• Yoshiwara, 4/7/18 (Sat)

A French-language piece of Japonisme made in 1937 (when Japan was already well at war in Asia) by Max Ophüls. The film is set in Tokyo in the Meiji years, when foreigners have become a not-uncommon presence. Kohana, born into an aristocratic family, is forced humiliatingly by circumstances to sell herself to a brothel in the still-active red light district Yoshiwara, where the girls are now being taught how to give greetings in English, French and such to welcome foreign business. The servant Isamu (spelled Ysamo in the subtitles, but that’s too ridiculous), who delivers her by rickshaw to the brothel, loves her and is desperate to win her over despite the impossible difference in social status, even with her decline into prostitution. Unfortunately a rival emerges in the form of a Russian officer, who begins an intense affair with Kohana. Much to Isamu’s misery, she and the officer are soon deeply in love. The jealous servant gets involved in a scheme by the authorities to entrap the officer, who, it turns out, is in Japan on a secret military mission. Isamu’s actions, however, unwittingly put the girl herself in danger, and things quickly spiral out of control.

The story, while undeniably melodramatic, is densely plotted with plausible situations and realistic characters. The Japanese setting serves mainly as exotica rather than an exploration of clashing cultures, and verisimilitude is not the film’s strong point – only the two main Japanese characters, Michiko Tanaka (Kohana) and Hayakawa Sesshu (Isamu), are even Japanese, the remainder played by Caucasians in unconvincing makeup. The song she sings, asking the wind to stay away so that the officer’s boat won’t come back for him, is attractive but not remotely Japanese, which seems to throw away an ideal opportunity. Still, the film never lapses into a Butterfly-like portrayal; Kohana is given real motivations and presented sympathetically. There’s an amusing bit when the officer tries to give her an idea of the glories that await her in Europe, where she sits on the floor rather than the chair provided and asks about opera, but otherwise the cultural issues are brushed aside. (The Japanese government evidently wasn’t as sanguine; they were reportedly furious with the way the brothels were depicted and branded the two leads as traitors.)

The acting is excellent all around, including solid portrayals by all three principals. Hayakawa was especially evocative in his unrequited longing for his mistress. The photography and lighting are atmospheric, and the director avoids overkill for the most part and keeps the film moving at a steady clip. I imagine this kind of Japanesque couldn’t be made today, but luckily those were simpler times. Very watchable and enjoyable.