Watch 'When a Woman Ascends the Stairs' Online Streaming (Full Movie)

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

1960, Movie, 1h 51min

WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse’s finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo’s very modern postwar Ginza district, who entertains businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS shows the largely unsung yet widely beloved master Naruse at his most socially exacting and profoundly emotional.

Country: Japan

Director:

Cast:

Critic David Parkinson

rated

...a fascinating snapshot of conservative Japanese society before it was shattered by the ’60s.

Read full review at Empire

Frequently asked questions

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You can stream When a Woman Ascends the Stairs on: The Criterion Channel

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Some movies that have similar genres and were produced around the same time as When a Woman Ascends the Stairs include The Servant, 8½, The 400 Blows, The Miracle Worker, Uncle Hyacynth, The Minister of Uddarbo.