Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki (When a Woman Ascends the Stairs) (1963)

100% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
92% of users liked it
(986 ratings)

Filmmaker Mikio Naruse takes a characteristic dour look at life in When A Woman Ascends the Stairs. The central character is a barmaid, who works day and night to avoid being thrown out into the street. She knows that, if she loses her job, the only profession open to her is the World's Oldest. But… More Filmmaker Mikio Naruse takes a characteristic dour look at life in When A Woman Ascends the Stairs. The central character is a barmaid, who works day and night to avoid being thrown out into the street. She knows that, if she loses her job, the only profession open to her is the World's Oldest. But when the worst happens, the barmaid learns to live with herself while compromising her values. The film's original title was Onna Ga Kaidan O Agaru Toki. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Mikio Naruse
Written By: Ryuzo Kikushima
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Jun 25, 1963 Limited
On DVD: Feb 20, 2007
Studio: Ryuzo Kikushima

Critic Reviews

Anthony Quinn, Independent
It's also elegantly shot and scored; all that's missing is a touch of humour.
, Total Film
A heartbreaker.
Tom Robey, Daily Telegraph
Sprint, don't walk, up those BFI steps to see it.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
The new retrospective of Mikio Naruse at London's BFI Southbank will do much to restore the reputation of a neglected Japanese director, and this 1960 film is a heartbreaking study, to be compared with Mizoguchi's Life of Oharu.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
Shot in luminous black and white cinemascope, this is an exquisitely understated study of the plight of a young woman in an unforgiving society.
Jamie Russell, Film4
The money-grubbing realities of late 1950s Tokyo make for riveting viewing in Naruse's naturalistic classic. These are no ordinary memories of a geisha.
Anna Smith, BBC
Patience will be rewarded.
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
A new classic.
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
Lustrously photographed in monochrome by Masai Tamai, this is essentially a Tokyo twist on Nights of Cabiria (1957), with Mikio Naruse and Hideko Takamine replacing Fellina and Masina's kooky optimism with a fatalistic humanism.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Even a casual viewing of When a Woman Ascends the Stairs shows what a gifted humanist Naruse was.
Keith Uhlich, Slant Magazine
Ascend to the beauties of Mikio Naruse.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Naruse creates an affecting scenario of modern Japanese society and the pitfalls a woman in such a patriarchal society must face.
Keith Uhlich, Slant Magazine
The final close-up-featuring Keiko smiling in lieu of tears-might be frozen, framed, and subtitled "Lady Sings the Blues."

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Keiko A

If you have seen it tell me you didn't have tears coming down throw this heartbraking film??? This classic is surely one of my top 30 and it's nothing short of neat and near perfect! I liked the way Hideko Takamine acts out her lines with such power and emotion. The style… More
If you have seen it tell me you didn't have tears coming down throw this heartbraking film??? This classic is surely one of my top 30 and it's nothing short of neat and near perfect! I liked the way Hideko Takamine acts out her lines with such power and emotion. The style of our director is their with the way she films it, and she tends to make more use of shadows for more reason one can see while watching. I liked every aspect of production and my final suggestion is SEE IT! (I may make a bigger review some day)
Stella D

this is my first experience of naruse and in fact his only film that's widely available in the u.s. this is a shame as i found it to be a masterpiece on the level of ozu or mizoguchi. it's interesting so many of their films revolve around female characters. meanwhile… More
this is my first experience of naruse and in fact his only film that's widely available in the u.s. this is a shame as i found it to be a masterpiece on the level of ozu or mizoguchi. it's interesting so many of their films revolve around female characters. meanwhile you'd be hard-pressed to find a single decent female character in most of kurosawa's work
danny d

a patient, emotional, and highly effective portrayal of the struggle of a virtuous woman in a not so virtuous world. the film features some of the great and familiar actors from this era of japanese cinema and just about every aspect of the film was performed well. the only real… More
a patient, emotional, and highly effective portrayal of the struggle of a virtuous woman in a not so virtuous world. the film features some of the great and familiar actors from this era of japanese cinema and just about every aspect of the film was performed well. the only real drawback was that the storyline with the main characters brother, a storyline i found myself very interested in, was the only storyline in the film not developed well. the main plot however was developed perfectly and the film gets its point across with beauty. overall an excellent film for any fan of good female leads or japanese cinema.
Luke B

My first Naruse film and certainly wont be my last. He bridges the gap between Ozu's dissection of Japanese women of the time and Kurosawa's entertainment values. A true beauty of a film it is funny, moving but never sentimental. Despite some dark turns the film always… More
My first Naruse film and certainly wont be my last. He bridges the gap between Ozu's dissection of Japanese women of the time and Kurosawa's entertainment values. A true beauty of a film it is funny, moving but never sentimental. Despite some dark turns the film always keeps it's feet on the ground and never becomes too depressing. The editing is faster paced than some of his peers and it is to Naruse's credit. A wonderfully detailed and fantastically portrayed film with a dozen performances worth a mention as well as some of the most beautiful actresses ever. Simply stunning.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs," Keiko(Hideko Takamine) is a widow who works as a hostess at the Lilac Bar in the Ginza Strip in Tokyo while desperately trying to hold onto her self-respect. Business has been off recently due to one of the big… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs," Keiko(Hideko Takamine) is a widow who works as a hostess at the Lilac Bar in the Ginza Strip in Tokyo while desperately trying to hold onto her self-respect. Business has been off recently due to one of the big spenders, Minobe(Eitaro Ozawa), bringing his business to a new bar run by Yuri(Keiko Awaji), one of Keiko's former co-workers. With a little help from her manager, Komatsu(Tatsuya Nakadai), she persuades him to return but that is not enough to turn the bar's fortunes around and she finds work at another bar. [/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Directed by Mikio Naruse, "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" is a poignant expose of the lives of the bar hostesses in the cutthroat Ginza Strip, overpopulated by bars, each going after the lucrative business dollar. Even though the hostess makes more than the average office girl, they have to spend a good deal of their salary on clothing and beauty treatments to forever appear young and pretty.(Keiko is nicknamed Mama due to her advanced age of thirty.) And their career(a none too respectable one) choices are limited to opening their own bar, marrying or becoming a mistress. Even owning a bar is fraught with peril. All of this lends insight into the general role of women in Japan at the time the film was made. The men are never home, spending their free time instead in the company of much younger women. Indeed, none of the wives make an appearance until the movie is almost over, one of which in an especially heartbreaking scene. [/font]