The Battle of Roses

[Dan Sallitt]

One doesn't have to read the credits to tell that this oddball movie is an adaptation of a novel.  Fumio Niwa's source material (Catherine Russell says that it was originally a newspaper serial), adapted by Motosada Nishiki (WHITE BEAST, THE ANGRY STREET), appears to be a lurid Harold Robbins-like saga of sex and power, set in the cosmetics industry and centered on the love lives of three sisters, played by Kuniko Miyake (TOKYO STORY, LATE SPRING), Setsuko Wakayama (CONDUCT REPORT ON PROFESSOR ISHINAKA), and Yoko Katsuragi (SCANDAL).  Naruse takes the thing at a sprint, covering large quantities of plot in short jostling scenes, muting the melodrama with his observational sensibility, and even playing editing tricks at transitions to up the perplexity quotient.  The result sometimes calls to mind Straub's THE BRIDEGROOM, THE COMEDIENNE AND THE PIMP, at least until the exposition slows down in the second half and Naruse allows himself a little room to establish scenes (often with pans from one focal plane to another, not a move I generally associate with Naruse) and linger over atmosphere.  Though the characters are sketched quickly, Naruse finds interesting angles on some of them: Katsuragi is especially intriguing as the kittenish youngest sister whose lighthearted rebellion against social strictures seems sometimes benevolent, sometimes hostile.  Despite the more measured pace of the second half, THE BATTLE OF ROSES still can't hit the brakes hard enough to give the climactic scenes the weight they seem to require.  This odd lack of emphasis is especially noticeable in the final reconciliation scene between sisters, which is a rough draft for the ending of LIGHTNING, though far more perfunctory and glancing.