Title: The Life of Oharu (Criterion Collection)

Format: DVD

Label: Criterion Collection

Genre: Foreign-Japanese, Drama

UPC: 715515107419

Release Date: 2013

A peerless chronicler of the soul who specialized in supremely emotional, visually exquisite films about the circumstances of women in Japanese society throughout it's history, Kenji Mizoguchi had already been directing movies for decades when he made THE LIFE OF OHARU in 1952. But this epic portrait of an inexorable fall from grace, starring the incredibly talented Kinuyo Tanaka (THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA) as an imperial lady-in-waiting who gradually descends to street prostitution, was the movie that gained it's director international attention, ushering in a new golden period for him.