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The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

1939 · 144 min

A slow, deeply moving tragedy about art and sacrifice, unfolding with quiet, devastating emotional power.

Overview
In late 19th-century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that the praise he receives is only due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully joins him.
Free in the UK
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • romanticstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • ambition
  • love
  • betrayal
  • art
  • grief
Places
  • big city
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
None
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language none
  • Violence mild
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror0
Humour2
Realism9
Romance6
Tension4
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight9

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Where to watch in the UK

Free
  • Plex

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
romance, drama
Directed by
Kenji Mizoguchi
Written by
Yoshikata Yoda, Matsutarō Kawaguchi
Starring
Shōtarō Hanayagi, Kakuko Mori, Kōkichi Takada, Kinnosuke Takamatsu, Gonjurô Kawarazaki, Benkei Shiganoya, Kikuko Hanaoka, Nobuko Fushimi
Music
Senji Ito, Shiro Fukai
Cinematography
Yozô Fuji, Shigeto Miki
Runtime
144 min
Country
Japan
Languages
Japanese

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