女が階段を上る時 (aka When A Woman Ascends The Stairs) (1960)

A young widow (Hideko Takamine) is a hostess at a bar in the Ginza district in Tokyo. As she turns 30, she decides that she wants to open her own bar but she is not financially secure enough to do it on her own. So, she attempts to secure loans from some of her more affluent patrons. Directed by Mikio Naruse, this is a touching investigation of a woman in post war Japan attempting to demonstrate her autonomy in a patriarchal society where women are looked on as either wife material or sexual objects like geishas, mistresses or bar girls. Takamine's heroine attempts to straddle the line between the two but eventually, her choice is taken from her and fate will decide. One can't help but empathize with her struggle to maintain independence while still dealing with the need for a human connection. Takamine is marvelous here, really terrific and she gets some solid support from Tatsuya Nakadai as her account manager who's secretly in love with her. The score is by Toshiro Mayuzumi (REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE) and the B&W Tohoscope images are by Masao Tamai (GOJIRA). With Masayuki Mori, Reiko Dan and Daisuke Kato.