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?

Connections

Referenced in Ikite wa mita keredo - Ozu Yasujirô den (1983)

User Reviews

Ozu's growing penchant for death.

The penultimate film in his astonishing oeuvre, Yasujiro Ozu's story about an aging widower and his relationship with his three very different daughters has a strong sense of death throughout, contradicted with some of the most gorgeous cinematography available in cinema. Ozu's typical minimalist and economical visual style are quite conducive to realizing this theme, showing how even the most beautiful and poetic elements of life eventually run their course, as does everything in this life.

The main crux of the story rests on the patriarch of the family, Manbei, who continues to see a woman he knew while he was married, a notion which naturally upsets at least one of his daughters. The other two seem more pensive about the situation, leading them to contemplate their own lives as the eldest is widowed herself and debating whether or not to remarry while the youngest is wondering who she should marry. It is worth noting how Ozu portrays the elder generation as being more open to passion and vigorous living than the younger. The conclusion seems to be that despite the inevitability of death, how one lives one's life determines how they will be remembered rather than who they were perceived to be. Though death remains ever-important, it cannot and should not prevent one from attempting to live to the fullest possible existence.