Hara Setsuko
Born in Yokohama, Hara Setsuko (1920-2015) made about 100 films between 1935 and 1962. Her real name was Aida Masae. Her older sister was married to film director Kumagai Hisatora, which gave her access to the world of cinema: he encouraged her to drop out of school when the large family to which she belonged was in dire financial staits, after which she went to work for Nikkatsu Studios in Tamagawa, outside Tokyo, in 1935. One of her most interesting early movies was Yamanaka Sadao's Kochiyama Soshun, a modern adaptation of a Kabuki play by Kawatake Mokuami. The very complex story revolves around the owner of a small amazake shop, driven into prostitution by debts incurred by her brother's misdeeds, played by Hara Setsuko when she was only 15 years old.She became famous as an actress by the 1937 Nazi-German-Japanese co-production The Daughter of the Samurai, known in Japan as Atarashiki Tsuchi (The New Earth), directed by Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami. In the movie, Hara plays a young woman who tries in vain to throw herself into a volcano when her fiancé returns from Berlin and falls in love with a German journalist. The movie was poorly received in Japan. It was seen as a condescending treatment of Japan as an exotic Oriental nation that needed German political ideas as if it had none of its own, and the racist ideology of blood and soil was considered disturbing (Fanck was a Nazi sympathizer).
Hara traveled to Europe and the United States to promote this German-Japanese co-production. Accompanied by her brother-in-law Kumagai Hisatora, the four-month trip took her from Japanese-occupied Manchuria (China) to Berlin and several German cities, then on to Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Hollywood. In Germany, she was received as an official guest by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda (a rather nerve-wracking experience for the young girl). But she also had the opportunity to meet eminent film personalities wherever she went, such as Jean Renoir in Paris, and Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, with whom she dined in Hollywood. Her return, just before the outbreak of war, was triumphant, and the young actress was described by a women's magazine as "a world star" and "the first hope of Japanese cinema.
[Hara Setsuko in Late Spring]
Hara Setsuko continued to portray tragic heroines in a dozen militaristic propaganda films until the end of World War II, such as The Suicide Troops of the Watchtower and Toward the Decisive Battle in the Sky. During WWII, Hara became the most popular actress in Japan. Hara was only 25 years old when the war ended. Although she had become the icon of a Japanese cinema that had glorified nationalism and imperialism, from the moment of the surrender, she embodied the suffering of a people victimized by the warmongering policies of their leaders. In other words, she turned from extreme nationalism to "democracy" just as quickly as the rest of the population.
She starred in Kurosawa's first postwar film, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), in one of her best roles ever. She also worked with director Yoshimura in A Ball at the Anjo House (1947). In these films she was portrayed as the "new" Japanese woman, looking forward to a bright democratic future.
Hara's first of six films with Yasujiro Ozu was Late Spring (1949), and their collaboration would last for the next twelve years. In Late Spring, she plays Noriko, a devoted daughter who prefers to stay at home and care for her father rather than marry, despite the urging of her family members. In Early Summer (1951) she played an unrelated character, also named Noriko, who wants to marry and finds the courage to do so without her family's approval. This was followed by Tokyo Story (1953), perhaps her and Ozu's best-known film, in which she played a widow, also named Noriko, whose husband was killed in the war. Her devotion to her late husband worries her in-laws, who insist that she move on and remarry. Her last films with Yasujiro Ozu were Late Autumn, where she plays a mother who repeats the role of Ryu Chishu in Late Spring, and The End of Summer, Ozu's penultimate film before his death in 1963, where she doesn't have the main role either, as she is one of a group of sisters. She was now 43 and, as is unfortunately the case for actresses, it became increasingly difficult to get interesting, leading roles (although Tanaka Kinuyo didn't do too bad with her three late films with Mizoguchi!).
Setsuko Hara became one of the icons of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s. Her nickname was "The Eternal Virgin" (she remained unmarried in real life), and she was considered the epitome of the traditional "Yamato nadeshiko" type of woman (the epitome of pure, demure feminine beauty).
Hara Setsuko retired from acting in 1963 and subsequently lived a reclusive life in Kamakura, refusing to be interviewed or photographed. There has been much speculation about the reasons for Hara Setsuko's sudden and complete retirement, such as her possible romantic involvement with the seven years older Ozu, who had just died. There is even speculation that she retired to Kamakura to be near his grave in that city. This seems nonsense to me: Kamakura is a nice and quiet bed town, so suitable for retirees, but also close to Yokohama, where Hara Setsuko was born.
Hara herself confessed at her last press conference that she never really enjoyed acting and only became an actress to support her family before the war. This is part of the truth: based on an article in Nippon.com by nonfiction writer Ishii Taeko who wrote a biography of Hara Setsuko, the actress was not satisfied with the roles she had to play, especially in films by Ozu. Instead of the quiet, demure woman who bows to convention, she wanted to play a strong woman who takes her life in her own hands, as she did in the two films she made with Kurosawa. But the public had come to expect "Yamato nadeshiko" roles from her, and it must have been difficult to change.
Another reason may be found in her family's unhappy relationship with the Japanese film world. After her visit to Germany in 1937, she herself had criticized the Japanese film world for its bad manners, especially toward women, while in Germany filmmakers (and actresses) were honored as true artists. But more than that, she was strongly influenced by her brother-in-law, Kumagai Hisatora, who first introduced her to the film world and later made the months-long trip to Germany, France and the U.S. with the 17-year-old actress. Kumagai made only a few films, but the most famous is 1938's The Abe Clan, based on a story by Mori Ogai, a period film sanctifying Bushido about the mass suicide of an entire clan in the 17th century. With Japan's entry into the war in 1937, Kumagai began a series of films glorifying militarism, but more than that, he left the cinema in 1941 and fell into a fanatical and rabid ultra-nationalism, which led him to found a nationalist group, the Divine School. After Japan surrendered, Kumagai was considered a war criminal and banned from the film industry for many years. He returned to the cinema as a producer and director only in 1953 (after the end of the occupation), but made only a handful of films before retiring.
Hara Setsuko had always been close to her brother-in-law and couldn't forgive the movie industry for punishing only her brother-in-law (though I suppose he wasn't really punished for the pro-war movies he made, as that was nothing special, but for his extreme nationalism, which led him to found an ultra-rightist group and devote several years to that activity). But Hara Setsuko wanted to rehabilitate Kumagai and even turned down other opportunities to appear in his movies. These were, for example, Shirauo (in which her brother, who was the cameraman, was tragically killed in an accident on the set) and Chiekosho, a story about the wife of the poet Takamura Kotaro (see my translation of two poems about her), as well as a children's movie.
Conclusion: I think it was her dislike of the Japanese film world (and public) for not letting her play the roles she really wanted, and for what she saw as the unfair treatment of her brother-in-law, that led to her decision to quit and - fed up with the publicity - to become a virtual hermit in her house in Kamakura for the remaining 53 years of her life. It seems she mainly stayed at home and didn't even travel. Her maid did all the shopping. In other words, she had become a real hikikomori...
Note: The anime film Millennium Actress (2001), directed by Satoshi Kon, is partly based on Hara Setsuko's reclusive life.
She starred in Kurosawa's first postwar film, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), in one of her best roles ever. She also worked with director Yoshimura in A Ball at the Anjo House (1947). In these films she was portrayed as the "new" Japanese woman, looking forward to a bright democratic future.
Hara's first of six films with Yasujiro Ozu was Late Spring (1949), and their collaboration would last for the next twelve years. In Late Spring, she plays Noriko, a devoted daughter who prefers to stay at home and care for her father rather than marry, despite the urging of her family members. In Early Summer (1951) she played an unrelated character, also named Noriko, who wants to marry and finds the courage to do so without her family's approval. This was followed by Tokyo Story (1953), perhaps her and Ozu's best-known film, in which she played a widow, also named Noriko, whose husband was killed in the war. Her devotion to her late husband worries her in-laws, who insist that she move on and remarry. Her last films with Yasujiro Ozu were Late Autumn, where she plays a mother who repeats the role of Ryu Chishu in Late Spring, and The End of Summer, Ozu's penultimate film before his death in 1963, where she doesn't have the main role either, as she is one of a group of sisters. She was now 43 and, as is unfortunately the case for actresses, it became increasingly difficult to get interesting, leading roles (although Tanaka Kinuyo didn't do too bad with her three late films with Mizoguchi!).
Setsuko Hara became one of the icons of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s. Her nickname was "The Eternal Virgin" (she remained unmarried in real life), and she was considered the epitome of the traditional "Yamato nadeshiko" type of woman (the epitome of pure, demure feminine beauty).
Hara Setsuko retired from acting in 1963 and subsequently lived a reclusive life in Kamakura, refusing to be interviewed or photographed. There has been much speculation about the reasons for Hara Setsuko's sudden and complete retirement, such as her possible romantic involvement with the seven years older Ozu, who had just died. There is even speculation that she retired to Kamakura to be near his grave in that city. This seems nonsense to me: Kamakura is a nice and quiet bed town, so suitable for retirees, but also close to Yokohama, where Hara Setsuko was born.
Hara herself confessed at her last press conference that she never really enjoyed acting and only became an actress to support her family before the war. This is part of the truth: based on an article in Nippon.com by nonfiction writer Ishii Taeko who wrote a biography of Hara Setsuko, the actress was not satisfied with the roles she had to play, especially in films by Ozu. Instead of the quiet, demure woman who bows to convention, she wanted to play a strong woman who takes her life in her own hands, as she did in the two films she made with Kurosawa. But the public had come to expect "Yamato nadeshiko" roles from her, and it must have been difficult to change.
Another reason may be found in her family's unhappy relationship with the Japanese film world. After her visit to Germany in 1937, she herself had criticized the Japanese film world for its bad manners, especially toward women, while in Germany filmmakers (and actresses) were honored as true artists. But more than that, she was strongly influenced by her brother-in-law, Kumagai Hisatora, who first introduced her to the film world and later made the months-long trip to Germany, France and the U.S. with the 17-year-old actress. Kumagai made only a few films, but the most famous is 1938's The Abe Clan, based on a story by Mori Ogai, a period film sanctifying Bushido about the mass suicide of an entire clan in the 17th century. With Japan's entry into the war in 1937, Kumagai began a series of films glorifying militarism, but more than that, he left the cinema in 1941 and fell into a fanatical and rabid ultra-nationalism, which led him to found a nationalist group, the Divine School. After Japan surrendered, Kumagai was considered a war criminal and banned from the film industry for many years. He returned to the cinema as a producer and director only in 1953 (after the end of the occupation), but made only a handful of films before retiring.
Hara Setsuko had always been close to her brother-in-law and couldn't forgive the movie industry for punishing only her brother-in-law (though I suppose he wasn't really punished for the pro-war movies he made, as that was nothing special, but for his extreme nationalism, which led him to found an ultra-rightist group and devote several years to that activity). But Hara Setsuko wanted to rehabilitate Kumagai and even turned down other opportunities to appear in his movies. These were, for example, Shirauo (in which her brother, who was the cameraman, was tragically killed in an accident on the set) and Chiekosho, a story about the wife of the poet Takamura Kotaro (see my translation of two poems about her), as well as a children's movie.
Conclusion: I think it was her dislike of the Japanese film world (and public) for not letting her play the roles she really wanted, and for what she saw as the unfair treatment of her brother-in-law, that led to her decision to quit and - fed up with the publicity - to become a virtual hermit in her house in Kamakura for the remaining 53 years of her life. It seems she mainly stayed at home and didn't even travel. Her maid did all the shopping. In other words, she had become a real hikikomori...
Note: The anime film Millennium Actress (2001), directed by Satoshi Kon, is partly based on Hara Setsuko's reclusive life.
[Hara Setsuko in Tokyo Monogatari]
Hara Setsuko's major films are:
1. "No Regrets for Our Youth" with Kurosawa Akira (1946)
A strong feminist statement (like the films of Mizoguchi and Kinugasa from the same year) and the only film "macho director" Kurosawa made with a woman in the leading role. Hara played a strong woman who makes her own decisions, even if it means being criticized by society. Her portrayal of a rebellious heroine who fights against her fate was unprecedented in Japanese cinema, and the U.S. occupation government was delighted. Hara was inspired by Ingrid Bergman, and this was the kind of role she liked best.
2. "A Ball at the Anjo House" with Yoshimura Kozaburo (1947)
Here, Hara played a more subdued role than in Kurosawa's film, but it was still a positive and active one. In a story that owes a lot to Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, the father, who has to sell the family mansion, is on the verge of suicide, but his optimistic daughter shows him how to start again. At the end of the movie, they dance the tango together. Yoshimura, who worked at Shochiku, has been compared to Mizoguchi for his sympathetic portrayal of female characters.
3. "Late Spring" with Ozu Yasujiro (1949)
In Ozu's early films with Hara Setsuko, her character flips to obedient traditionalism, in sharp contrast to the earlier postwar films she made. She plays Noriko, a daughter who lives with her widowed father (Ryu Chishu). He wants her to get married and have a life of her own, she wants to stay at home and look after her father. She is not particularly interested in marrying and setting up a family. In the end, the father pushes her into marriage by pretending he himself is getting married again. Interesting is that the wedding ceremony, which in a Hollywood film would have formed the grand finale, is entirely left out, we do not even get to see the face of the groom - for Noriko this obviously was not a highlight in her life. The outrageous thing is the old-fashioned view that Noriko must marry since she is getting in her "late spring." Against her own inclination, Hara Setsuko had to play the obedient daughter who bows to convention.
4. "The Idiot" with Kurosawa Akira (1951)
Kurosawa was a great Dostoyevsky fan and based his movie on the author's classic masterpiece. He transposed the story to Hokkaido and post-war Japan - the "idiot" here is a former soldier suffering from epileptic seizures caused by wartime experiences. Hara Setsuko has an interesting part. She plays Taeko, a stunning femme fatale, and another rebellious role she enjoyed. This melodrama of jealousy and resentment, in which "the idiot" tries to help a young man ruined by the war and a woman pursued by a wealthy but cruel suitor, failed at the box office, also because Toho made too many cuts in the long and complex movie, making it sometimes difficult to understand. Also in the West it is almost unknown, but it contains one of the most interesting performances by Hara Setsuko, and a very sexy one at that.
5. "Early Summer" with Ozu Yasujiro (1951)
The second "Noriko film" with Hara Setsuko. Chronicles three generations of the Kamakura-based Mamiya family, which is seeking a promising match for the eldest daughter, Noriko. But Noriko has firm ideas who she will select as a husband and surprises her family - when the compulsion to finally get married becomes too strong -, by abruptly opting for a childhood friend, who is a poor doctor going to be posted in far-off northern Japan. In other words, Noriko fulfills her family's wishes, but also tears the family apart by making her own choice so that she can leave the family (it is almost a sort of revenge!). In fact, after she moves away, the family lacks her important contribution to the household income and has to split up.
6. "Repast" with Naruse Mikio (1951)
If you ever wondered what might happen to Hara Setsuko after bowing to tradition and marrying against her will and inclinations, watch the films of Naruse Mikio starring this actress. In "Repast" she plays the wife of a low-salaried clerk (Uehara Ken) living in Osaka. There are no children. She begins to realize that all those years with the same man have given her no feeling of self-realization and she starts weighing her options - which are however rather meager. She takes a time-out by returning to her family in Tokyo, seeking a job, but in the end resigns herself to going back to her husband - so she capitulates to tradition after all. She is too weak to rebel. This is the first of six films that Naruse in the coming decade will base on the novels of Hayashi Fumiko.
7. "Tokyo Story" with Ozu Yasujiro (1953)
The story of this classic movie is all too famous. An elderly couple (Ryu Chishu, Higashiyama Chieko) from Onomichi visit their preoccupied children in Tokyo, but they are obviously a burden and are packed off to Atami. Back home, the mother dies, and now it is the children's turn to visit the city of their birth. The only truly loving child is the widowed daughter-in-law (Hara Setsuko), who is also the only one who understands the feelings of the widowed father. She offers to stay with him now that he is alone, but he refuses - she should remarry. Hara Setsuko appears late in the movie and she doesn't have the only leading role. She plays the perfect Yamato Nadeshiko daughter-in-law until she breaks down and starts crying at the very end of the movie while talking to her father-in-law. Apparently, things are not as peaceful and stable under the surface as they seem.
8. "Sound of the Mountain" with Naruse Mikio (1954)
Based on the novel of the same name by Kawabata Yasunari, this is another movie about Hara Setsuko's difficult life as a young bride in a loveless marriage. When her husband shuns her for another woman, she finds some relief in her friendship with her father-in-law (Yamamura So) - who is also in a loveless marriage, but he and his wife have learned to suppress their mutual resentment and act only as business partners. Ken Uehara plays the husband from hell, an archetypal slob who is completely indifferent to his wife, often comes home drunk, leaves his clothes on the floor for his wife to pick up, and on top of that he has a mistress and does not even try to hide it. Hara's distinguished father-in-law is one of those rare specimens in Naruse: the sympathetic male character. His feelings for his daughter-in-law are purely platonic. At some point in the movie, his daughter, Hara's sister-in-law, arrives at their house: she has left her husband, but is so bitter about her situation that she neglects the little daughter she has brought with her. Her predicament offers a glimpse into the future of Hara, who happens to be pregnant at the time. She therefore decides to have an abortion, hating her husband so much that she refuses to bear his child. The difficulty of her situation inspires Hara to perhaps her best performance to date. She expresses complex, conflicting emotions with a subtlety that surprises even longtime admirers. The movie ends with the famous walk in the park, a lyrical sequence with Hara and her father-in-law. The freedom of the open spaces of the park contrasts with the powerlessness of the couple. The irony, of course, is that Hara and her father-in-law would have made the perfect couple, sharing a rare sense of harmony and respect for each other.