is a 1951 Japanese
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
and
shomin-geki film directed by
Mikio Naruse
was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.
Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...
and starring
Setsuko Hara
Setsuko (written: or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, later of Japan
*, actress
*, Japanese volleyball player
*, Japanese actress and model
* Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born 1942), Japan ...
.
It is based on the final and unfinished novel by
Fumiko Hayashi,
and was the first in a series of adaptations of her work by the director.
Plot
Michiyo has moved from
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
to settle down in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
with her salaryman husband, whom she married against her parents' wishes. A few years later into the marriage, her husband treats her carelessly, and she is slowly worn down by domestic drudgery. The situation worsens when her pretty niece, fleeing from her parents' plans for an arranged marriage, comes to stay and the husband responds to her flirtatious behaviour. Dissatisfied with his efforts to improve their household life, she leaves with her niece for Tokyo to stay with her family for a time, but finally returns, resigning to marital conventions.
Cast
*
Ken Uehara
was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1990. He starred in '' Entotsu no mieru basho'', which was entered in the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival. His son is the singer and actor Yūzō Kayama.
Se ...
as Hatsunosuke Okamoto
*
Setsuko Hara
Setsuko (written: or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, later of Japan
*, actress
*, Japanese volleyball player
*, Japanese actress and model
* Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born 1942), Japan ...
as Michiyo Okamoto
*
Yukiko Shimazaki as Satoko Okamoto
*
Yōko Sugi as Mitsuko Murata, Michiyo's sister-in-law
* Akiko Kazami as Seiko Tomiyasu
*
Haruko Sugimura
was a Japanese stage and film actress, best known for her appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.
Biography
Sugimura was born in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. After the death of her parents, s ...
as Matsu Murata, Michiyo's mother
*
Ranko Hanai as Koyoshi Dohya
* Hiroshi Nihon'yanagi as Kazuo Takenaka
*
Keiju Kobayashi as Shinzo Murata, Michiyo's brother
* Akira Oizumi as Yoshitaro Taniguchi
* Ichiro Shimizu as Hatsunosuke's colleague
*
Haruo Tanaka
was a Japanese film actor noted for his supporting roles in a career that spanned seven decades.
Career
Tanaka was born in Kyoto and quit school in order to become a film actor, joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1925. He eventually moved up to sec ...
as Jihei Maruyama
*
Sō Yamamura as Ryuichiro Okamoto
*
Chieko Nakakita
was a Japanese actress. She appeared in the early films of Akira Kurosawa and later starred in many films by Mikio Naruse.
Biography
After graduating from Tokyo Film School (東京映画学校), Chieko Nakakita entered the Toho film studios an ...
as Keiko Yamakita
Production
''Repast'' was the first of a series of six films directed by Naruse based on works by
Fumiko Hayashi, "a novelist whose pessimistic outlook matched his own" (Alexander Jacoby).
It also marked a successful return for Naruse, whose films of the preceding 15 years were regarded as lesser works by critics.
According to screenwriter
Toshirō Ide, he and his co-writer
Sumie Tanaka
was a Japanese screenwriter and playwright with a feminist agenda. She was a long-time collaborator of film director Mikio Naruse and wrote screenplays for Japan's first major female director Kinuyo Tanaka. A member of the Bungakuza theatre co ...
had wanted to finish the story with the couple's divorce, but this was vetoed by the studio in favour of a conclusion with, as contemporary critic Takao Toda put it, "mass appeal".
Awards
*
Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film, Best Actress (Setsuko Hara), Best Supporting Actress (
Haruko Sugimura
was a Japanese stage and film actress, best known for her appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.
Biography
Sugimura was born in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. After the death of her parents, s ...
) and Best Screenplay (
Sumie Tanaka
was a Japanese screenwriter and playwright with a feminist agenda. She was a long-time collaborator of film director Mikio Naruse and wrote screenplays for Japan's first major female director Kinuyo Tanaka. A member of the Bungakuza theatre co ...
)
*
Mainichi Film Concours
The
are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan.
History
The origins of the contest date back to 1935 ...
for Best Film, Best Actress (Setsuko Hara), Best Director (Mikio Naruse), Best Cinematography (Masao Tamai) and Best Sound Recording (Masao Fujiyoshi)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Mainichi Film Award for Best Film
1951 films
1951 drama films
Japanese drama films
1950s Japanese-language films
Japanese black-and-white films
Films based on Japanese novels
Films based on works by Fumiko Hayashi
Films directed by Mikio Naruse
Toho films
Films produced by Sanezumi Fujimoto
Films scored by Fumio Hayasaka
1950s Japanese films