Director Naruse returns in this film to his favorite theme-working-class women who must choose among options that aren't very palatable. As would be expected, these goals are difficult to accomplish for a woman in her situation. (Even though Keiko, as Mama-San, has some authority over the other women, the real power resides in the male owner of the bar and his manager.) The plot of the film resolves around the choices the protagonist must make as she attempts to achieve some measure of happiness and financial stability. It's a job, and her options as a woman are limited in the Japanese male-dominated society. Although Keiko doesn't hate her work, she doesn't enjoy it either. The title "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" refers to Keiko's thoughts as she climbs the stairs that lead to the bar at which she works. These women have a fairly good income, but they usually don't have much cash, because they are expected to live and dress fashionably, and most of their money goes for rent or clothes. In fact, Keiko has been celibate since the death of her husband. The role of the bar hostess is to flatter the male customers and provide company, but not sex. Geishas still wear the traditional costume, whereas the bar hostesses are dressed in western fashion. As portrayed in the movie, bar hostesses are neither geishas nor prostitutes. Geishas do appear briefly in the movie, but Keiko is actually a bar hostess. Although the IMDb plot summary says that Keiko is a geisha, that isn't accurate. Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki (1960), directed by Mikio Naruse, was shown in the United States under the title "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs." The film stars Hideko Takamine, Naruse's muse, as Keiko, the Mama-San of a Tokyo bar. The stairs she must climb each night to her bar become a symbol both of her triumphant determination and her personal tragedy.
The worst go home with their customers." As Keiko struggles financially to help her aging mother, her brother who must pay a lawyer to stay out of prison, and her nephew who needs an operation, she knows that she would be better off if she would relax her standards, but she will not compromise her integrity. In another sequence she muses, "Around midnight Tokyo's 16,000 bar women go home. Backed by a cool jazz score that evokes the mood of Tokyo streets in the early evening, she contemplates how most women in Tokyo are going to their home when her work is first starting. The film complements the dramatic action with Keiko's inner dialogue. Nonetheless, she is crushed when she learns that he has been transferred to Osaka. Fujisaki that she loves him but promised her husband she would not remarry. She receives a marriage proposal from Mr. Each relationship starts out with promise but each leads to severe disappointment. Of the many men in her life, three monopolize her attention: Mr.
#Dreamy days in west tokyo ryuzo 10 years later review upgrade
Keiko is a graceful and charming woman who wears a traditional kimono but is under pressure by her devoted manager Kenichi Komatsu (Tatsuya Nakadai) to modernize her wardrobe and upgrade her living arrangements to keep up with growing Western influences. Hideko Takamine is unforgettable as Keiko, the beleaguered hostess who is affectionately called "mama" by the younger barmaids. It is both a depiction of one woman's courage and perseverance and a commentary on the limited opportunities for women in Japan with little education or family connections. Mikio Naruse's When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is an exquisite character study about a woman caught in a trap of financial obligations who is forced to perform a job she dislikes in order to stay afloat. She could open her own bar but this would require financial help from clients and perhaps favors she is unwilling to give, or she could get married, but that would mean breaking a vow to her late husband that she would never love another man. Widowed Tokyo bar hostess Keiko is in her thirties and thinking about her limited choices.
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