Director lamented the selfless suffering of beautiful women

Kenji Mizoguchi made more than 80 films, many of which rank among the finest in Japanese cinema history. By the end of his career, he was spoken of in the same breath as the great Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. But what set Mizoguchi apart from those two directors was his subject matter - he dealt almost exclusively with women.

'Women, women, women,' says Law Waiming, curator at the Hong Kong Film Archive, which is screening a series of his works. 'Women are the main characters of almost all Kenji's movies. His movies centre on the life attitudes of women, many of whom are quite strong in character.'

The archive is showcasing nine of Mizoguchi's best movies until December 18, including masterpieces such as Osaka Elegy, The Life of Oharu, Sansho the Bailiff and Ugetsu.

'Kenji's films are feasts of beautiful camera movement capturing the suffering of beautiful women,' says Law. 'I strongly recommend people watch Sansho the Bailiff. It goes deep into human values. Usually he has a prostitute or geisha as the heroine of his movies. She is abused by men or even unwanted by her family.'

Mizoguchi said in an interview in 1952 that 'women have always been treated like slaves'. It's a view that can be probably explained by events he witnessed in his childhood. Born in 1898 in Tokyo, two drastic events occurred when Mizoguchi was seven years old that helped shape his life. First, his family moved from a middle-class district to a poor area, after his father's business failed. Then, his 14-year-old sister, Suzu, was adopted and finally sold to a geisha house.

Suzu's sacrifices financially helped Mizoguchi receive some art education and start his career as a director, which would span 34 years.

When he was 27, Mizoguchi embarked on a love affair with a prostitute. It ended when she stabbed him in the back - and then disappeared. Law gives another possible reason that interest in female psychology is a consistent feature of Mizoguchi's movies. 'I think he's apologising to all the women in the world by way of films,' says Law. 'I think in many ways he feels guilty.'

Starting with The Resurrection of Love in 1923, Mizoguchi focused on the beauty of selfless and self-sacrificing Japanese women, comparing this with their often harsh social conditions. Even when Mizoguchi had to make films to match the government's nationalist propaganda needs in the 1940s, he refused to give up his concern for women in works such as 47 Ronin.

'In his films, the heartbroken woman undergoes all sorts of hardship and deprivation just to love, protect and even sometimes hate her man,' says Law. 'But she will never give up.'

When comparing the three undisputed masters from the golden age of Japanese cinema, Law says: 'All three are unique. But Kenji is the more elegant and sensuous of the three.

'Kenji's films have a touch of tender beauty. The scenes, shots, deployment of actors and movement of camera are as tender and soft as water, rising and falling like waves. He used perfect long takes. Usually one scene, one take,' says Law.

In the 1950s, Mizoguchi won international recognition for The Life of Oharu (1952), with a directorial prize at the Venice Film Festival, and Ugetsu (1953), which won the festival's Silver Lion. He died in 1956.

'The film distribution system at that time restrained Kenji from becoming world famous,' says Law. 'In the year Mizoguchi died, the Cinematheque Francaise held a retrospective show in his honour. Since then, in the mind of the nouvelle vague directors, Akira Kurosawa was reduced to a second-class director, while Mizoguchi is considered the real master,' he says.

Kenji Mizoguchi retrospective: The Beauty of Female Delicacy, HK Science Museum, Lecture Hall. All films in Japanese with English subtitles, $50 Urbtix. Inquiries: 2734 2900 or www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp. Ends Dec 18.