Melodrama directed by Shiro Toyoda takes a leisurely pace, almost too leisurely, in telling its story. A young girl (Hideko Takamine) is edged into becoming a usurer’s mistress by poverty. The usurer (Eijiro Tono) lies to her about his place in society and even his marital status in order to seduce her. While she comes to loathe her situation, her father, having become accustomed to the niceties her position has entitled him to, urges her to remain in her situation. A chance meeting with a medical student (Hiroshi Akutagawa) offers a possible way out but she is hesitant to act on it. While one sympathizes at first with her situation, she seems too complacent, too resigned to be a victim of a patriarchal society. If she won’t help herself, how are we to empathize with her. While the character may be annoying, Takamine’s performance is masterful. In the hands of a lesser actress, I might have long since given up caring. The obvious soundstage sets actually work in the film’s favor, giving it an almost dreamlike quality. The score by Ikuma Dan is quite good.
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