The Woman in the Rumor

"When will there be no more need for girls like us?"

Once again Mizoguchi Kenji showed the plight of “geishas” in The Woman in the Rumor. It starred Tanaka Kinuyo as the owner of a relatively high-end, low-end brothel and the mother of a daughter who resented the family business.

Hatsuko has brought her daughter, Yukiko, home from Tokyo. After her boyfriend broke ties with her due to her mother’s business, Yukiko attempted suicide. At first Yukiko was hostile and cold toward her mother, the women, and the doctor who looked over the "geishas.” She came to fully realize how the money her mother spent on her education and living expenses was earned. The geishas weren’t morally bankrupt, rather girls from poverty-stricken farm families with few career opportunities. What Yukiko didn’t know was that the same doctor who had taken a romantic interest in her had also been romantically involved with her mother for some time.

Other than the problem with the doctor being an opportunistic jerk, a female character once again found herself in the unenviable position of being older than the man she was involved with. Tanaka was 11 years older than Nakamura Jakuemon IV (aka Otani Tomoemon) who was 11 years older than Kuga Yoshiko. Of course, the latter pairing was not the horrific societal hurdle that the former was. While Hatsuko had the audacity to fall in love with a younger man, her business was also not honorable enough for a penniless and ethically challenged doctor. Mizoguchi liked to show women suffering and poor Hatsuko’s ego took a merciless beating.

The geishas in the house were shown caring for each other even as they bemoaned their pitiful pay. Mizoguchi didn’t delve into the darker side of prostitution and the toll it took on a woman’s mind and body. He did, however, have a character lament the sad cycle of young girls entering the profession as others aged out, all for the pleasure of men. It also showed how few opportunities there were for a girl or woman to provide for herself and/or her family. This film primarily focused on Hatsuko and her relationship with her daughter. The rift between them could only be healed with Yukiko coming to understand her widowed mother’s position and feelings.

The Woman in the Rumor was the last film Tanaka would make with Mizoguchi, in part because he died a few later and in greater part because he tried to thwart her from becoming a director. This film ultimately worked for me as mother and daughter learned the valuable lesson, 'sisters before misters' or 'mothers and daughters before calculating doctors with wandering eyes and hands syndrome.'

"...most men hold questionable views."


1 June 2025

This film is also known as The Woman of Rumour

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