• 妻 (Wife), 7/19/19 (Fri)

Naruse’s 1953 film, based on a story by his muse Hayashi Fumiko, opens with voiceovers by a wife and husband grumbling to themselves about their unhappy marriage. The wife Mineko complains about the husband Juichi’s lack of ambition and ability, their financial strain and Juichi’s clear lack of interest in her. She busies herself with small sewing jobs and overseeing their upstairs tenants to boost their income, but gets little support from Juichi. Meanwhile, Juichi bemoans his bureaucratic job, his wife’s undeniably slovenly ways and the draining routine of his unexciting home life. He compares the sloppy bento prepared by his wife with the beautifully arranged lunch eaten by the cheery typist at the next desk. He understandably becomes drawn to the typist, who returns the affection. Mineko is livid when she finds out about their secret trysts and confronts the woman, who is shamed into returning to her hometown. The couple thus remain together but out of habit rather than romance. The film ends with another set of voiceovers as the wife and husband each contemplate whether to leave the other – would that solve anything? would being single at this point be any easier for either? – while carefully avoiding showing how that is resolved.

The couple are the main players among a large cast of characters encompassing house guests, company workers and numerous neighbors and friends, who are worked intricately into the plot. Marriages are generally shown as unhappy, most strikingly in a memorable appearance by a middle-aged woman who takes drastic action upon discovering that her husband is the “patron” of one of the young house guests. Another woman talks of leaving her husband and setting up on her own, leaning on Mineko to join her. On the other hand, life is no easier for the working typist, a lonely widow with a child who wants nothing more than to find a husband, even if it’s someone else’s. So marriage is something to be sought, for both societal and personal reasons, as well as avoided. The film adeptly steers from easy conclusions. It’s not always subtle in its approach: Mineko, for instance, unappealingly picks her teeth and cleans her ear in front of guests in a presumed attempt to show her unattractive side, and there’s a lame attempt at humor when water is accidentally dumped on a guest. Still, it presents a balanced and sympathetic picture on all ends, refraining from assigning blame in favor of a more realistic portrayal of how people behave in difficult situations.

It’s possible to see the story as a critique of the status of women in postwar Japan given the limited possibilities faced by the frustrated Mineko. But Juichi doesn’t have much more choice himself in the restricted role given to males, and Mineko is friendly with at least one successful businesswoman, who rouses Mineko’s ire by insinuating that her marriage issues may stem partly from her own shortcomings. In one curious scene, Juichi and his boss stare lustfully at a beautiful young woman on a train, which seems misogynistic at first. But the woman herself takes no notice whatsoever as she goes about her business and appears perfectly capable of taking care of herself. These pictures of independent women suggest that the various “trapped” wives are possibly being held back not by society but by their own inability to move forward. We should be careful about seeing the decidedly imperfect wife at the story’s heart as a symbol of anything.

I was initially disappointed to learn that the main actress was not Naruse stalwart Takamine Hideko but the lesser known Takamine Mieko (no relation). I needn’t have worried. She offers a closely observed portrayal of a flawed individual dealing with life as best she knows how. Uemura Ken is equally fine as the taciturn husband who is unable to find satisfaction in his marriage or job but incapable of doing anything about it, even when the chance at a future (in the form of the widowed typist) presents itself. Both manage to be utterly sympathetic characters despite, or because of, their inadequacies. They lead an all-around superb cast, with special mention to an outstanding Honma Noriko in her brief scene as the wife driven to desperate straits and Tanami Yatsuko as the typist and would-be husband stealer. An incisive portrait of a marriage.