CULTJAPAN!

Late Spring is a 1949 black and white film drama directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara. Many consider this extremely chaste film between a father and his marriageable daughter his finest achievement. The story concerns Noriko, who lives happily with her widowed father and seems in no hurry to get married. Her father, a professor, however, wants to see her settled and conspires with his sister to trick Noriko into pursuing an arranged marriage.

Professor Shukichi Somiya has only one child, a twenty-seven-year-old unmarried daughter, Noriko, who takes care of his everyday needs. However, a meeting with his sister Masa convinces him that she is now of marriageable age. Noriko is close to his assistant, Hattori, and Masa asks Somiya to question Noriko if Hattori is interested in her. However it turns out that Hattori already has a fiancée he is about to marry.

A Kyoto friend of Somiya, Professor Onodera, pays a visit to the Somiyas. Noriko learns that Onodera, a widower, has remarried, and she tells Onodera that she finds the idea distasteful – filthy even. Onodera teases her endlessly for harboring such thoughts. Meanwhile, Masa keeps pressurizing Noriko to go for a matchmaking session to see a prospective match who resembles Gary Cooper. Noriko declines, stating that she does not want to marry because of her father. Marrying will leave him alone and helpless. Masa declares that she plans to matchmake her father and Mrs Miwa, a widow, which will mean someone will take care of him.

At a Noh performance, Somiya nods to Mrs Miwa, which triggers a pang of jealousy in Noriko. When her father tries to talk her into going for the matchmaking session, he tells her that he is going to remarry Mrs Miwa. Devastated, Noriko decides to go to see the match. To her surprise, she has pleasant impression of him. Masa talks to her if she will marry. Spurred by thoughts of her father remarrying, Noriko gives in to her aunt and agrees to marry.

The Somiyas go for their last trip together, to Kyoto, where they meet Onodera and his family. Noriko reverses her attitude towards Onodera’s remarriage when she finds his new wife a pleasant lady. While packing luggages for their way home, Noriko asks Somiya why can’t they stay as they are now – she is happy with her father and marriage certainly can’t make her any happier. Somiya gives her a short talk asking her to strive for marital happiness together with her husband, something that will take time and effort. Noriko apologizes for her earlier thoughts and agrees to wed.

Noriko finally leaves on her wedding day. Noriko’s divorced friend Aya stays with Somiya in a bar, long enough to hear him confess his supposed “remarriage” to Mrs Miwa is all a ploy to get Noriko married. Aya is touched by his sacrifice and promises to come and visit him often, but Somiya must go back and face the quiet night all alone in his apartment.

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