Directed by Mikio Naruse • 1954 • Japan
Starring Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara, So Yamamura
Mikio Naruse’s THE SOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN (YAMA NO OTO) was one of the director’s personal favorites among his own movies. The story concerns a woman, Kukiko (Setsuko Hara), trapped in a loveless marriage to Otto (Ken Uehara) and living as a virtual servant to her in-laws. The one solace she has is the sensitivity of her father-in-law (So Yamamura), who tries to better her life in increasingly bold ways. But matters become even more complicated when Kukiko finds herself pregnant, and decides to end the pregnancy without ever revealing her condition.
Up Next in Starring Setsuko Hara
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Tokyo Twilight
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1957 • Japan
One of Ozu's most piercing portraits of family strife, Tokyo Twilight follows the parallel paths of two sisters contending with an absent mother, unwanted pregnancy, and marital discord.
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Late Autumn
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1960 • Japan
The great actress and Ozu regular Setsuko Hara plays a mother gently trying to persuade her daughter to marry in this glowing portrait of family love and conflict; a reworking of Ozu's 1949 masterpiece Late Spring.
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The End of Summer
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1961 • Japan
The Kohayakawa family is thrown into distress when childlike father Manbei takes up with his old mistress, in one of Ozu's most deftly modulated blendings of comedy and tragedy.
