Nyonin aishû

The film title Nyonin Aishu means the sadness of women and this summarizes this story of a "conservative and indecisive" Japanese woman (played by Irie Takako) who marries for security rather than to the man she loves.

This is of the same theme of Naruse's later masterpiece Meshi. Both films are about estranged housewives with the former more conventional and the latter (Mrs Okamoto) more subtle, more suitable for a changed Japanese society after the second world war. Hara Setsuko is also more powerful actress than Irie Takako though both serves well as two dutiful wives in a pre and post Word War II traditional Japanese family that win much of our pity. Ken Uehara also played a more realistic husband that could win some of our men's sympathy, if we men deserve any.

Together they serves a nice couplet of Naruse in his portrayal of sadness of modern married women.