[1][2] It forms a diptych with Mizoguchi's Sisters of the Gion[4] which shares much of the same cast and production team, and is considered an early masterpiece in the director's career.

After work, Ayako discusses this with her colleague and boyfriend Susumu, complaining that he doesn't help her collecting the 300 yen which her father embezzled from his employer and is forced to pay back.

After an argument with her father, who argues that he embezzled the money to finance his children's education, Ayako leaves home.

She takes up Asai's offer to become his mistress, asking him in return to give her 300 yen to pay back her father's debts.

Back at home, Hiroshi calls Ayako a delinquent and demands that their father throws her out, while Sachiko says that she is ashamed to go to school due to the story being in all the papers.

[6] Mizoguchi himself cited Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion as the works with which he achieved artistic maturity.