Gion No Shimai (aka Sisters Of The Gion) (1936)

Two sisters working as geishas in a working class district are quite different in their outlook on their profession and men. One sister (Isuzu Yamada) sees men as predators who use women and discard them at their convenience while the other sister (Yoko Umemura) is more traditional in her acquiescence to the patriarchal culture. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, this is an unsparing look at a society that offers women few acceptable choices, the Madonna or the whore syndrome if you will. While the sisters follow different paths, one defiant in her refusal to bow down to men and the other defers to their dominance, both end up victims. Normally, the calculating sister who uses men to her advantage would be seen as the "bad" sister while the sweet polite sister would be seen as the "good" sister. But I found Yamada's character an unsentimental realist, someone who refuses to be a toy to men except on her own terms while I found Umemura's sister complicit in her own victimization. One of Mizoguchi's best! With Benkei Shiganoya, Fumio Okura and Eitaro Shindo.