaeriyama... who wrote the first real script." "I had no idea of how to make one although I read magazines..." "There was a "How to Write Scenario" book... that gave instructions." "It seemed hopeless." "Seeing Italian films, however, taught me." "Mizoguchi's 5th film "Failure's Song Is Sad"... bore his future stamp." "The Nikkatsu studios in 1923... was destroyed by earthquake and the company moved to Kyoto." "When I think of my relationship with..." "Okochi, Osanai, Aoyama, Kaji Yamamoto, and Tomoda," "I feel that I had been destined to meet them." "Was Mizoguchi at Taishogun, too?" "Yes." "Since the earthquake destroyed the studios at Mukojima." "Everyone moved to Taishogun to make both modern and period films." "Taishogun" "Nikkatsu Taishogun Studio" "Was it around here?" "Yes, the gate was here." "Kenichi Okamoto:" "lighting technician" "Over there was an empty lot where location cars were parked." "The studio was here from 1923... until about 1928 or 1929." "In 1930 shooting was already done in Uzumasa studios." "The move to Kyoto... greatly influenced Mizoguchi." "Life in Tokyo had marked him..." "Kyoto had an equally strong effect." "The mixed influence of these cities... was the basis of his art." "At that time he directed... all sorts of films... nothing very impressive." "While making "Shining in the Red Sunset"... something unusual happened." "He met Miss Ichijo." "Eiji Nakano: actor" "Can you tell us about "Shining in the Red Sunset"?" "I was 19 or 20." "I followed the director's wishes, that's all." "But we worked only three days with him." "He had to stop because Miss Ichijo wounded his back." "Saegusa finished directing the picture." "The notorious crime of passion." "Didn't they sack him?" "He was put into hospital." "Newspapers reported the incident... not in the film section... but on the gossip page." "He was in disgrace." "He locked himself up at home." "Was he told to?" "Yes." "Then he couldn't find a job." "For 6 months he did nothing." "So he did have a back wound?" "Kumeko Urabe: actress" "But that was before he married." "Long before." "Were you there?" "Yes." "I lived at Mrs. Sakai's." "You know her?" "Actor Katsuragi lived there too... and actress Harue Ichikawa." "We were having... a good time one evening." "Katsuragi was drinking... we weren't drinking, just playing cards... when all at once the wife of an actor called Sasaya... told us, pale in the face, that Kenji had been injured." "At first we didn't understand." "Then we all went running to see." "Mizoguchi and Murata both loved brothels." "They adored them." "They were real experts." "Murata too?" "They liked the atmosphere." "Indeed." "The best films of Mizoguchi... are about fallen women." "It is hard to explain why." "Although there may be good reasons." "Wasn't Miss Ichijo a prostitute?" "Yes." "The kind called a "yatona" in Kyoto... who paid house calls." "It happened in the bath." "Seiichiro Uchikawa:" "assistant director" "I offered to rinse off his back when I saw it." "He said," ""Without this kind of experience you don't know women."" "I wished the same thing had happened to me." "He was stabbed by "yatona", right?" "It seems he ran away after it happened." "Which is quite understandable." "Crying with pain." "How very like him." "Never without his problems... taking them all in stride." "He was a great man because... he had ordinary problems... yet created a myth about himself too." ""Paper Doll's Whisper" is the love story of modest people." "This film showed Mizoguchi's real worth." ""The Passion of a Woman Teacher" 1926" "For the first time he worked with Kawaguchi, who stayed with him all his life." "You were present during... the Miss Ichijo incident." "After that he married." "You knew his wife Chieko?" "She was my girlfriend... who brought her home one day." "What did she do?" "She was a dancer." "She worked in a dance hall in Osaka." "My girlfriend Chiyoko worked there too." "Chiyoko lived with me... and danced in Osaka." "You and Chiyoko." "He and Chieko." "The girls got on well." "I lived with Mizoguchi too." "He was shooting in Kyoto." "I had been 3 or 4 months with Nikkatsu." "He lived above the public bath... near the studio." "I had no money and no home." "He took me in." "For 6 months we lived that way." "There was nothing but a futon and books." "Books everywhere." "A box for a table." "We had our meals out." "For 6 months we shared the same futon." "You and he?" "Yes." "When Chieko called..." "I left them alone." "Chiyoko introduced them." "Could he dance?" "No." "I taught him for her sake." "It was through you he met Chieko... and learned how to dance." "They soon began to quarrel." "Chieko wasn't divorced yet." "We met at the Nikkatsu studios in Kyoto." "I had come in as a trainee in 1924." "Masaichi Nagata: producer" "In 1925 I started working... on the business side at Nikkatsu." "Mizoguchi had just been made a director." "Our connection was based on our work." "One day he decided to marry Chieko." "I learned that she was separated but not divorced." "We had to find a way to settle this matter." "Her husband was a good sort considering his shady life." "I talked it over and he agreed to a divorce." "Chieko and I were chorus girls in the same music hall... in a lively district of Osaka." "We were good friends." "When did she marry him?" "I don't know..." "I really don't know." "One day at the public bath..." "I heard my name." "It was Chieko." "We called one another..." "Tochi and Sagachi." ""Tochi" I heard and who do I see?" "Sagachi." "I asked what she was doing there." "She said she had married Mizoguchi... and invited me to drop in." "It was quite a surprise." ""Nihonbashi" was a Meiji period story by Kyoka Izumi." "Social unrest after the 1923 earthquake... came to a crisis in 1929." "It was a bad moment." ""Home Town" 1930 First talkie" ""Mistress of a Foreigner" 1930" ""Metropolitan Symphony" marks his proletariat period." "One senses his relationship... with Hayashi, a proletariat writer." ""Man of the Momemt" 1932" "He made all sorts of films, each with a different social setting." "It was after he made "The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia"" "that he became strange." "He couldn't edit that film." "He left the Shinko company... and for a year or two did nothing... just stayed at home." "He made his comeback with "The Water Magician"." "I was there during the worst of it." "What do you mean he was "strange"?" "He lost his confidence." "It's true that his films are either... master pieces or complete failures." "I went through the failures twice." "I went through the failures twice." ""The Water Magician" 1933" "You were the image of a modern woman for the public." "Takako Irie: actress" "It was difficult to imagine you... playing the role of a traditional entertainer." "The result surprised everybody." "Could you tell us about Mizoguchi at that time?" "You already knew him then?" "Yes." "Since "Metropolitan Symphony"." "But this was my first Meiji era film..." "What enthusiasm." "He loved... to have everything perfect." "He had always been difficult." "Yet he always took time... to explain it all to us." "Alas, we didn't always come up to his expectations." "What saved us was his sense... of humour and enthusiasm." "He was 35 then." "Yes, he was young." "It was a youthful film." "How old were you?" "22, I think." "He had wanted to do this film for a long time." "Goro Kontaibo: producer" "She was a Nikkatsu star." "The most popular but not No.1." "Her brother, a director... thought it was unfair." "He thought she should be No.1." "At Nikkatsu she was the ideal modern woman." "But Shinko wanted her to be more Japanese." "They said Nikkatsu didn't show the real Japan." "And the public was fed up." "Shinko had its own audience and..." "Irie was to embody... the traditional Japanese woman." "Shigeru Miki: cameraman" "There was no finished script for this film." "We worked from day to day." "Each shot was so concentrated and so dense that... we were dead tired when we finished." "Another director would have spaced it out." "We were all exhausted." "You couldn't even count the number of shots." "He was like an orchestra conductor." "Did you enjoy working with him?" "He had complete faith in his cameraman." "You just had to be worthy of his trust." "Tazuko Sakane: script-girl, first woman director" "We began working together in 1929... at Nikkatsu studios in Kyoto." "You worked on "The Water Magician"?" "Yes." "I began as editor with that film." "There were many close-ups." "Each shot was still short... at that time." "Some were quite long though." "To edit we cut the negatives." "It was very risky, but they were skillful." "To think of it!" "We cut the negatives!" "We were filming "The Jimpu Group"." "I was making 1,000 yen a film." "I didn't draw a salary." "He needed money." "He hired me for a job saying," ""Here's 1,000 yen." "Take your share..."" ""I'll use the change for pocket money."" "He made 500 yen!" ""You can do it in a day or two."" "I accepted and wrote a scene... that it would take... two days to shoot." "He made "The Mountain Pass of Love and Hate" for Daiichi." "Set again in Meiji times... and he was depressed and felt trapped in that period." "I founded Daiichi company." "I told Mizoguchi and Kawaguchi my plans." "They got on well together." ""If we wish to succeed..."" ""in our enterprise, we need friends." "Alone, we are lost."" "He directed "Sisters of the Gion" and "Osaka Elegy", both masterpieces." ""Osaka Elegy" 1936" "Yoshikata Yoda: scenarist" "We first worked together on "Osaka Elegy"." "Although I had known him... ever since he was an assistant at Nikkatsu." "Once he asked me to act... then changed his mind." "We were close friends." "I fell ill and had to leave Nikkatsu." "I needed a job and went to see him." "He immediately asked me to write a scenario... based on Saburo Okada's book, "Mieko"." "It was the story of a woman who worked in a cabaret." "An assistant director had suggested... he make a film based on the novel." "Mizoguchi was terribly depressed... and was looking around... for an interesting job." "Besides he wanted to work with Isuzu Yamada." "She had just had a baby." "Up till then he had done Meiji period films... based on the novels of Kyoka Izumi." "In my opinion he felt... trapped by his nostalgia for the past... and knew he must break away." "He was quite aware of this." "And was anxious to step... into the present day." "I had already worked with him." "Isuzu Yamada: actress" "But "Osaka" was a turning point for me." "And I think it is his greatest film." "Thanks to this film I decided... to make a career as an actress." "That is why this film... is so important to me." "As you know Mizoguchi was hard to please." "He never told us precisely what to do." ""Think about it," he would say." "And that is all." "I'll never forget that." "In one scene I was coming back from a police station." "The atmosphere was tense." "I was to say..." ""Oh, sukiyaki." "I'd like to have some."" "For three days we went over it." "He wasn't satisfied." "I was terrified... and didn't even dare put on my coat." "I was half frozen in the bridge scene." "Trembling as I said my lines." "He came up behind me... and put his coat on my shoulders." "Imagine for one so strict." "I had tears in my eyes." "Eitaro Shindo: actor" "I made my first talkie with him." "His difficult character was well-known." "I was in the theatre then." "I asked him straight off... if his reputation... was in fact deserved." "He often discussed acting methods." "He said an actor must rely on more than... his skills." "It was his personality that counted." "It was his personality that counted." ""Sisters of the Gion" 1936" "At first it was the story of two sisters... living among the entertainers of Osaka." "We wanted to portray... the atmosphere of Osaka." "He changed his mind." "The new setting was Gion." "The teahouse district of Kyoto." "Narrow streets full of life." "Gion has two parts... the lower side is where geishas and prostitutes live." "This was to be the setting." "Including aspects of daily life as well as pleasure, it was a hard life." "Setting for "Sisters of the Gion"" "You lived in a narrow street." "So you knew the setting." "Every city has these streets, you know." "But in Kyoto they have a special charm." "From the Last Scene of "Sisters of the Gion"" "We slave away and are paid in insults." "What do they expect of us?" "But why are we so badly treated?" "Why do jobs like this exist?" "I have had enough!" "How come it hasn't died away!" "It should never have existed!" "This "profession" must die away!" "I was in love with a geisha named Omocha." "I suggested that Mizoguchi use her as the model for "Sisters of the Gion"." "Isuzu Yamada as Omocha" "I wanted him to see that stories based... on women could have present day settings." "That he didn't need to go to Tokyo for inspiration." "That Chikamatsu and Saikaku had found it here in Kyoto." "You went to look at Gion?" "Yes." "But as you know... the story takes place in the lower part of Gion." "The people there complained saying that Gion... wasn't at all like that." "Every day they rewrote... the script." "Minor changes?" "Heavens, no." "They changed everything." "We learned at the last minute... that our lines were changed." "Mizoguchi and Yoda even... made changes as they were shooting." "I wonder even now if the last scene... was planned or written... at the last moment." "Besides it was a talkie." "You can imagine!" "As I am from that region..." "I had no problem learning new lines in dialect." "Scraps of dialogue were pasted everywhere." "Even written on a mirror." "I read as I acted." "He knew how to drink." "I didn't drink at all, yet..." "He always asked for me." "He gave me a part in "Sisters of the Gion"." "The Owner of Yoshida Teahouse" "I am looking up all the people who were close to him." "At that time he was always with..." "Mr. ..." "Yoda, the scenarist." "Mizoguchi smoked constantly... and chewed his cigarettes." "When he was a bit tight... he would caress my hair." "He didn't do that... to anyone else." "He felt at ease with me." "We got on well." "He loved to tease me." "Naturally people got the... wrong idea about our relationship." ""The Straits of Love and Hate" 1937" "Daiichi was broken up leaving 2 films." "He joined Shinko and made "Straits"" "He said in his signature way..." ""The gist of melodrama is reunion."" "He told me to write such a script." "This was how "Straits" came into being." "He would give us a script... then change it the day we were shooting." "Fumiko Yamaji: actress" "We gathered around a blackboard... learning new lines at the last minute." "The old lines still in your head." "Once for a drunk scene in a bistro..." "I went to a small bar at the station... just to see what it was like." "I bought drink for a barmaid... to get her drunk." "Films were his whole life." "And he made us give ours too." "In the morning I would arrive first on the set." "But he would be there, all alone in the dark." "Toshima District, Tokyo" "He rented this house and began working at Shinko." "He made " Ah!" "My Hometown" and "The Song of the Camp", and then joined Shochiku." ""The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum" 1939" "Shochiku wanted him to use Shotaro Hanayagi, a Kabuki actor." "But men no longer played female roles in films." "So they made "Chrysanthemum"" "It was set in the world of Kabuki... that I knew nothing about." "It was a hard job." "They used to call us prop-men." "Dai Arakawa: set decorator We passed out pikes and battle-axes." "I had worked with Inoue who was hard to please." "So when I started with Mizoguchi..." "I knew what to expect." "I was lucky." "My father worked at the Kabuki theatre." "I knew the work." "Mizoguchi liked me." "I learned a lot from him." "Today he would pass for a perfectionist." "His taste in props was highly personal." "As he gained experience in curios... especially after he had been cheated, he started to... be a good judge." "Yoshiyuki Takatsu: president of Takatsu trading company" "He once asked me to sell off the junk he had purchased by mistake." "But I told him to keep them as valuable reference... so he can remember that he should never touch such junk in the future." "Matsuji Ohno: set builder" "In those days there was no set design." "Mizutani was the first real designer..." "Kyoto carpenters are famous." "Thanks to you, Mizutani could do so well." "He treated us as equals." "Hiroshi Mizutani: set designer" "He alone could do it." "He wasn't just anyone." "You could do a good job with Mizoguchi and Mizutani." "Clip from "The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum"" "Shall we share it?" "Where are you going?" "To the parlour." "Here is fine." "Here?" "Why not." "Let's eat here." "Take some." "Don't be shy." "Have some." "It is delicious." "Kakuko Mori: actress" "The first day on the set..." "I was hopelessly lost." "I didn't know how to move." "The set was the inside of a house." "I asked him what I ought to do." ""Forget the movements and your lines," he said." ""Think about the role."" ""If you get the feeling right, the rest will come."" "That was good advice." "I was playing a woman." "I wasn't sure of myself... because I usually played young girls." "I had to act out a woman's feelings." "I still remember even now." "Mizoguchi had a special interest... in the part you played." "He had tried out someone else." "And he called you when she didn't work out." "The other actress was..." "Reiko Kitami?" "Yes, it was she." "She was supposed to hold a baby in her arms." ""You don't do it well because you aren't a mother."" ""You aren't even married."" "So after 3 days of rehearsal, he dismissed her and... hired Kakuko Mori." "As she had been introduced... by Hanayagi, Mizoguchi couldn't say no." "They did a screen test... and Mizoguchi hired her immediately." "Hanayagi helped me a lot." "In the watermelon scene for instance... he showed me how to take out the pips... the way women did back then." "Thanks to him..." "I learned many things." "That character was for him... the essence of the female, that he wished... to portray honestly... going deeper than mere beauty and femininity." "Perhaps she was the image of his ideal woman." "I can only guess but..." "I know his married life... was the opposite to this ideal." "It was... a constant struggle." "He was very tense." "Hideo Tsumura: critic While shooting..." ""Chrysanthemum", we went out for a meal." "It was the only time he invited me and... probably Hanayagi paid for us all." "Your friendship dates from then?" "No, not yet." "Ozu had just finished "The Toda Brothers and Sisters"." "It was in 1941." "After the screening... we had a round-table talk... for Star magazine, with..." "Ozu, Mizoguchi, Shimizu and me." "On that occasion... we got to know one another." "Our friendship... started after the war." "In 1940 he rented a house that was... surrounded by a hedge." "It was his second last home." "He left it near the end of his life." "26th Centenary of Japan November 1940" "He couldn't get rid of his class-consciousness." "To be awarded the Minister of Education's prize... was a moral victory for him." "He needed to be recognized and complimented by... government officials." "He had a Meiji era mentality." ""Respect the great, despise the humble."" ""Woman of Osaka" 1940" "It was my first film with him." "I knew his reputation." "Kinuyo Tanaka: actress" "Obviously, I was scared." "According to Yoda, his scenarist, he was... at top form for this film." "That may be so." "You played the wife of a Bunraku actor." "She was a strong woman... who even left her husband for a time." "Mizoguchi said... you were marvellous in the part." "To get the part down and understand her character..." "I went to Kyoto." "The script-girl, Sakane... came to my hotel with a huge parcel of books." "Like that." "She said, "Read them."" "Mizoguchi had sent them... asking me to read them carefully." "I had already read and studied the script." "It was set in the..." "Bunraku theatre world." "About the foyer, dressing room and her husband's stage." "The books were treatises on Bunraku... with difficult technical words." "What astonished me was finding an artist's life... that was so familiar." "It was an eye-opener." "We arrived in Kyoto in April... but only started shooting in summer." "What a lot of work." "First I read." "Then I went to Osaka to see Bunraku... and drink in the atmosphere... and rigour of this world at first hand." "It was a real martyrdom." "I was used to being... treated like a star." "Seeing how it was, I thought..." "I'll never make it." "The dialogue was changed..." "as we shot... not because the script was bad... on the contrary... but what was written didn't seem natural... when it was acted... and Mizoguchi wouldn't accept it." "For that reason..." "Yoda was on the set." "And they rewrote it all." "One artificial move by an actor... was cause for consultation, and Yoda had to rewrite." "was cause for consultation, and Yoda had to rewrite." ""The Life of an Actor" 194 1" "Then he made 3 films of artist's lives." "Ganjiro Nakamura: actor I was 30 when he hired me." "I was a Kabuki actor and I wanted to make movies." "I wanted him to think of me as such... to try and forget that I was a Kabuki star." "He told me, "Don't overact."" "" Act naturally." "Let yourself go."" "We rehearsed..." "Now we shoot, I thought, but we didn't." "I asked what was wrong." ""Your eyes," he said." ""You're overdoing it."" ""You act with the pupils." I was dumbfounded." "He wanted me to control the pupils of my eyes." "The more confidence he had in an actor... the more he expected." "Less eye movement, I understand... but the pupil, it can't be controlled." "When I saw " An Osaka Story", made after his death..." "I wondered about that." "I realized my acting was better then." "In fact, he shot only when it was just right." "I was reassured." "There just aren't directors like that now." "I was reassured." "There just aren't directors like that now." ""The Loyal 4 7 Ronin" 194 1-42" "Mizutani: set designer Shindo: architect" "You did a marvellous job for this film." "I'm not sure, but you couldn't do it today... especially just for a film set." "For the first time we used a blueprint." "It was for the palace sequence." "We were amazed." "We'd never seen the like." "Everything was authentic... we used real props." "Mizoguchi raised the level of authenticity for the screen." "It may sound too pragmatic, but Mizoguchi sometimes said that faked props were fine, and used the props which he had rejected in the beginning." "I suppose he changed his mind because he had already... reached the level of concentration necessary to shoot a good film." "He was confident enough without authentic props." "We started with reading the original story." "We gathered all the volumes of "The Loyal 47 Ronin" and tried to... figure out how to make a scenario." "There were 20..." "or at least 10 people." "I was leading the meeting." "I gave everyone blue and red pencils for the marking." "We marked the parts which should not go into the script version." "Mizoguchi got furious." "He wanted to keep the episode with Seika Mayama." "I asked him if he planned to make a 3-day-long film." "Each episode takes 2 hours on stage." "There are 7 or more of that." "How can he make such a long film?" "He was an honest man." "Incapable of falsehood... in his work and to himself." "He was domineering, yes, but above all... he was sincere." "That made him question the theme of "The Loyal 4 7 Ronin":" "loyalism." "His anguish started then." "Yet it became a loyalist film." "Alas!" "He couldn't carry on." "He was... disgusted." "I understood." "Everything halted." "His wife... suffered an attack of madness." "He felt himself to be responsible." "In spite of this guilt he managed to finish "The Loyal 47 Ronin"." "The morning his wife was stricken... we were on the set." "We thought he would stop shooting." "But he came in the afternoon and we started." "It took all his strength to find the courage." "When his assistant went to him... he was quietly weeping." "His wife fell ill." "They asked me... to halt the day's shooting." "I went to his house and found him weeping." "I couldn't leave him." "He was miserable." "I called a halt." "Tatsuo Sakai: assistant director" "It was the palace scene." "It was December 20, 1941." "She came back to Kyoto." "Was she still well?" "Yes." "They had been apart for some time." "That evening, while she was awake... he thought she was all right." "She fell asleep... and it happened." "I stayed with them at the time." "I worried about her." "In the middle of the night... he wakened me and asked how I thought she was." "I told him she seemed quite strange." ""It is worse than that."" "I understood." "Sakai and I went to see her in hospital." "She scarcely recognized us." "That's all I know." "There was a lot of talk though." "Did Mizoguchi think he had given her the disease?" "No, it wasn't him... there is proof of that." "Absolute proof." "Yet he insisted on believing it was him." "In spite of tests?" "After the blood test he knew it wasn't him." "He had a very strong character." "After "The Loyal 47 Ronin" he wasn't the same man." "It was the turning-point of his unhappy life." "I don't know the truth on the medical side." "But he thought it was his fault." "He felt he was guilty." "He was overwhelmed by remorse." "And he threw himself headlong into his work." "To forget." "I visited her with Tazuko Sakane." "At the hospital?" "Yes." "We went against Mizoguchi's wish, and came back weeping." "Was she OK?" "Physically, yes." "She asked us if we came to work on Mizoguchi's project." "She couldn't tell..." "Who you were?" "No." "Why we were there." "She said we came to do some work for director Mizoguchi." "I said, "Yes."" "I wish I knew, now that you came all the way." "The wife of director Mizoguchi was hospitalized here." "Isn't Mizoguchi dead?" "Is Mizoguchi still alive?" "He is dead, his wife isn't." "I don't believe it." "I thought he remarried." "What do you want to know about her?" "Her hospital room was there." "We often took walks together." "Mizoguchi and I." "As we walked there... he would look up at the window... and ask, "What is she doing?"" "She was in good health." "Her Nurse at the Time" "When we spoke to her, she replied quite willingly." "She went to the baths... with her nurse." "Was she composed?" "Yes." "At the baths..." "she washed by herself." "We were told that you were the head nurse for Mrs. Mizoguchi back then." "I was the head nurse." "I worked at that hospital for a long time." "But I hardly ever tended her." "I was mostly working in the outpatient section." "Though of course I remember her face." "She was not a talkative person." "She was quiet." "I heard that she used to speak about film studios a little bit." "She said something like, "Someone from Tokyo has come to clean the house,"" "although it did not make sense." "On the Yangtze River at 45" "He followed the army to the Chinese front for... a film on Sino-Japanese... friendship." "[ Skipped item nr. 141 ]" "[ Skipped item nr. 142 ]" "[ Skipped item nr. 143 ]" "I don't drink, so I found it creepy." "Imagine putting salted fish guts in hot sake and stir." "It looks like phlegm!" "He drinks that disgusting liquid and tells me... to eat a soft-shelled turtle." "But it's not the real turtle, its essence sold at a drug store." "It's like mixing medicine in rice." "Didn't he buy turtle soup, though?" "While the soup was available, yes." "Later he'd go to a pharmacy... and get the essence meant for the sick." "He'd put it in rice, add soy sauce and cook." "He'd give that rice gruel to me and Sakai." "The taste was disgusting." "When the war ended he was back in Japan." "He couldn't adjust to the democratic life... of the postwar era." "I think he exaggerated in believing he must... change as radically as the times." "The worst moment was when he became a union leader." "The unions then were rather strange." "Up until the Toho strike, everything was based on a prearranged plan." "Unions were fashionable..." "He didn't grasp the situation... and thought humanism wasn't the solution." "He fretted with the notion... that he must change his idea of traditional values." "This break can be seen in "Women of the Night"." "Is it with this film you two made a new start?" "Not exactly." "But thanks to it, we were as they say... back in the saddle." "Prostitutes were the theme of the film." ""The scenario must be well researched!" he said." "Toshio Itoya: producer" "He ordered a lunch box meal at the hotel." "Slipping on his army boots... and his army cap, he took the lunch box and set off investigating." "Rigged up like that, he appeared... to be quite the scientist." "Yoda went too, dressed the same way." "They visited a hospital in the red-light district." "The hospital was full of whores all excited... by their presence." ""There is a film director here."" ""You're kidding!" "But it's true."" ""I saw his picture on a magazine!"" "They swarmed around him." "The hospital director asked for silence and..." "Mizoguchi began to talk." ""If you are here, it is the fault of men."" ""They are responsible."" ""It is my fault too," he said suddenly." "His eyes were full of tears... and his head down." "He was thinking of his wife." ""My Love Burns" 1949" "It was Mizutani's idea that..." "Sugai play the left-wing politician in the film." "He thought he would do." "The role itself was difficult and Sugai didn't... quite grasp it." "Not knowing how to advise him, Mizoguchi said..." ""You aren't normal."" ""You haven't got syphilis, have you?" he asked." "Sugai was so under his influence, he thought..." "Mizoguchi was speaking seriously and immediately... had himself examined in hospital." "He was quite all right." "" A Picture of Madame Yuki" 1950" "At first I didn't take it seriously." "I played the star." "Michiyo Kogure: actress" "I was panic-stricken for three days." "The third day he said, "You can relax now."" ""I understand your character."" ""Your role is an aristocrat in decline; you must act..."" ""the aristocrat off-stage too."" ""Treat everybody like subjects."" "Each shot was 5 or 6 minutes long." "But whenever I made a slightest mistake... he knew right away and reshot the entire scene." "Now I am quite thin..." "I was stouter then." "He dressed me with great care..." "He brought me this from France." "He had a voile kimono made of Noh costume material." "It was woven on a pine needle loom." "It is a special cloth... but too delicate to wear with an obi." "It was worth a fortune then." "Eijiro Yanagi: actor" "He didn't give much direction for love scenes, did he?" "There was a bedroom scene." "He told me," ""There is a space between you."" "I knew, but I was acting... with Miss Kogure." "I wasn't afraid of her... but I couldn't press close to her." ""I'll do it for the take."" ""Right, but watch out for the space!"" ""Squeeze tight."" ""Don't worry." "I'll do it."" "Before the take I moved over, and excusing myself... held her very close." "When the shot was over..." "I asked if it was all right." "He laughed and said, "Yes."" ""Miss Oyu" 195 1" "Nobuko Otowa: actress" "He always stayed on set even for lunch." "As he didn't even go to the bathroom I asked... the crew how he managed." "It seems he had a urinal on the set." "I couldn't see... why he went that far." "At last I understood that it was his personality." "I believe he didn't wish to lose his concentration." "And therefore didn't go out." "It was after watching him work, I understood... his stubbornness, his way of working, all that." "Doing exteriors we lunched together." "He wasn't at all like he was on set." "He was completely changed!" "He listened, smiling to Kinuyo Tanaka." "I told him "You are..."" ""a devil on set and an angel on location."" "Everybody roared." "He was entirely different." "After I found out why." "He was in love with Tanaka." "Many scenes were "one-scene, one-shot."" "In this scene, there was a lot of acting." "We rehearsed it all morning." "Camera and microphone placement was complicated." "Finally we were ready... to start shooting." "When he said, "Not yet!"" "I couldn't see why." "Going over it so often made our acting stale." "So he made us do it... all again, for that reason." ""Lady Musashino" 1951" ""The Life of Oharu" 1952" ""Even as a beggar she must be feminine."" ""Femininity reduced her to this."" ""Yet, she is still from a good family."" ""Your body movements must show that..."" ""and rise above the ordinary."" ""Throw your hatred in their faces."" "The Grave of Saikaku (author of "Oharu")" ""To understand that..."" ""you must know the violence of women."" "It sounds pretentious, yet I found it striking." "I think that without his own experiences... he could never have expressed through Oharu... the bitter struggle between a man and a woman." "Curiosity led him to eat things that gave him diarrhea." "On location... you could see by his walk he wanted to "go."" "One day he asked me to ask for the use of a bathroom... in a large villa." ""Go along, say it is for me."" "I went and they said they didn't know... who Mizoguchi was." "They lent him the bathroom however." "He slipped over saying, "You thank them for me."" "If he was timid in private life... once he began shooting... his boldness knew no limits." "He made unreasonable demands." "For the scene when Oharu runs off with the clerk..." "There wasn't a proper background for the scene." "So he decided to set it up... on the main road between Osaka and Kyoto." "So we built the set:" "Behind was a riverbank:" "Beyond, on the Yodo River... the sail of a ship appeared." "In the foreground we built a set." "There was a lot of traffic..." "But Mizoguchi insisted on shooting there... with his set." "The Osaka police said it was all right... on one condition, the set had to be built at night... and taken down the next morning... by 9 or 10 o'clock at the latest." "It was midwinter." "60 or 70 carpenters built the set at night." "They were shooting the scene... when Oharu and the clerk are captured... as they are eating." "After several trials Mizoguchi called me... to say we must move the set forward 2 metres." "I replied that... it was impossible." "But Mizutani agreed with Mizoguchi." "We went back to the police." "The next night, we rebuilt it... as he had asked." "We got up at 5, thinking to begin at 7." "We were lighting up the set... when he called me to say... the image wasn't right and that we must move back the set." ""The feeling isn't there" In such cases... he called over his closest collaborators..." "Mizutani, Arai and me and the discussion began... in front of the actors." "It never took place in private." "I knew it was all part of his way of directing." "These quarrels created tension." "Kusune Kainosho: painter" "He never left us alone." "As soon as we got home he would ring up... asking us to come back." "Weren't you also a dresser?" "Yes." "I designed costumes and dressed... the actors." "I improved costuming a lot." ""Ugetsu" 1953" "He had no intention of making... an anti-militarist film... but it was one in spite of him." "Women in wartime." "He wanted to depict this pure world... an atmosphere particular to Akinari Ueda ... author of "Ugetsu"." ""Ugetsu"" "No, I won't let you go." "Come, we'll go home together... now..." "You had the part of an enchantress in the film." "Machiko Kyo: actress" "He gave me a small part in '44 when I was still... working in a revue." "This was my second role with him since." "I wasn't afraid of him." "I struggled to do my best... with what he asked for... without being too tense." "Mori often acted with you?" "Quite often, yes." "A good combination?" "I don't know, but when I saw the rushes..." "I thought he was fantastic, like Tanaka and Mito." "I found myself childish." "The scene when Mori comes back after my death..." "I was a ghost but... the meeting with my husband had to be real... and that was very difficult." "Mori was a great actor." "I awaited the shooting of that scene... with both joy and anxiety." "We rehearsed and finally shooting began." "We did it." "After..." "Mori seldom smoked." "When you worked with Mizoguchi... we were so tense... and so absorbed in our work that no one had... the time to smoke." "When the scene was done, look who asks for a cigarette." "He is given one." "Realizing it was over I suddenly felt... quite faint." "Mori didn't have a match... and was looking for one." "Mizoguchi quickly came over... holding out his flaming lighter." "In 10 years no one had ever... seen him light an actor's cigarette." "And what is more, while we were shooting." "He hated that." "When he saw Mori's face lit by his lighter... what joy on Mizoguchi's face." "I never saw the like." "Perhaps I exaggerate... but it was the only time I saw him treat an actor with respect." "Kazuo Miyagawa: cameraman" "I met him when... his irritability and legendary aggressiveness... had given way to a profound gentleness." "For him a film was like a picture scroll... the successive, changing images depicting a story... that moved steadily forward." "Once the story is told, it should evoke... a feeling of indescribable satisfaction." "He wanted his films to be like that." "The fog is thick." "You see, it's a lake." "Beautiful isn't it?" "All goes well now." "We are safe." "The crew were in the icy water... hidden behind the boat pushing it." "They really worked hard." "And the camera?" "It was on a crane." "He wanted a subdued effect..." "with little contrast... as delicate as a Chinese ink painting." "It was difficult... and we didn't entirely get it." "We couldn't get a warm grey... and it was flat because of that." "From experience I knew... that in the case of black and white, the negative must be... slightly over developed to obtain... the effect we wanted, and shooting done... with little light... and, as far as possible towards sunset." "He let us rehearse ourselves... and left us alone... saying we should study the scene." "And Mori, Tanaka and I rehearsed." "Eitaro Ozawa: actor" "Although cameraman Miyagawa rehearsed with us..." "Mizoguchi would direct the actors without positioning... the camera which meant... changes during shooting." "Some actors can't achieve... a required pace or rhythm... in spite of their talent." "If they have that sense, it comes across quickly." "It isn't a question of ability... nor of talent, but temperament." "Harmonizing the actors' various rhythms is the director's problem." "To me the signature Mizoguchi films... are: "The Life of Oharu", "The Woman of Osaka"," ""Osaka Elegy"." "Films such as " A Story from Chikamatsu" and "Ugetsu" are... too refined to convey his real strength, I think." ""Gion Festival Music" 1953" "Ayako Wakao: actress" "It was useless to tell me I had a big part with him... as I was too inexperienced to understand." "Knowing this, he... no doubt was less hard on me." "Wakao's performance was superb." "Chieko Naniwa was also in the cast." "It seems that Mizoguchi was able to exude strength in a relaxed manner." "It's like a pitcher throws better when he is not tense." "I still remember every cut." ""Sansho the Bailiff" 1954" "I was his drinking friend." "We liked to talk about writers like Ogai Mori or..." "Akinari Ueda over a few drinks." "Mizoguchi had a lot of respect for you." "To tell the truth, I think he was irritated by me." "My themes were period and his contemporary..." "Was the idea for "Sansho the Bailiff" yours?" "To tell the truth, it was." "He scarcely knew about Mori." ""The Woman of Rumour" 1954" "" A Story from Chikamatsu" 1954" "Go back home." "Do you think I could live without you?" "You aren't a clerk." "You are my husband." "Forgive me!" "I shall never leave you." "Kyoko Kagawa: actress" "It was the first time I played a married woman... and I had to speak in Kyoto dialect." "I had never walked in a kimono with a train." "It was all new to me." "He entrusted me to Chieko Naniwa, the actress... who is no longer alive." "She had just built an inn but it hadn't... opened yet." "I begged her to teach me everything." "I moved into her inn, and taped the script..." "I borrowed the costume and learned how to walk in it." "Naniwa taught me everything." "Mizoguchi didn't give any advice." ""Go ahead, move about," he said." "I didn't know what to do." "I felt quite helpless." "I did as I was told, like a robot." "Never have I suffered as much." "I never worked so hard in my life." "Are you ready?" "Forgive me... for having made you... die for me." "What are you saying?" "I am happy to die with you." "It is our last hour, I shall be forgiven." "Before I die, I must... confess." "I have always... loved you." "Loved me?" "Yes... cling to me." "Lake Biwa at Katata, Ukimido Kenichi Okamoto" "It was extremely difficult." "We shot only one cut here." "One cut in the dusk..." "How much lighting did you use?" "About 50 kilos in total, I think." "He left the shots to cameramen and lighting technicians." "Mizoguchi did not order about lighting." "He didn't?" "No." "So cameraman Miyagawa and I worked out the shooting plans." "Yoshikazu Hayashi:" "Ukiyoe specialist" "Did he borrow prints?" "Yes, erotic prints for love scenes." "I can't recall our first meeting but... he didn't have any material on erotic habits of the past." "He asked me to... find prints he could study." "Principally for "New Tales of the Taira Clan" and..." "" A Story from Chikamatsu"." "I got together some old books and... old erotic... prints of the late 17th century... and I took them to him." "He used them for the boat scene... in "Chikamatsu"..." "Yes and also... for the scene when she enters his bedroom by mistake." ""The Empress Yang Kwei-Fei" 1955" "On the set he studied the dialogue... on a blackboard." "Then he looked it over again... correcting it all." "Saying, "this line is no good", or..." ""Here the feeling isn't right."" ""Kyo, don't say this line that way" he'd say,... red in the face." "I was paralyzed." "I couldn't... make the slightest gesture without thinking about it." "That happened every day... and for every take." "I was stiff as a board." "I swore I would never work with him again." "He hurt his back moving a water barrel... while shooting "The Woman of the Rumour"." "His back hurt... deep in the bones." "When he left for the USA... for "Yang Kwei-Fei", his back was in a cast." "When the cast came off, he felt better." "Did he have a nurse?" "Yes." "She went everywhere with him." "He lived alone." "He rented a room in a restaurant... near the Tokyo Daiei studios." "The restaurant made his meals." "It was the owner who found him the nurse." "He had just had the cast removed and was still quite weak." "She was a plump woman, about 30." "Was he intimate with her?" "I believe so." "Were you embarrassed by so many tests?" "During shooting I stumbled, but he did not stop the take." "I thought that strange..." "I realized I had made a mistake." "But he gave his OK." "I felt it odd that he would say I was doing well." "I knew he wanted to let me go..." "I didn't want to be a burden." "So I, myself, asked to be dismissed." "I was working with another crew... but I protested." "Sacking an actress is like giving a death blow to her career." "I told him, "How can you be so heartless?"" "He didn't mean any harm, I'm sure." "Perhaps not." "Being friends, it was..." "Yes, may be there were other reasons." "I had never heard of such a thing." "I told him, " An actress's life is at stake."" ""Why did you do it?"" "He replied, "I have another part for her." "The empress's sister."" "" As he left for America, producer Nagata told me..."" ""we must start shooting the 28th."" "I thought it would make things simpler... if I myself asked to be released." "It was the second time he changed actresses." "She was crying on the enormous set." "Seated all alone." "I went over to where she was weeping." ""Frankly speaking you were his boss..."" ""when he worked at Irie Productions."" ""You hired him as a director."" ""Instead of crying, pluck up your nerve."" ""Take a grip."" ""Be strong and fight back," I told her." "Mizoguchi had told her in front of everyone..." ""You can only play a cat-ghost." "You can't play a princess."" "At that time she was known for... her cat role in horror films." "He was a realist." "Yasuzo Masumura: director" "He could depict only the world and society and people he knew." "He was baffled doing "Yang Kwei-Fei"... or "The 4 7 Ronin"." "The samurais were easier going but not much." ""Yang Kwei-Fei" took place in Tang period China." "And not knowing anything..." "He was completely at sea." "He didn't know where to begin." "To hide his discomfort... he rebuilt the set and sacked the leading actress... while struggling to grasp the difficult theme." "As an assistant I can say he did nothing for 15 days." "Faced with a story he didn't understand, he wasn't afraid... to show his uneasiness and do whatever he liked." "It was just like him." "In fact it is the story of a noble who becomes empress." "He makes her a common woman who... goes to a market with the emperor." "That way he could deal with common people... with whom he was at home." "But it was just a desperate excuse." "And not the answer." "The scenario didn't work." "His suffering was dramatic." "Irie was just a minor victim... compared with all the others, like propmen etc." "Did his arrogance attract people?" "He was infantile, absurd, violent." "Never intimidated and imposed... his ideas shamelessly." "This directness is the mark of an artist." "He was incapable of lying." "So everyone put up with his shoddy quibbling." "Everyone understood and loved him." "They forgave him because he was a great director." "Was he an artist?" "Yes, I think so." "When he was sure of what he was doing, he was... quiet, didn't make a fuss about details and filmed." "If he didn't, he got... carried away, even lost in panic." "In location for "The Taira Clan", he was completely distracted." "Rather than directing the actors in the foreground, he worried... about those far away, hardly visible... running over shouting at them." "You see to what point he was distraught." ""New Tales of the Taira Clan" 1955" ""New Tales of the Taira Clan" 1955" ""Street of Shame" 1956" "I was just starting out... and knew nothing." "The life of those women was a mystery to me." "Mizoguchi taunted me so much... that I couldn't take any more... and my performance... was just a chance effect." "They stopped shooting because of me." "What grieved me most... was keeping the other actors waiting." "As my acting was poor, he said... even my face was wrong." "After work he loved to have a drink." "Once at dinner he said that alcohol had lost its appeal." "He must even then have been ill." "He often went into a drunken frenzy." "When he became high, he often lost reason." "I think that's why it happened." "Mizoguchi showed interest in women with... a miserable background." "Women at the bottom of society." "He had affairs with such women." "Then that woman was his type, too." "I think so." "He invited me to dinner." "Four of us had dinner together." "And the mistress would say things that would offend Mizoguchi's wife." "Mrs. Mizoguchi tried... to stay calm, but I could tell she was mad." "I could tell that Mrs. Mizoguchi was upset." "The atmosphere got tense." "Naturally, I'd say." "So I just kept silent, drinking sake." "Mizoguchi was not... he was not an insensitive man." "I think he sensed... what was going on." "Do you think he let such a crisis happen so as to use it for his work?" "Yes." "At least unconsciously." "Mizoguchi often surprised us that way." "Everything he did... contributed to his work." "Whether he suffered or had fun, the experience enriched his filming." "Venice Film Festival 1953" "Venice Film Festival 1953" "We traveled together one month." "In France... we went to the Louvre." "He paused before the Mona Lisa... and began to cry before us all." "He broke down... seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time." "Then there was also van Gogh!" "Point-blank, he said to Yoda and me: "Imagine that!"" ""For his art Gogh went mad."" ""To become a real artist..."" ""one must go that far."" ""I'm nothing compared to him."" "They say he prayed before a Buddhist painting." "He wanted the prize." "He was in his room." "I went to call him." "As there was no answer..." "I peeked in;" "I smelled incense in the air." "I told him I had come to get him, it was time." "He fixed me with a terrifying look." ""What day do you think it is?" he said." ""You roam about without caring."" "He began to curse at me." "I was aghast." "He added, "If I don't win the prize..."" ""I won't go back to Japan, I'll stay in Italy..."" ""and start all over."" "Although his films were always about women, they say... he never had a really great love affair." "What is the real truth?" "I really don't know even now." "I believe... and I was after all his friend... that he was in love with you." "I'm glad you have given me this chance to explain..." "It was serious for him." "You said... he never talked about himself while at work." "He was very shy as you know." "Although he may never have told you so... you were the great love of his life." "There you exaggerate." "Everyone made too much of it." "No, I am not joking." "Working with you... he admired you." "You went to see him just before he died?" "Of course." "You know how much he admired you, don't you?" "I'm happy to say... that for the cinema we were a couple." "It can't be denied." "When I say I knew nothing about him... you won't believe me... but I knew very little about his private life." "If he really felt for me... as you say, it was for the actress... who played Oharu or Ochika." "That is what I think... and not for Tanaka." "He loved through me... the women I played." "He was in love with them." "That I quite understand." "While shooting "The Life of Oharu"... he was terribly lonely." "He even asked me to dine with him... although it wasn't at all like him to invite people." "That day he said... half joking:" ""You know, I'm in love..."" ""with Tanaka." "What to do?"" "He was drunk, no?" "Not at all." "He told Ozu too and many others." "Whenever we met, Ozu loved to mention it." "I thought, "Oh dear!" "Not again."" "There was a reporter who believed the story." "He rang me for an interview." "When I asked why, he said," ""I heard a rumour that..."" ""you and Mizoguchi have decided to become engaged."" "I was astonished." ""That again!" I said." "I was still young." "I was the star of Mizoguchi's troupe." "That went with it." "Once again they were wrong about me." "The reporter came to my house." ""When is the big day?" he asked." ""I'm afraid you are mistaken," I said." "I was so tense..." "I said what popped into my head:" ""I love the way he directs, but..."" ""he isn't the right husband for me." That was... youthful impertinence." "That is what I said." "The reporter then rang Kyoto... and repeated it to Mizoguchi." ""The day is fixed but listen to what Tanaka said."" ""What do you make of it?"" ""She doesn't want me," he said." "He thought it, no?" "I admired his restraint." "I hurt him... and he did nothing back at me." "Mizoguchi could have said..." ""I never said that."" "He never told me he loved me." "It wasn't his style." "I don't know." "After that..." "I didn't know how to ask his forgiveness... for ages after." "Then I slowly... began to feel something for him." "Perhaps the time had come." "To say it now... is a bit odd, perhaps." "Had I loved him, I would have married him." "But I was rather old-fashioned still... and had some strange ideas about art." "I felt I hadn't the right to keep for myself alone... a great director whom everybody so admired." "I also feared that if we lived together... it wouldn't work out professionally." "And I didn't think I was capable of being the wife... of so difficult a man." "As a husband, obviously..." "He wasn't very amusing." "He was only interested in art." "That's perfect." "But he lacked humour." "Frankly... his daily life did not attract me." "He thought only about work." "It is like a western film..." "The husband works, his wife takes a lover." "To me he was that sort of man." "As you worked with him then... your affection grew?" "I kept my feelings separate." "I would do anything... to secure world-wide recognition for Mizoguchi." "That was my strongest wish." "There were as well many... difficult times for me during the 17 years of working together." "Because of his charm..." "I could, during and after the war, give up my family... without the slightest hesitation." "I put my entire life into his work." "My passion for work was unequalled." "Of course I had my pride as an actress... but I hoped above all... he would become one of the great men of world cinema." "I would like to say... if he really wished to make me his wife... it is because he thought of me as a woman... and not only as an actress." "Also, I can think of myself as a woman... worthy of the name, though I never married." "Don't you think so?" "He really loved Tanaka." "Once for a PR shot of the star and director... he dared only glance shyly at her costume." "After just this quick check... he blushed scarlet." "For a mere photo!" "The hell of shooting hadn't started yet." "Once that started, there was no blushing!" "I personally think he loved her." "But I don't know if Tanaka realized it." "She was a talented actress, but she failed to understand... how he felt about her." "She alone he loved." "With deep pure feeling." "She acted the roles of ideal women for him... but during the shooting he said things to her... that were scandalous." "Scenario of " An Osaka Story"" "I wish he could have made this last film." "It would have been... his greatest." "Death approached... the film was already planned in his head." "What a pity!" "It was dreadful to see him burdened with... suffering before he died." "May 1956, he falls ill and enters hospital in Kyoto." "I remember him very well..." "He was at top form... making his last films." "I am happy to have had the honour... to act in Mizoguchi's best films." "I regret he died just when... he hoped to completely change his way of life." "He longed to change it." "I can't say... too much." "He still has family alive." "But I must say that... the last years of his private life were not peaceful." "He wasn't happy." "He wanted to make a new start." "He really wanted to change completely." "Because of his illness he didn't succeed... but if he had lived 3 more years..." "I could hold my own... topics of general culture and learning... but not when faced with his unquenchable thirst... for truth and honesty." "He hated cheating of any kind." "I went to see him in hospital." "He knew what he liked in flowers." "Even one had to be carefully chosen." "It was the Feast of the Dead, and those flowers wouldn't do." "I went to see him at noon:" "it was the visiting hour." "I sat at his bedside." "He seemed pleased." "We didn't speak:" "like a real silent film." "We had nothing left to say." "I asked what was wrong with him." "He replied, "They don't know yet."" ""They are studying the test results," and..." ""I want to start working again soon."" "I remember his saying, "There is no place left..."" ""for another injection."" "It was dreadful to see him so I'd take... a drink before going." "One day he noticed... and asked why I was so jolly." "Did he know the end was near when... he blurted out," ""This is torture!"" "It was the only time." "As if he knew it was all over." "I had gone to a lot of trouble... to find something he really wanted." "He sat up in bed to thank me most sincerely." "I turned away so he couldn't see my tears." "I found it overwhelming." "Three days later he died." "I was ill." "They rang to say he was a little better." "As I too felt better I went to see him." "That evening... he died." "I was the only one there." "The others went home... believing him better." "What did he say?" "Almost nothing." "He suffered terribly." "I took his hand and said my name." "He stared at me... as if he wished to tell me something... and he died." "What did he want to say?" "Motohisa Ando: assistant director" "He took to writing and it became a will of sorts." "He wrote his impressions." "He described the last scene of " An Osaka Story"... and gave his opinions on a book of Yoda's poems... and said he wanted to work with us all again." "Writing this..." ""The chill of autumn already I want to work with you again."" "He broke into sobs." ""The chill of autumn already."" ""I want to work with you again."" "Mizoguchi would have said... of these remarks:" ""They are not mine." "Lies."" ""Dying man cannot be so sentimental."" "Mizoguchi's house no longer stands." "It has been replaced by a filling-station." "THE END"