Late Spring
Sunday 1:45pm
Directed by: Yasujirō Ozu
Released: 1949
Run time: 108 minutes
Certificate:
View trailer on YouTube: Click here
An ageing widower and his grown-up daughter sacrifice their mutual happiness for each other’s sake
Shukichi is a professor, a widower, absorbed in his work. His unmarried daughter, Noriko, runs his household for him. Both are perfectly content with this arrangement until the old man’s sister declares that her niece should get married. Noriko is, after all, in her mid-20s; in Japan in 1949, a single woman that old is approaching the end of her shelf life.
His sister warns the professor that after his death Noriko will be left alone in the world; it is his duty to push her out of the nest and find a husband who can support her. The professor reluctantly agrees. When his daughter opposes any idea of marriage, he tells her he is also going to remarry. That is a lie, but he will sacrifice his own comfort for his daughter’s future.
