The End of Summer (1961)

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (screenplay), Yasujirô Ozu (screenplay)

Stars:

Ganjirô Nakamura, Setsuko Hara, Yôko Tsukasa

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ganjirô Nakamura	...	Kohayagawa Manbei
Setsuko Hara	...	Akiko
Yôko Tsukasa	...	Noriko, second daughter
Michiyo Aratama	...	Fumiko, eldest daughter
Keiju Kobayashi	...	Hisao, Fumiko's husband
Masahiko Shimazu	...	Masao, third son
Hisaya Morishige	...	Isomura Eiichirou
Chieko Naniwa	...	Sasaki Tsune
Reiko Dan	...	Yuriko, her daughter
Haruko Sugimura	...	Katou Shige
Daisuke Katô	...	Kitagawa Yanosuke
Haruko Tôgô	...	Kitagawa Teruko
Yumi Shirakawa	...	Nakanishi Takako
Akira Takarada	...	Teramoto Tadashi
Kyû Sazanka	...	Yamaguchi, Chief clerk

Storyline

Approaching his senior years, widowed Manbei Kohayagawa is the owner of a small family run sake brewery in Kyoto. Hisao, his daughter Fumiko's husband, works for the company. Another daughter, Osaka based Akiko, who works at an art gallery, is widowed, her deceased husband who decided not to work in the family business, but maintain his own career as a college professor. Kohayagawa's third and last daughter, Noriko, a clerk in an office, has never been married, but is now of marrying age. Because the business is not doing well as it cannot compete with the larger sake companies, Kohayagawa wants to ensure that all his daughters are taken care of financially, which means finding husbands for both Akiko and Noriko, that task which is aided by Kohayagawa's younger brother-in-law, Yanosuke Kitagawa. Akiko and Noriko know about the arrangements with the potential husbands - although Akiko's first "date" is more of a surprise to her - and generally go along with the dates as are requested ...

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Plot Keywords:

infidelity | unfaithfulness | adultery | aging | father daughter relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

February 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The End of Summer

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Takarazaka Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last of six collaborations between Yasujiro Ozu and Setsuko Hara.

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Connections

Referenced in I Lived, But... (1983)

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Soundtracks

Xin Nián Hao Ya (Happy New Year)
(uncredited)
Melody: 'O My Darling Clementine'
Japanese lyrics
Performed by Yôko Tsukasa and other cast members

User Reviews

Three weddings and a funeral

This is classic Ozu, a small slice of life, a crucial turning point in the history of a family fighting the inevitable progress of time and change. In this case it is a family consisting of a widower, clearly someone with a racy past, and his four children - a somewhat dim son, two dutiful older daughters, and a sharp tongued younger daughter, outraged that her father is determined to age disgracefully. He (played by the impish Ganjiro Nakamura) is sneaking off from his duties at his struggling sake brewery to meet an old flame. His eldest daughter, in true later Ozu style is reluctant to accept the hand of an apparently decent suitor. His second daughter is torn between the 'good' match and her true love, an impoverished academic.

Ozu's penultimate film, and perhaps this is reading too much into it, but its hard not to see his vision of his own impending death in it, despite the great humour in it.

This is a meditation on a dying world - despite the vibrant photography, the film resonates with images of passing - constant visions of graveyards, an old dying Japan, the families roots in a dying form of business as they are overtaken by big, highly capitalised larger companies. The ending is sad and inevitable, but not tragic - life does go on, and a new generation wills step in, even if the old traditions are not maintained.

One striking thing about this film is the incredible photography. Have humble domestic interiors every looked so stunningly beautiful? The lighting is luminous, every scene is as perfectly composed as a Vermeer painting.