Equinox Flower

Colour, 35 mm
Japan, 1958, 118 min
Section: Yasujiro Ozu
Oficiální stránky: www.shochiku.com/film

Synopsis

A businessman named Hirayama brings fatherly authority to bear, not only regarding his two daughters, but also in the capacity of advisor for generation gap conflicts involving an ex-schoolmate and family friends. But when his older daughter´s suitor asks his permission to marry her, he forgets his wise proclamations and despotically asserts his will. In the end, the women around him moderate his disagreement through diplomatic manipulation, but the father doesn´t achieve a complete reconciliation with his independent daughter until the very end. Despite the fact that the story takes place in summer, the atmosphere corresponds with the autumn when the equinox flower of the film´s title blooms. Ozu further develops a theme from the fifties - the breakdown of traditional paternal authority, here executed with ironic pathos.