Abstract/Summary

This paper reconsiders two giants of Japanese cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yosujirō Ozu, in light of the theatrical recourses they have resorted to, respectively in The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Zangiku monogatari, 1939) and Floating Weeds (Ukigusa, 1959). In these films, the languages of theatre and cinema are entangled through the adoption of the geidōmono genre, comprising films in which the protagonist is a professional in one of the Japanese traditional treatrical arts. Because kabuki and other similar forms are their own subject, the genre opens up for a self-reflexive discussion of the lengthy and arduous process of training a theatre actor has to go through, establishing, at the same time, a fascinating contrast with the film actor’s specific talent. Making room for some exquisite performances, The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums and Floating Weeds invite the spectator to appreciate the inner workings of theatre through a constant focus on the backstage that reveals the tyranny inherent in kabuki training, which in turn reflects the film director’s own autocratic behaviour. Thus, theatre and cinema find themselves suffused with the reality not only of the characters on stage, but by that of the actors’ lives themselves.