LATE SPRING
Culture clashes and the death of the self
Spoilers for Late Spring (1949).
Yasujirō Ozu’s 1949 film Late Spring is the first instalment of his Noriko trilogy, in which Setsuko Hara plays various, single women in postwar Japan all named Noriko. Throughout his filmography, Ozu explores the clashes between traditional Japanese customs and more modern thinking. His highlighting of Noriko, as an unmarried woman, remains a key part of this, especially as his films were being released at a time when even Western society was still placing undue pressure on women of a certain age to be married.
It would be incorrect to say that Ozu is critical of marriage, although there is certainly a scepticism about it present throughout Late Spring. What Ozu does show some disdain for is the idea that people should get married because it is the correct thing to do. Noriko is perfectly happy in her life. She is twenty-seven and has only recently recovered from an illness – caused in part by her work during World War II, which ended just four years, almost to the day, before Late Spring was released.
She socialises during the day and takes care of the housework for her father Professor Shukichi Somiya (Chishu Ryu). Her reluctance to marry is in part due to fears over who will look after her father, but also because it is an arranged marriage. The pressure does not initially come from Shukichi but from his sister Masa (Haruko Sugimura), who orchestrates events to essentially force Noriko’s hand.
Ozu’s shooting style, aided by cinematographer Yūharu Atsuta, highlights the personal nature of this decision. The characters are consistently in the centre of the frame, so when conversations about Noriko’s marriage are happening, the audience can clearly see her feelings on the subject. And it is the clash within Noriko that informs the plot, rather than Ozu’s feelings on marriage as an institution.
While Noriko does not want to get married, she is not averse to romantic engagements. Her relationship with Shuichi Hattori (Jun Usami) hints at something beyond friendship, and she admits to her father that he would make a good husband. However, Shuichi is already engaged and has been for some time. When he later asks Noriko to accompany him to a show, she refuses.
This hints at more old-fashioned sensibilities within her. She criticises one of her father’s friends, Professor Jo Onodera (Masao Mishima), for remarrying. She finds the very idea of remarrying distasteful as if the sanctity of the first marriage should never be broken, even if one partner has died. Noriko is even more upset when her father suggests that he may remarry if only to free Noriko from her responsibilities to him.
It is her old-fashioned ways that eventually trap her, forcing her to meet her prospective husband and go through with the wedding. Masa continues to push Noriko, who holds steadfast until Masa explains that she has already sought out Shukichi’s approval. Knowing that her father has agreed to the marriage, Noriko becomes despondent and says she will meet the suitor. Her respect for her father outweighs her own feelings on the matter.
As with most of Ozu’s work, it’s a simple shot. Its weight applied through the script (written with frequent collaborator Kogo Noda) and retrospectively thanks to the closing moments of the film. Shukichi, having seen Noriko off on her wedding day, explains to one of his daughter’s friends that he never intended to remarry. He only told Noriko he would so that she would not feel uneasy about leaving him.
These two simple conversations are given weight by the ramifications. Noriko, while by no means in an unhappy marriage, has given up part of herself due to her devotion to her father – a devotion which enabled her to find peace in her life before. Shukichi must now go back to an empty house, with neither a wife nor his daughter to rely on.
These old-fashioned values lead to none of the characters getting the end they want. While her appearance and actions throughout the film would suggest a more modern sensibility, Noriko is traditional enough to be subdued around her elders and follow their guidance. While Shukichi initially seems unconcerned that his daughter is single, his sister’s insistence that she should be married is enough for him to consent.
The final scene, in which Shukichi grieves for his departed daughter relates marriage to death, perhaps the death of the self. Noriko is now a wife, rather than simply Noriko. If not the death of a character, it is an end to the previous way of life. Something none of the characters appear able to reconcile.
Director: Yasujirō Ozu
Writers: Kogo Noda, Yasujirō Ozu. Based on the novel Father and Daughter (Chichi to musume) by Kazuo Hirotsu
Starring: Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura
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