The Garden of Women
The Garden of Women (Japanese: 女の園, rōmaji: Onna no Sono) is a 1954 Japanese drama film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita and written by Kinoshita and the novelist Tomoji Abe, based on a 1953 novel by the latter.
The Garden of Women | |
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Directed by | Keisuke Kinoshita |
Based on | Jinkō Teien (人工庭園) (A Fake Garden) by Tomoji Abe |
Starring | Mieko Takamine Hideko Takamine Keiko Kishi |
Color process | black and white |
Production company | |
Running time | 141 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Plot
The story takes place in a girls' boarding school with traditional, conservative and somewhat repressive values and policies enforced by strict academic and domestic staff. The adolescent pupils hold more modern, post-war views and would like the conditions at the school to be updated, and consequently to some extent end up rebelling against the school administration, although the latter authoritatively retains control of the situation.
Themes
Writers on Japanese film have noted the film's contrast between the traditional, feudalistic Japan represented by the educational establishment, and the emerging, more democratic post-war values seen in the pupils; as well as commenting favourably on Kinoshita's treatment of adolescent girls' emotional problems in this context.[1][2]
Awards
The film received the 1954 Mainichi Film Awards for Best Director, Screenplay, Supporting Actress, Music and Sound Recording, as well as the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Screenplay.
Cast
- Mieko Takamine — Mayumi Gojô
- Hideko Takamine — Yoshie Izushi
- Keiko Kishi — Tomiko Takioka
- Yoshiko Kuga — Akiko Hayashino
- Takahiro Tamura — Sankichi Shimoda
- Masami Taura — Yoshikazu Sagara
- Chieko Higashiyama — Schoolmaster
- Kikue Mori — President
References
- Anderson, Joseph (1982). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. Princeton University Press. p. 293. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- McDonald, Keiko (2000). From Book to Screen: Modern Japanese Literature in Films. M.E. Sharpe. p. 50. Retrieved 10 July 2020.