Patterns of time : Mizoguchi and the 1930s / Donald Kirihara.

Kirihara, Donald. "Sisters of the Gion." Patterns of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1992. 116-136.

Donald Kirihara's book contains background on Mizoguchi's style as well as criticism (largely formalist) of four of his films. Kirihara believes that Sisters of the Gion stands out from Mizoguchi's other films about geisha by contrasting the lives of two different woman. Kirihara spends time focusing on how the parallels in the narrative emphasize the conflict between men and women. He states that this also allows the viewer to focus on the static nature of both Umekichi and Omocha, both of whom, at the end of the movie, rearticulate beliefs previously stated at the film's beginning. He also discusses the film's problematic final scene: does the end enhance or take away from the overall message film?

Kirihara fails to adequately answer that question, simply pointing out the structural elements in the narrative to show how the final scene brings the movie full-circle. However in order to address that, it is important to consider the parallels that run throughout the narrative of the film. By intertwining the story of Umekichi and Furosawa with those of Omocha and the three men whom she interacts with, Mizoguchi pushes the spectator to draw an implicit comparison between the two sisters. This narrative structure suggests that the main focus of the film is actually Umekichi rather than Omocha. Yet if the close-ups in the film's final scene cause the viewer to identify emotionally with Omocha, why is this so?

Because it is Furosawa's bankruptcy that sets the film in motion, it would seem that Mizoguchi would like us to focus on Umekichi's traditional values. Following this, Omocha's role in the film (at least until the final film) is to offer an alternative line of thinking. Every action that Umekichi takes in order to further her relationship with Furosawa can be compared with a step that Umekichi takes to further her position (following the scene where Umekichi learns what Omocha told Furosawa, Kudo's wife learns that Kudo has become Omocha's patron). If the viewer is focused on Umekichi's relationship with Furosawa--which when not tampered with by others, flourishes--Furosawa's eventual departure is that much more powerful. This brings the viewer to the conclusion that Umekichi's traditional values have failed her.

If that is the case, then what is the viewer supposed to turn to? This is the role of the final scene that Kirihara fails to address. It is Omocha who receives the attention at the end of the film. While she may be recovering from an injury caused by her manipulation of men, it is her attitude towards men that is restated strongly. While Umekichi is meek and depressed, Omocha's experiences have re-energized her desire to overcome the geisha's subservience to men. While she is indeed tormented by her injury, the final close-up leaves us confident that she will eventually triumph.

So while the final scene does restate the themes of the beginning of the film, it shifts the focus of the spectator to suggest the dominance of one view (Omocha's modernity) over another.

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Patterns of time : Mizoguchi and the 1930s / Donald Kirihara.