is a 1960 Japanese film directed by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

Plot

Sanae, a recent widow and the eldest daughter of a family, returns to her mother, eldest brother and his brother's wife. The family argues over what to do with the money Sanae's husband left her.

Cast

Setsuko Hara Setsuko (written: or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, later of Japan *, actress *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese actress and model *Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born 1942), Japane ...

as Sanae Sakanoshi, the eldest daughter * Masayuki Mori as Yuichiro Sakanishi, the eldest son *

Hideko Takamine was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spanned 50 years. She is particularly known for her collaborations with directors Mikio Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, with ''Twenty-Four Eyes'' (1954) ...

as Kazuko Sakanishi, Yuichiro's wife *

Reiko Dan , real name , was a Japanese actress. She appeared in multiple films between 1957 and 1974, such as ''Sanjuro'' and ''Red Beard is a 1965 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa, in his last collaboration ...

as Haruko Sakanishi, the third daughter *

Mitsuko Kusabue Mitsuko is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings The name Mitsuko is generally written with the kanji characters 光 and 子 which, when translated into English can mean "light, child" or "shining, child".http://www.20knames.com/femal ...

as Kaoru Sakanishi, the second daughter *Aiko Mimasu as Aki Sakanishi, the mother * Akira Takarada as Reiji Sakanishi, the younger son

Release

''Daughters, Wives and a Mother'' received a

roadshow theatrical release A roadshow theatrical release or reserved seat engagement is the practice of opening a film in a limited number of theaters in major cities for a specific period of time before the wide release of the film. Roadshows would generally mimic a live ...

at the Yūraku-za Theatre in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

on 21 May 1960. It was the first Japanese film to play at the theatre since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It received a general release on 28 May 1960. The film was

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

's highest-grossing film production of 1960 and the eighth highest-grossing Japanese production of 1960. It was released in the United States with English subtitles by Toho International on December 1, 1978.

References

External links

* * 1960 films Films directed by Mikio Naruse 1960s Japanese-language films Toho films 1960s Japanese films {{1960s-Japan-film-stub