Review of Onna no Ichidaiki: Sugimura Haruko - An evil woman's life~An actress who married acting

I have two sides to my life - a woman and an actress.

Sugimura Haruka - the first and last actress of Japan's acting history. Unknown facts about her life will be shown in this drama. She had taken prominent roles in movies directed by famous directors like Kurosawa Akira and Ozu Yasujiro.

She did not dabble in alcohol or cigarettes but her life was channeled towards men and acting. The energy she derived from them gave her the power in her acting.

Cast
Sugimura Haruko - Yonekura Ryoko
Morimoto Kaoru - Yanagiba Toshiro
Nagahiro Kishiro - Yamaguchi Tatsuya
Ishiyama Tsunehiko - Narimiya Hiroki
Tagami Fuyuko - Sugita Kaoru
Ogawa Yasuo - Itao Souji
Oji Kiwako - Sonin

The final segment stars Yonekura Ryoko as the actress Sugimura Haruko. Throughout her life, she was in love with three men played by Yamaguchi Tatsuya, Yanagiba Toshiro and Narimiya Hiroki.

Yamaguchi's role was Nagahiro Kishiro who was Haruko's childhood sweetheart in Hiroshima. She left her hometown because she was ostracised by her friends when her teacher told everyone that she was an abandoned child of a geisha even though she was living in a rich family. Well, that teacher did it just to get back at Haruko who was very popular in school and everyone kept saying how good she was at singing and playing the piano to the extent that she was better than the teacher. Anyway, this changed Haruko's life and made her determined to become a swan instead of remaining as an ugly duckling. Thus, she insisted on going to Tokyo to enrol in an acting school but failed. She then joined a theatre group to gain experience. Kishiro came to look for her with Haruko's adopted mother so they found out about her living conditions. Subsequently, Kishiro came to live with her after his parents refused to accept Haruko and they got married without registering since he was still a research student while she wasn't making much money. Things between them were very sweet until Haruko aborted her child because she had the chance to be a lead actress. However, Kishiro did not blame her even though he was very upset. He knew how much she aspired to be an actress so he even kept her in the dark when he was going to die due to tuberculosis. That scene when Haruko couldn't make it in time to see Kishiro before he died was very sad.

The second man was Moriyama Kaoru (Yanagiba Toshiro) who was a married scriptwriter. He had an affair with her while his wife was away in her hometown during wartime and gave her the first hit stage play of her life. However, he too died of tuberculosis.

Last but not least, Ishiyama Tsunehiko (Narimiya Hiroki), a medical student younger than her went against all odds to marry her after they met when Haruko was suffering from a leg illness. They headed to a tragic end as Tsunehiko died of tuberculosis and he had asked Haruko to stay by his side to no avail since she wanted to act in a movie.

It's such an uncanny coincidence that the three men in her life all died of the same illness.

Anyway, the bulk of this segment was on the relationship front of Sugimura Haruko so the part on how she became a top actress was not explored in detail. Although it is like the first segment which chose to focus on the relationship aspect, I find that the potrayal here is much better since it does give the viewer an idea of how much she loved the men in her life. In the first part, I simply get the feel that the character was just desiring for company rather than being in love with those men.

Yonekura is fine in this role but seeing her act as a 19-year-old makes me cringe. Well, she looks so mature so acting young is really uncomfortable for me. Although she didn't impress me as much as Amami Yuki, I certainly think that she was better than Miyazawa Rie.

As for the guys, the first relationship was the one I liked most followed by the last one where Tsunehiko was practically begging Haruko to stay but he gave up in the end. The second one seemed to be the result of loneliness so I didn't get the feel that they loved each other very much.

Well, the ratings for this paled in comparision with the other two but I thought it was OK. Maybe more emphasis on her career might be better. I simply get the impression that this was just on her love life.