What Did the Lady Forget?

What Did the Lady Forget? (淑女は何を忘れたか, Shukujo wa nani wo wasureta ka) is a 1937 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

Shukujo wa nani o wasureta ka
What Did the Lady Forget?
From left to right: Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Chōko Iida and Sumiko Kurishima in Shukujo wa nani o wasureta ka (淑女は何を忘れたか) directed by Yasujirō Ozu - 1937
Directed byYasujirō Ozu
Written byAkira Fushimi
Yasujirō Ozu (as James Maki)
StarringTatsuo Saitō
Sumiko Kurishima
Michiko Kuwano
Music bySenji Itō
CinematographyYuuharu Atsuta
Hideo Shigehara
Edited byKenkichi Hara
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • 1937 (1937)
Running time
71 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Komiya (Tatsuo Saitō) is an affluent, respected and good-natured professor of medicine at a Tokyo university. He has a wife, Tokiko (Sumiko Kurishima), though they are without children. His niece from Osaka, Setsuko (Michiko Kuwano) comes for a visit. A liberated young lady who smokes and drinks, Setsuko finds Tokiko's attempts to interfere with and control her behaviour annoying.

Tokiko asks her husband to go for his usual weekend golfing trip, though Komiya is not keen. So as not to vex his wife, Komiya leaves anyway, and writes a postcard telling his wife the weather and the golfing trip was fine, but instead stays with his student, Okada, and visits a Ginza bar. Unfortunately, the weather turns bad and Komiya worries about his lie being exposed. Meanwhile, Setsuko tails her uncle and insists on Komiya taking her to visit geishas. She comes back after midnight and very drunk to her uncle's house, incurring her aunt's deep displeasure.

Komiya returns from his "trip" and Tokiko persuades him to lecture Setsuko about her behavior. Instead, behind his wife's back, Komiya asks Setsuko to intercept the offending postcard. Unfortunately Setsuko fails, and Komiya reads the card and discovers his untruthfulness. She loses her temper before the two, who leave to prevent any more friction. At a bar, Setsuko lectures her uncle for being henpecked and ask him to stand up to his wife. They return home to meet Tokiko who is angry at them for going for a drink. Unable to hold back any longer, Komiya slaps his wife. Later, Setsuko apologizes to her for causing trouble. Komiya too goes to Tokiko to apologize.

Komiya later explains to his niece in private that a man must sometimes take the "soft" approach when dealing with a woman. The married couple soon make up and Tokiko seems even charmed by her husband's new-found "manliness". Meanwhile, Setsuko is leaving Tokyo. In a date with Okada, Komiya's student, she negotiates how they will treat each other if they settle down and get married.

Cast

DVD Release

In 2010, the BFI released a Region 2 DVD of the film as a bonus feature on its Dual Format Edition (Blu-ray + DVD) of Early Summer.[1]

References
  1. "BFI Filmstore Japan". Filmstore.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
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