Chikamatsu Monogatari · reception & legacy

1954 · Kenji Mizoguchi

How Chikamatsu Monogatari has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

In 1954 it was the 'other' Mizoguchi — released the same year as Sansho the Bailiff and overshadowed by his Venice-conquering run of Oharu, Ugetsu and Sansho. Decades later, helped along by restorations, cinephiles routinely argue it belongs right beside them.

What's debated

The perennial fan debate: is this actually the most underrated film of Mizoguchi's 1950s streak — as good as Ugetsu and Sansho — or a tier below the acknowledged masterpieces?

Its footprint

It circulates in English under the blunt title The Crucified Lovers, and the image of two doomed lovers riding calmly to their fate has become one of the most cited 'transcendent ending' moments in classic Japanese cinema.

Where it stands

A canon climber and cinephile deep cut — the Mizoguchi that fans who've done Ugetsu and Sansho recommend to prove their credentials.

★ Did you know? It's adapted from a 1715 puppet play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon — the dramatist the title salutes — written in an era when adultery in Japan really was punishable by crucifixion, which is where the English title comes from.