Zangiku Monogatari (aka The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum) (1939)

Set in 19th century Japan, a young Kabuki actor (Shotaro Hanayagi) lives in the shadow of his adopted father (Gonjuro Kawarazaki), a famous and well respected Kabuki actor. A wet nurse (Kakuko Mori) employed by the household encourages him and becomes his muse to the consternation of the family. When his mother (Benkei Shiganoya) dismisses the girl, he abandons the family to seek her out and eventually makes her his wife. Based on the novel by Shofu Muramatsu and directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (UGETSU). The film is greatly admired but I just had a difficult time getting into it. I realize the film is set in 19th century Japan but films about female sacrifice for men grate against my 21st century feminist sensibilities. Fortunately, Mizoguchi seems sincere rather than manipulative so the sentimentality is tolerable but the tearjerking finale left me feeling distanced and dry eyed. Technically, the film is impressive with its long takes and authentic atmosphere of the Kabuki theater and Hanayagi is splendid as the struggling actor although I hungered for some close ups. And unless I missed something, the film's title perplexes me since chrysanthemums are never mentioned in the film unless it refers to the sacrificing heroine. To be fair, the transfer I saw was pretty poor in spite of Criterion's claim that it's a restored 4K digital transfer, one can only imagine what it looked like prior to being restored (I've seen better looking public domain prints) so perhaps I would have enjoyed it more in a better print.