''Immortal Love'' ''Bitter Spirit'' ( ja, 永遠の人, Eien no hito, The eternal person) is a 1961 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasu ...

. It was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Masakazu Tamura was a Japanese film and theatre actor. Profile Masakazu Tamura was born 1 August 1943 in Kyoto, Japan to Japanese actor Tsumasaburō Bandō. Tsumasaburō Bandō died when Tamura was only nine years old. His brothers Takahiro and Ryō are also ...

made his official debut in the film.

Plot

Over a time span of 30 years, the film tells the story of Sadako, who is pressured into a marriage with Heibei, the crippled war veteran son of the local landlord, although she loves Takashi, a young man from the same village. Takashi later marries Tomoko, but neither he nor Sadako can forget their past mutual affection.

Cast

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 Sadako *

Keiji Sada is the stage name for a Japanese cinema actor active from the late-1940s to the early 1960s. His real name was Kanichi Nakai. He won the award for best actor at the 7th Blue Ribbon Awards for and . He was the father of the actor Kiichi Nakai an ...

as Takashi *

Tatsuya Nakadai is a Japanese film actor. He was featured in 11 films directed by Masaki Kobayashi, including ''The Human Condition'' trilogy, wherein he starred as the lead character Kaji, plus ''Harakiri'', ''Samurai Rebellion'' and ''Kwaidan''. Nakadai wor ...

as Heibei *

Nobuko Otowa was a Japanese actress who appeared in more than 100 films between 1950 and 1994. A graduate of Takarazuka Girl's Opera School, Otowa was first signed to Daiei studios, before becoming a freelance actress by the early 1950s. After starring in ...

as Tomoko, Takashi's wife *

Akira Ishihama Akira may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Akira'' (franchise), a Japanese cyberpunk franchise ** ''Akira'' (manga), a 1980s cyberpunk manga by Katsuhiro Otomo ** ''Akira'' (1988 film), an anime film adaptation of the manga ** ''Akira'' (vide ...

as Yutaka, Takashi's son * Yukiko Fuji as Naoko, Sadako's daughter * Kiyoshi Nonomura as Rikizo, Takashi's brother *

Yoshi Katō was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 175 films between 1949 and 1988. He won the award for Best Actor at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in ''Hometown''. He married the actress Isuzu Yamada in 1950, but ...

as Sojiro, Sadako's father * Yasushi Nagata as Heizaemon, Heibei's father *

Torahiko Hamada Torahiko is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Torahiko can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *虎彦, "tiger, elegant boy" *虎比古, "tiger, young man (archaic)" *寅彦, "sign of the t ...

as Mr. Koshinuma *

as Eiichi, Sadako's son * Masaya Totsuka as Morito, Sadako's son *

Eijirō Tōno was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting more than 50 years, appeared in over 400 television shows, nearly 250 films and numerous stage productions. He is best known in the West for his roles in films by Akira Kurosawa, such as ''Seven Samu ...

as Policeman

References

External links

* * 1961 films 1961 drama films Japanese drama films 1960s Japanese-language films Japanese black-and-white films Shochiku films Films directed by Keisuke Kinoshita Films with screenplays by Keisuke Kinoshita 1960s Japanese films {{1960s-Japan-film-stub