Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki

English title: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Also known as: Quand une femme monte l'escalier

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Hideko Takamine (Keiko Yashiro, aka ‟Mama”), Masayuki Mori (Nobuhiko Fujisaki), Reiko Dan (Junko Inchihashi), Tatsuya Nakadai (Kenichi Komatsu, the manager), Daisuke Katô (Matsukichi Sekine), Ganjirô Nakamura (Goda, a customer), Eitarô Ozawa (Minobe, another customer), Keiko Awaji (Yuri)

Director: Mikio Naruse

Screenplay: Ryûzô Kikushima

Release: 1960

Studio: Toho Company

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.4/10

Part Friend, Part Wife, Part Lover… and Some Kind of Slave

QuickView

Story-line: like 16,000 other women in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Keiko works as a hostess in a bar. Although she’s been doing it for years, there’s nothing she hates more than climbing those stairs to the Lilac where she entertains businessmen at great personal risk.

Pluses: strong acting by the radiant Hideko Takamine and a credible cast, a subtle and well-developed screenplay in which even minor characters are essential, splendid cinematography, seamless direction and a jazzy musical theme suited to the subject matter. 

Minuses: some of the dialogues may seem ineffectual but they do serve a purpose. The story loses some momentum early in the third act (when dealing with Keiko’s family problems) but picks up nicely afterwards and ends on a surprising note.

Comments: WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS is a mature and uncompromising portrait of ladies leading a precarious life. Although not exposed to violence like sex workers often are, these hostesses face moral ambiguity, financial pressures, sexual dilemmas and emotional tailspins. As Keiko knows only too well, ‟Aging is hard on a woman.” How true, how very true…  

MBiS

© 2018 – All rights reserved

Pianist (The) 

Genre: war drama  

With: Adrien Brody (Wladyslaw Szpilman), Frank Finlay (his father), Maureen Lipman (his mother), Ed Stoppard (his brother Henryk), Emilia Fox (Dorota), Michal Zebrowski (Jurek), Thomas Kretschmann (Hosenfeld)

Director: Roman Polanski

Screenplay: Ronald Harwood (based on Wladyslaw Szpilman’s book)

Release: 2002

Studio: R.P. Productions, Heritage Films, Studio Babelsberg, Runteam Ltd. et al.  

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.3/10

‟[God] wants us to survive. Well, that's what we have to believe.”

QuickView

Story-line: in September 1939, Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman and his family look on in despair as German forces invade their country. Their hope is rekindled when England declares war on Hitler’s Third Reich… but hope alone won’t alleviate the horrors they face daily.   

Pluses: an evenly professional cast led by Adrien Brody (an Oscar and César winner as Wladyslaw), strong direction and production values, a realistic screenplay capped by a memorable ending. 

Minuses: none I can think of.

Comments: although THE PIANIST does encroach upon SCHINDLER’S LIST early on as it describes the plight of the Jewish population of Poland, it diverges at some point to focus on one family and one atypical hero. As proof of its quality and universal value, this drama has drawn accolades in North America (other Oscars for direction and for adapted screenplay and also nominations for best picture, cinematography, costume design and film editing), in Great Britain (two BAFTAs), in Cannes (the Palme d’or) and in France (seven Césars overall).  

MBiS

© 2018 – All rights reserved