Author: Bryan Loomis
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is a stunning film about the work conditions and social pressures that a bar hostess faces in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Films like this from the 60s are rare, and the ones we do get rarely stick the landing with conviction. This one does. Keiko doesn’t end up with either of her love interests, and she doesn’t get rescued from the oppression she faces by the goodness of a system or an outside party. She just goes back to work.
The social norms and rules of bars in the Ginza district were entirely new to me. Rich male patrons frequent bars that have hostesses they desire, and those relationships can turn into sex work for the hostesses. Keiko resists this throughout the film, as she is wanting to honor a vow she made to her deceased husband. Hostesses also have the possibility to purchase their own bar if they can get enough patrons to pledge funds. Debts and financial pressure are common, as all money is flowing from the patrons into the ecosystem. Hostesses are expected to spend heavily on themselves to maintain appearances.
The film does a great job of throwing you into the world and explaining situationally how things work rather than using expository dialogue. It’s also great at showing you the devastating effects of this world. Hostesses commit suicide, get raped, develop ulcers, go bankrupt. Particularly powerful is the character of Yuri, a former employees of Keiko who borrow heavily from patrons to open her own bar, struggles to make a profit, and plans a faked suicide to dodge collectors, only to take too many sleeping pills in the attempt and die. A patron’s employee shows up at her funeral demanding to be paid back. Brutal stuff.
It’s stylized brutality, though, as this film borrows some film language from noirs: primarily, narration and soundtrack. Another Mikio Naruse movie I’ve seen, Drifting Clouds, borrowed heavily from melodrama. That didn’t work as well for me, but in this one the noir stylings are really effective. Even though it doesn’t really use a lot of plot beats that you’d see in a noir, it has the attitude of a noir, and that attitude serves its thematic material well. The narration is really strong, sometimes giving exposition when the viewer needs to understand how the Ginza district ecosystem works, and sometimes giving Keiko’s perspective on events.
All in all, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is a strong humanist film that puts power, wealth, sex, and gender under the microscope. There’s no false resolution or shoehorned-in ending that reverses the power of the themes developed throughout the film. If anything, the messaging becomes more pointed as the movie goes on. It makes you feel the weight of the systems of power that oppress women like Keiko, and gives you no reprieve.
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