Synopsis
Noriko has reached a suitable age for marriage
but she is content to carry on looking after her
father Professor Somiya in their Kitakamakura
home. While her aunt Masa busies herself looking
for a suitable match, Somiya for a while suspects
she is dating his student Hattori. When it transpires
that Hattori is engaged to someone else, Somiya
conspires with Masa to trick Noriko into thinking
that he has decided to re-marry. Appalled, she
runs away to stay with her friend Aya. Eventually,
she goes on an arranged date with someone who
"looks like Gary Cooper" and agrees
to marry him. Father and daughter go on one last
holiday to Kyoto.
Thoughts from Ozu Late Spring provided a chance for me
to collaborate with Noda Kogo. Not since An
Innocent Maid did such an opportunity present
itself. If the director and the scriptwriter are
always at odds with each, their work relationship
is bound to collapse at some point. Say if one
were an early to bed, early to rise type, while
the other happened to be a night bird, they'd
never strike the right balance, and would just
let each other down. Whatever Noda, Saito and
I did were in sync, even down to when we chose
to take a break or have a drink. This was very
important as Noda and I tended to think through
every line or dialogue together when we wrote
the script. Even without discussing details on
props or costumes, there was an unspoken rapport
between us. There was never a problem of disagreement,
even when deciding to use an "oh" or
an "ah" (wa or yo) in the dialogue.
It was incredible. Naturally, there were times
when we clung to our own opinions. After all,
we were both rather stubborn and wouldn't compromise
so easily.
Background
The
42nd film shot from May to September 1949. This
is the first film of the long-lasting team of
Ozu/Noda Late Spring deserves special attention
even among Ozu's other films, since it formed
the basis of all his later films. The original
story is a short novel by Hirotsu Kazuo, Father
and Daughter (Chichi to musume), published
ten years earlier. Ozu and Noda adapted the plot
development. However, Hirotsu's novel, the saying
"A white lie is sometimes expedient"
turns into "A Life finally becomes truth,"
the father getting married in an unexpected denouement.
Ozu and Noda shunned such a witty development.
and concentrated, even persisted on the relation
between father and daughter, with the lonesome
father in the last scene. Therefore, the characters
of the protagonists and the placing of the situations
differ completely from Hirotsu's novel. This situation
of a daughter's marriage and the separation from
her parents becomes the most important motif in
Ozu's filmic development. His attention switched
here from the son to the father. Father and daughter
live in a a house in Kamakura. The ancient capital
Kamakura preserves independent cultural traditions
and appearances. Moreover, it spatially belongs
to the surrounding of Tokyo. The father works
as a university teacher in Tokyo, and also the
daughter often goes downtown. Kamakura can be
considered as shelter for cultural refugees from
the devastated post-war Tokyo. The setting of
Late Spring is extremely important, since
it cured Ozu's feeling of loss. Against an intentionally
emphasized Japanese background made by kimonos,
tea ceremonies, and Noh plays, properties due
to the American occupation, such as English signs
and Coca-Cola boards, activate the screen. Doubtlessly,
the appearance of the actress Hara Setsuko had
left a decisive impact on this film. The strong
feelings of father and daughter, which dominate
the film, and the hidden Elektra complex obtained
reality and persuasive power by this mysterious,
introverted actress. Ozu and Noda sent the screenplay
of this film to the writer Satomi Ton and asked
him for advice. Ozu was an admirer of Satomi since
his middle-school days. After having seen Late
Spring, Satomi considered the last scene (after
his daughter's marriage, the father returns home
alone and, on the verge of tears, peels and apple)
as too much contrived, as art for art sake's,
appealing to common tastes. This critique caused
Ozu to reflect on himself.
Personal
Thoughts and Comments
In many ways Late Spring represents the
definitive film of Ozu's master filmmaking approach
and language. Through simplicity Ozu captures
depths and possibilities of endless beauty and
heartbreaking sadness. The emotions and humanity
captured here are really not so simplistic, but
rather complex and even spiritual on some levels.
Late Spring is a glorious cinematic achievement
and like all Ozu's work has such an authentic
and universal connection with the audience. We
witness incredibly ordinary humans doing ordinary
routines of living as well as facing the everyday
dramas or complexities of life. Ozu's use of camera
framing, technique, and space is truly rare. Here
he presents the central relationship (a father
and his daughter) with direct shots, which capture
an intimate bound with the characters and with
the audience but Ozu also keeps us at a distance
almost as if to capture the character and thier
emotions within the environment. Ultimately, this
is a film of family, separation, and love. At
the center of Late Spring is the pressure
of marriage. Ozu presents this pressure of marriage
in a variety of possibilities and options through
the characters of the film (re-marriage, arranged
marriage, divorce). Late Spring also represents
a post-war Japanese society and Ozu underscores
the film with this feeling of a Japanese society
under transition, but he does so only in the slightest
of ways. This transitional feeling is also captured
between the relationship of the father and daughter,
which sees a change as the film progresses and
this pressure arises. Where as they share a warm
and loving relationship earlier in the film, later
they reveal that their true feelings are being
hidden or masked and they eventually decide to
conform to what they believe is required for the
progress of society. Of course this is all expressed
so masterfully through the incredible performances
of Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara. Two of Ozu's quintessential
post-war actors, Ryu and Hara are able to capture
the deepest emotions in the very smallest gestures.
The final images are among the most heartbreaking
you'll see, as we view the father alone and though
he is happy for his daughter he realizes he will
die alone (the expression of the scene is shown
not only through Ryu's performance, but also Ozu's
visual of the pear pealing and Senji Ito's score).
Late Spring is truly a powerfully moving
and touching experience. The imagery and emotions
I get watching this film is an unforgettably powerful
one, and a feeling I hope to always cherish. Gracefully
made with a breathtaking personal and artistic
vision from a master. Late Spring is the
definitive Ozu film of his post-war work in terms
of style and themes. To me it is his greatest
achievement and quite possibly one of the most
perfect films ever made!.