is a 1951 Japanese

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

and

shomin-geki , literally ''common people drama'', is a pseudo-Japanese word invented by Western film scholars. It describes a genre of Japanese realist films which focus on the everyday lives of ordinary people. In Japanese the correct word for this genre is ...

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, ...

and starring

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 ...

. It is based on the final and unfinished novel by Fumiko Hayashi, and was the first in a series of adaptations of her work by the director.

Plot

Michiyo has moved from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to settle down in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

with her salaryman husband, whom she married against her parents' wishes. A few years later into the marriage, her husband treats her carelessly, and she is slowly worn down by domestic drudgery. The situation worsens when her pretty niece, fleeing from her parents' plans for an arranged marriage, comes to stay and the husband responds to her flirtatious behaviour. Dissatisfied with his efforts to improve their household life, she leaves with her niece for Tokyo to stay with her family for a time, but finally returns, resigning to marital conventions.

Cast

Ken Uehara was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1990. He starred in ''Entotsu no mieru basho'', which was entered in the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival. His son is the singer and actor Yūzō Kayama. Sel ...

as Hatsunosuke Okamoto *

as Michiyo Okamoto *

Yukiko Shimazaki was a Japanese actress and singer. She appeared in more than twenty films from 1950 to 1964. She was married to film director Tatsumi Kumashiro was a Japanese film director known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning ''Roman Porno'' ...

as Satoko Okamoto *

Yōko Sugi Yōko Sugi (杉葉子) (October 28, 1928 – May 15, 2019) was a Japanese actress who performed major roles in films like ''Aoi sanmyaku'' and '' Repast''. Early life Sugi was born on October 28, 1928 in what is now Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. ...

as Mitsuko Murata, Michiyo's sister-in-law * Akiko Kazami as Seiko Tomiyasu *

Haruko Sugimura was a Japanese stage and film actress, best known for her appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Biography Sugimura was born in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. After the death of her parents, ...

as Matsu Murata, Michiyo's mother *

Ranko Hanai was a Japanese actress. Her birth name was Shimizu Yoshiko. She appeared in more than 190 films between 1931 and 1961. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1961 at the age of 42. Selected filmography * ''The Million Ryo Pot'' (1935) * ''Fallen ...

as Koyoshi Dohya * Hiroshi Nihon'yanagi as Kazuo Takenaka *

Keiju Kobayashi was a Japanese actor who appeared in 253 films in a career spanning 67 years. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In 1956 he moved to Toho film ...

as Shinzo Murata, Michiyo's brother * Akira Oizumi as Yoshitaro Taniguchi * Ichiro Shimizu as Hatsunosuke's colleague *

Haruo Tanaka was a Japanese film actor noted for his supporting roles in a career that spanned seven decades. Career Tanaka was born in Kyoto and quit school in order to become a film actor, joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1925. He eventually moved up to seco ...

as Jihei Maruyama *

Sō Yamamura was a Japanese actor and film director. He was also known by the name Satoshi Yamamura, while his actual birth name is Koga Hirosada. Yamamura graduated from University of Tokyo. In 1942, Yamamura and Isao Yamagata formed the ''Bunkaza Theatre ...

as Ryuichiro Okamoto * Chieko Nakakita as Keiko Yamakita

Production

''Repast'' was the first of a series of six films directed by Naruse based on works by Fumiko Hayashi, "a novelist whose pessimistic outlook matched his own" (Alexander Jacoby). It also marked a successful return for Naruse, whose films of the preceding 15 years were regarded as lesser works by critics. According to screenwriter Toshirō Ide, he and his co-writer

Sumie Tanaka was a Japanese screenwriter and playwright with a feminist agenda. She was a long-time collaborator of film director Mikio Naruse and wrote screenplays for Japan's first major female director Kinuyo Tanaka. A member of the Bungakuza theatre c ...

had wanted to finish the story with the couple's divorce, but this was vetoed by the studio in favour of a conclusion with, as contemporary critic Takao Toda put it, "mass appeal".

Awards

* Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film, Best Actress (Setsuko Hara), Best Supporting Actress (

) and Best Screenplay (

) *

Mainichi Film Concours The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

for Best Film, Best Actress (Setsuko Hara), Best Director (Mikio Naruse), Best Cinematography (Masao Tamai) and Best Sound Recording (Masao Fujiyoshi)

References

External links

* * * {{Mainichi Film Award for Best Film 1951 films 1951 drama films Japanese drama films 1950s Japanese-language films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on Japanese novels Films based on works by Fumiko Hayashi Films directed by Mikio Naruse Toho films Films produced by Sanezumi Fujimoto Films scored by Fumio Hayasaka 1950s Japanese films