In post-WWII Osaka, a middle-aged woman is forced to examine her dreary life and marriage when her husband's young and flirtatious cousin arrives for a brief stay to escape an arranged marriage.
Acting
Setsuko Hara's face does three films' worth of dialogue.
Direction
Naruse frames domestic life like a trap closing slowly.
Writing
Every meal scene is a tiny tragedy. You'll never look at rice the same.
Director
Mikio Naruse
Ken Uehara
Hatsunosuke Okamoto
Setsuko Hara
Michiyo Okamoto
Yukiko Shimazaki
Satoko Okamoto
Yōko Sugi
Mitsuko Murata
Akiko Kazami
Seiko Tomiyasu
Haruko Sugimura
Matsu Murata
Ranko Hanai
Koyoshi Dohya
Hiroshi Nihon'yanagi
Kazuo Takenaka
Keiju Kobayashi
Shinzo Murata
So Yamamura
Akira Ōizumi
Yoshitaro
Haruo Tanaka
Chieko Nakakita
Keiko Yamakita
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Naruse made this between two of his most famous films — it's basically his 'what if marriage actually sucks' thesis statement.
This was Naruse's first collaboration with Setsuko Hara after Ozu's 'Late Spring' — she traded one director who understood women's silences for another, equally devastating one.
JP
