This is the story of anillicit love between a merchant's wife and her husband's servant in the days whenthe punishment for adultery was crucifixion. Here Mizoguchi is at his mostpainterly, particularly in the two processions which frame the film, and in thescenes of the lovers' flight from their pursuers. Chikamatsu'sseventeenth-century puppet play was based on an actual event, which also servedas the basis for a story by Saikaku that provides many of the film's mostimportant elements. But Mizoguchi and screenwriter Yoda make significantdepartures from their famous sources. For Chikamatsu, the point is fatality; forSaikaku, the violation of the social order, which he condemns despite hissympathy for the outlaws. For Mizoguchi, the lovers are right in the tradition ofthe romantic outlaw couple; Osan and Mohei are only a gun barrel away from suchfilm noir protagonists as Bowie and Keechie or Bonnie and Clyde.-Peter Scarlet