Naniwa Erejii (aka Osaka Elegy) (1936)

A young switchboard operator (Isuzu Yamada) is pressured into becoming the mistress of her boss (Benkai Shiganoya) in order help her wastrel father (Seiichi Takekawa) pay back the money he has embezzled. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, this film helped establish him as one of Japan's premier film directors. Narratively, it's not really all that different from some of the pre-code films done in Hollywood with Stanwyck or Crawford but it's certainly done with more artistry. A victim of circumstances, Yamada's heroine finds herself loathed by the very family she tried to help and turn her away. The film's grim final shot suggests her future seems assured and not in a positive way. Japan would not be completely "modern" until after WWII and in 1936, Japan was still traditional enough that Yamada's plight marked her that she would not be acceptable in a middle class society. I suppose in a way, Yamada's young woman is complicit in her own downfall but her ungrateful family all but force her decisions on her. With Yoko Umemura, Chiyoko Okura and Kensaku Hara.