The taste of saury - Sanma no ji

Japanese film. Produced by Shochiku in 1962. The last work of director Ozu Yasujiro. Old salaryman Hirayama Shuhei (Ryuuchishu) is told by his colleagues to marry off his daughter Michiko (Iwashita Shima, 1941-), and he rushes to arrange the marriage for his daughter, but due to a misunderstanding he is unable to marry the person he loves, and instead marries someone else who is recommended to him. A masterpiece that embodies the best of Ozu Yasujiro's film narrative style from his later years. The main theme of the story is the daughter's marriage, a theme common to all of his works from "Late Spring" (1949) through to "Autumn Weather" (1960), but the cruelty seen in Ozu's works is also prominent along with humor, such as the pitiful state of the daughter (Sugimura Haruko) of Hirayama's mentor (Tono Eijiro, 1907-1994) and the scene where, after the wedding, a bar madam (Kishida Kyoko, 1930-2006), who resembles Hirayama's late wife, mistakes him for coming back from a funeral, but he does not deny it. At the end, the mirror in the daughter's room and the staircase, which had not appeared on screen until then, are shown, and the image of the father drinking water in the kitchen overlaps with Ozu in his later years.

[Shohei Sakajiri]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本映画。1962年（昭和37）松竹作品。小津安二郎(おづやすじろう)監督の遺作。老サラリーマンの平山周平（笠智衆(りゅうちしゅう)）は仲間から娘の路子（岩下志麻(いわしたしま)、1941―　）を嫁に出すようにいわれ、娘の結婚話に奔走するが、行き違いから好きな人とは結婚できず、勧められた別な人と結婚する。小津安二郎の晩期の映画話法の粋(すい)を凝らした傑作。娘の結婚話が主題となっている点では、『晩春』（1949）以来、『秋日和(びより)』（1960）に至るまで共通の主題であるが、平山の恩師（東野英治郎(とうのえいじろう)、1907―1994）の娘（杉村春子(すぎむらはるこ)）の無残な姿や、結婚式の後、亡き妻に似ているというバーのマダム（岸田今日子(きしだきょうこ)、1930―2006）に、葬式帰りと間違えられるも、否定しないところなど、ユーモアとともに小津作品にみられる残酷さも際だっている。ラストに、娘の部屋の鏡や、それまで画面に出てこなかった階段を映し出し、台所で水を飲む父親の姿に、晩年の小津の姿が重なる。

［坂尻昌平］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例