Kantsubaki Midwinter Camellia (1992)

Yasuo Furuhata directs this romantic yakuza flick based on a book by popular romance novelist Tomiko Miyao. Set in 1932, the film centers on Peony (Yoko Minamino), a geisha who was forced into the business at a young age by her dissipated father. Her pimp is the gruff but kindly Tomita (Toshiyuki Nishida), who has a passion for his flesh-peddling position. Amid the abuse heaped upon the pure-hearted Peony by reptilian mobsters and her own fantastically selfish father, she falls for the stout Nioyama (Masahiro Takashima), who first rapes her and then saves her from her life as a fallen woman.