Metrograph

Naruse himself instigated this adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata’s classic novel and the resulting film, one of his greatest, was a personal favorite. Set in Kawabata’s own stately upper middle class neighborhood of Kamakura, the story opens as the loveless marriage of Kikuko (Setsuko Hara) and Shuichi (Ken Uehara), who live with Shuichi’s parents, approaches a point of crisis. Harboring a mysteriously profound affection for Kikuko, Shuichi’s distinguished father Shingo (So Yamamura) looks on in impotent disbelief. As things deteriorate between man and wife, the mutual connection between father and daughter-in-law only deepens until one of them must make a fateful decision. Both surpassingly wonderful, Yamamura and Hara command every moment of Naruse’s exquisite romantic melodrama.