Wild Geese / The Mistress 雁 Shiro Toyoda (1953)

The Mistress (aka Wild Geese)     

雁 「Gan」

Running Time: 104 mins.

Release Date: September 15th, 1953

Director: Shiro Toyoda

Writer: Masashige Narusawa (Screenplay), Ogai Mori (Original Novel)

Starring: Hideko Takamine, Hiroshi Akutagawa, Choko Lida, Eijiro Tono, Jukichi Uno,

IMDB

Wild Geese a.k.a The Mistress is based on a novel by Ogai Mori (real name, Mori Rintaro, 1882–1916), an interesting figure in himself. Originally born to a family of doctors, he was expected to follow that path but, instead, found fame as a translator, novelist, and poet. He lived through the transition from the Meiji era to the Taisho period and, from what I have read on Wikipedia, his works are humanist dramas as is evident in this particular film that tells a quiet tragedy about a poor woman who dares to dream of escaping the confines of her lowly position through marriage but finds herself trapped by gender and class as is revealed when she falls in love.