The movie is about dramatic tale of a girl from noble samurai family at the service of Imperial Court in Kyoto, who fells in love with a man from a lover rank, and with her love unleashes the calamities emanating from conservative Japanese society and fate. After her fault was discovered she and her family were exiled and her beloved got executed for his transgression. Before his execution he sends Oharu a message instructing her to be happy with a man she would love and not to submit to the authority of the feudal structure by surrendering herself to the dictum of society. With the combined forces of society and fate Oharu experiences most tragic things that may befall on a woman. She gets sold as a concubine to a noble court to breed a heir for the Lord, then her son was taken away from her and she was dismissed. Later in order to pay his debts her father sells her into Shimabara to be a courtesan. Afterwards she was forced to prostitution and once lady at imperial court Oharu's calamitous life of ends up as a beggar. So we see a steep fall of a woman from top of the society to the bottom. However she stays loyal to the request of her beloved all the time she was forced to surrender her body, but she keeps her soul. In this utterly materialistic and cruel world, with its stunning means of subjugation she rejects all these values. Oharu rejects going to house of Lord as a commodity although she may well gain her lost status and favor of the Lord there. She cries only when her son was taken away from her, she cries when her fan maker husband gets killed, etc. For e.g. when she was living in destitute as a prostitute her mother comes and brings her good news that the Lord wants to live with her. Her mother also puts emphasis on material aspects of this news, whereas this only instigates hope in Oharu for a chance to meet her son but for nothing else in material terms. But again it comes out that she was summoned for the shame she brought to the royal court and she was convicted to be exiled. They do not give her a chance to meet her son. She runs away and ends her tumultuous career as a beggar.
So, Mizoguchi represents life of a woman who was made subject to customs of utterly materialistic and oppressive feudalistic society. In a sense Oharu emerges as a victorious from this struggle, she keeps what her first beloved asked from her. But she is not represented as an active actor struggling and showing resistance. She is very passive, submissive and docile. So her victory is not in material sense. She experiences a downfall from the highest rank of being lady at imperial court to be a concubine at a lover court, and then she becomes a courtesan, then a prostitute and ends up as a beggar. But alongside with this fall there is rise of Oharu in idealistic terms with her denial and defiance in the face of this materialistic dictum. She never surrenders to and internalizes the values of the society she lives in. So this fall in materialist terms is accompanied with the rise of her soul with its lofty values. In this sense it is meaningful that she ends up as a beggar which can be seen as total rejection of material life.
Lastly, it is interesting that events are not presented from the point of view of Oharu. Neither it is from the other feudalistic side. Actually Oharu herself is a passive actor. It is more like an objective camera representing us a tale of a women. This respect of the movie makes it one sui generis among many others that were shot on the similar topics.
So, Mizoguchi represents life of a woman who was made subject to customs of utterly materialistic and oppressive feudalistic society. In a sense Oharu emerges as a victorious from this struggle, she keeps what her first beloved asked from her. But she is not represented as an active actor struggling and showing resistance. She is very passive, submissive and docile. So her victory is not in material sense. She experiences a downfall from the highest rank of being lady at imperial court to be a concubine at a lover court, and then she becomes a courtesan, then a prostitute and ends up as a beggar. But alongside with this fall there is rise of Oharu in idealistic terms with her denial and defiance in the face of this materialistic dictum. She never surrenders to and internalizes the values of the society she lives in. So this fall in materialist terms is accompanied with the rise of her soul with its lofty values. In this sense it is meaningful that she ends up as a beggar which can be seen as total rejection of material life.
Lastly, it is interesting that events are not presented from the point of view of Oharu. Neither it is from the other feudalistic side. Actually Oharu herself is a passive actor. It is more like an objective camera representing us a tale of a women. This respect of the movie makes it one sui generis among many others that were shot on the similar topics.