In 1939, probably under pressure from anincreasingly watchful military government, Mizoguchi turned away from his"social tendency" films of the mid-thirties to the Meiji period drama,which allowed him to develop a favorite theme-the problem of femaleself-sacrifice-under the guise of romantic fiction. In a famous quote, he spokeof the appeal of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), to which he was repeatedly drawnthroughout his career: "Let us say that a man like me is always tempted bythe climate of beauty in this era." Based on a fictionalized account of thelife of a kabuki actor who owes his artistic development to his lover'sencouragement and ultimate self-sacrifice, this film marks a peak in Mizoguchi'sart. It is his first use of the one-shot/one-scene approach tomise-en-scène-long mobile shots that "create a delicately artificialmesh of cross-rhythms and modulations" (Tony Rayns, NFT).