Late Autumn (1960)
Directed by Yasujirô Ozu

Film Review

Towards the end of his long and productive career as a filmmaker, Yasujirô Ozu became increasingly interested in capturing the essence of life in his films, digging deeper into the human psyche without resorting to excessive emotionality.  His final three films are simply constructed shomin-geki or 'home dramas', of the kind he had been routinely making since the 1930s, in which he reworks his favourite themes in an unstinting attempt to refine his art and get nearer to the underlying truths of human experience.  To a casual observer, most of Ozu's films are remarkably alike, mostly understated dramas involving family conflict, but on closer examination they are seen to be surprisingly varied, offering subtle yet profound variations on a similar theme.

Late Autumn is a near-remake of Ozu's previous Late Spring (1949).  Both films are shomin-geki that revolve around a well-intended but ineptly executed ruse to marry off a daughter who is stubbornly attached to a widowed parent - her father in the earlier film, her mother in the later one.  Apart from the obvious narrative similarities, these two films are quite different in their tone and underlying themes, and a comparison between them reveals not only a substantial refinement in Ozu's technique but also a deeper understanding of human nature.

Of the two films, Late Spring is the one that is better known and generally better regarded, the first work of Ozu's 'mature period'.  It is darker in tone than Late Autumn and, in narrative and thematic terms, somewhat simpler.  In common with Ozu's last few films, Late Autumn isn't quite so relentlessly melancholic - it is warmer, veering towards comedy in parts, but still has its moments of painful introspection, including a devastatingly poignant ending.  Late Autumn is more ironic than comedic, wryly observing that life would be so such simpler were it not for interfering so-and-sos who insist on complicating everything.  Good intentions give the Devil ample scope to work his mischief, as the well-meaning Mamiya and his buddies discover when they resort to a spot of harmless matchmaking.

Following the example of Equinox Flower (1958), Ozu wrote the screenplay in collaboration with his longterm writing partner Kôgo Noda and the popular author Ton Satomi, developing a script and novel in parallel.  Borrowing ideas from previous films, Ozu reworks many familiar themes around self-sacrifice, conflict between tradition and modernity, female empowerment and the decline of the family.  As in Ozu's previous three colour film, Late Autumn's use of colour serves as a subtle leitmotif, intended to reflect its underlying subject matter, this time autumnal hues (dominated by soft browns and greens) suggesting moral decay and the fading of old ideals.  Autumn, the most melancholic of the seasons, is a time of transition and quiet regret, and these feelings are powerfully conveyed by Ozu's film.

One striking characteristic of Ozu's late films is how women come to the fore and play an increasingly important role in the narrative - something that reflected the growing importance of women in Japanese society.  In Late Autumn, the focus is primarily on the female protagonists, each of whom is played by an actress of immense talent and beauty.  Setsuko Hara, one of Japan's leading film stars, had played the self-sacrificing daughter in Late Spring (amongst several other notable Ozu roles), and here she returns in the reverse role, as the mother, with rising star Yôko Tsukasa playing her devoted daughter.  At the time, Hara and Tsukasa were under contract to Shôchiku's rival company Toho, and in exchange for 'borrowing' these two stars for Late Autumn, Ozu agreed to make one film for Toho with the same actresses - that was to be The End of Summer (1961), his penultimate film. 

The other notable female presence is Mariko Okada, the daughter of the silent film star Tokihiko Okada, who appeared in four of Ozu's films before his premature death in 1934.  Unlike her father, Mariko Okada enjoyed a long and distinguished career; she had previously featured in Mikio Naruse's Floating Clouds (1955) and Nagareru (1956) and would appear in Ozu's final film, An Autumn Afternoon (1962).  The male members of the cast include longstanding Ozu regular Chishû Ryû (in a small role) and Shin Saburi, who played the lead male role in several Ozu films, including Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941), Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) and Equinox Flower.

Throughout much of his career, Ozu was concerned with the conflict between tradition and modern values - as well he might, considering how rapidly and profoundly his country changed in the course of his lifetime.  Modernity brings the promise of increased comfort and prosperity, greater personal freedom and the prospect of a happier, longer life.  But, in the rush to embrace all things modern, isn't there a danger that the old values, the things that give life meaning, will be trodden underfoot?   In Late Autumn, this dichotomy is represented by the contrasting attitudes of  the three central female protagonists.  Ayako and her mother Akiko are governed by traditional Japanese customs - the widow devotes herself to the memory of her dead husband, the daughter sacrifices herself to care for her mother.  Akiko is only seen in traditional Japanese garb, the kimono; Ayako wears western clothes that are modest, reflecting her unassuming nature.  If these two women represent continuity and respect for tradition, then Yukiko, Ayako's feisty best friend, denotes change - fierce and confident change. 

Yukiko  is every inch the 'modern miss' - lively, self-assertive, truculent, more western than Japanese in her outlook and behaviour.  In more than one scene, Yukiko manages to turn the table on the trio of middle-aged matchmakers and she emerges as the only sensible character in the narrative.  Ozu's deeper sympathies may have been with Ayako and her mother, but you can't help feeling that Yukiko is the woman he most admires.  As in Equinox Flower, it is the male protagonists who end up as objects of ridicule - ineffectual, vain, wallowing in nostalgia and too easily outsmarted by their female entourage.   It is ironic that at a time when Ozu was beginning to be written off as out-of-touch and irrelevant in his own country (he had yet to be 'discovered' by the West), his films were among some of the most accurate and perceptive in charting the developments in Japanese society in the late 1950s, early 60s.  Yasujirô Ozu was as much a chronicler of social change as a great filmmaker.

Film Synopsis

Mamiya, Taguchi and Hirayama, three prosperous middle-aged men, meet up to attend the seventh memorial service of their mutual college friend Miwa.  After the service, the three friends agree that it is high time Miwa's 24-year-old daughter, Ayako, was married and immediately set about finding a suitable partner for her.  Mamiya offers up one of his employees, Goto, but Ayako refuses to marry him as she cannot bring herself to leave her mother, Akiko.  The only solution is for Akiko to remarry, and Hirayama is soon persuaded that he will make an ideal mate for the attractive widow.  Before Mamiya can raise the matter with Akiko, Ayako is misled into thinking that her mother has already made up her mind to remarry.  Just as Ayako is beginning to form an attachment to Goto, Mamiya's scheme to marry her off goes spectacularly awry...