alr

Sansho the Bailiff
(Sansho dayu)

Screening on Film
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.
With Eitaro Shindo, Kinuyo Tanaka.
Japan, 1954, 35mm, black & white, 120 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.
Print source: Janus Films

An intensely lyrical, uncompromising study of tragedy and psychic degradation, Sansho the Bailiff is among Mizoguchi’s great masterpieces. The story, set in eleventh-century Japan, concerns a mother and her two children, who are kidnapped and sold into slavery. After a decade of subjugation the son sets out about deposing the cruel bailiff who brought tragedy upon his family.

Part of film series

Read more

Masterworks of World Cinema

Read more

The Perverted Desires of Slavoj Zizek

Other film series with this film

Read more

The Tales and Tragedies of Kenji Mizoguchi

Read more

Kinuyo Tanaka—Actress, Director, Pioneer

Current and upcoming film series

Read more
Peter Sellers wearing a large hat with "ME" embroidered on it, and gripping a Pilgrim-like collar

Carol for Another Christmas

Read more

Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy