A popular novel by SosekiNatsume is the source for this ornately complicated story of desire and ambition.The beautiful Fujio is engaged to a rising young diplomat, but falls in love withOno, her English tutor, who is attracted by her beauty and wealth but who in turnis bound by an engagement to Sayoko, the virginal daughter of his mentor,Professor Inoue. A gold watch heirloom promised and rejected becomes the cipherfor love of impure motivations. Though he enjoyed a lavish budget on thispicture, the film flopped. But it was occasion to experiment, as critics havenoted, with European-style dramatic editing. Noë;l Burch: "It is as ifMizoguchi felt the need to give the Western mode one serious, thorough-going trybefore striking out resolutely in his own,Japanese!nbsp;direction."