In Kyoto’s Shimabara area, the city’s historical entertainment district, the widowed Hatsuko runs a flourishing geisha house. Her daughter Yukiko returns there shortly after trying to take her own life because of an unhappy love affair. A young doctor with whom the mother is conducting a secret relationship falls in love with Yukiko and plans to move to Tokyo with her. Actress Kinuyo Tanaka shines in the role of the rejected lover, who is simultaneously a modern, pragmatic businesswoman and a worried mother.
(Arsenal Kino)