Mizoguchi's Sansho Dayu (Masters of Cinema Trailer)

Based on an ancient legend, as recounted by celebrated author Mori Ogai (in his short story of the same name, written in 1915), and adapted by Japanese director Mizoguchi Kenji, Sansho Dayu is both distinctively Japanese and as deeply affecting as a Greek tragedy. Described in its opening title as "one of the oldest and most tragic in Japan's history", Mizoguchi depicts an unforgettably sad story of social injustice, family love, personal sacrifice, and fateful tragedy.


Set in Heian era (11th century) Japan, it follows an aristocratic woman, Tamaki (played by Tanaka Kinuyo, who also stars in Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari), and her two children, Zushio (Hanayagi Yoshiaki) and Anju (Kagawa Kyoko), who are separated by feudal tyranny from Tamaki's husband. When the children are kidnapped and sold into slavery to the eponymous "Sansho" (Shindo Eitaro), the lives of each of the family members follow very different paths -- each course uniquely, and insufferably, tragic.


Famed for its period reconstructions and powerful imagery, often through the director's trademark long takes, Sansho Dayu is one of the most critically revered of all of Mizoguchi's films, and a classic of world cinema, often cropping up in lists of the greatest films ever made. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present -- together with the lesser known Mizoguchi feature film Gion Bayashi, produced the year before Sansho Dayu, and presented here on DVD in the UK for the very first time -- this landmark film of exquisite tone and purity of emotion. Available from Eureka Entertainment www.eurekavideo.co.uk

• Category

  Film & Animation

[Ashakotan]

This film brings tears to my eyes. It is of another world. It really sums up the greatness of the mother.

[zyuv]

Very very moving story.Magical acting. Certainly one of the best films of  all times.

[sodr2]

above all, incredible

[Benjamin Bailey]

What is the other film you place above this one?

[mizofan]

The peak of cinema

[mizofan]

To be as good as Mizoguchi would take the greatest director in the history of cinema

[shadowwarrior03]

Brilliant film - the enslavement scenes were disturbing though.

[camelia1999]

o mg

[Seanuk]

why cant your work be as good as his?