"I used up all my love and affection on that man. The fire inside my heart is gone now. What remains is only some smoke of sadness. That's who I am."
A 34-year-old, somewhat awkward manager of an auto repair shop (Shuji Sano) is urged by his friend to marry a beautiful young woman (Setsuko Hara). The man fears he comes from a lower class and isn't worthy of her, since they come from different worlds. She likes ballet, he likes boxing; she likes Chopin, he likes the folk song of his hometown. However, there are other issues that complicate things considerably: it turns out that her family has lost their fortune and need an influx of money, and also that she was once engaged to a man she truly loved, but who died shortly after the war. The man is wild for her, but senses her aloofness and doesn't like the idea of marrying a woman who doesn't truly love him.
The film thus involves peeling back the layers of possible motivations in a relationship to arrive at what's honest, the process of which was something I loved. The story is simple and maybe a little melodramatic, but the scenes which explored the couple's feelings towards each other are wonderful, in no small part due to Setsuko Hara, who is so expressive here. The performances across the board are strong too, including Sano, Fusaka Fujima (the woman's grandmother), and Sachiko Murase (the owner of the bar, and the man's friend). In a couple of fine scenes, the latter two somewhat unintentionally channel feelings from both sides of the relationship in ways that are blunt, the grandmother because she's starting to lose her faculties, and the bar owner because she's been drinking. It's Setsuko Hara who is the true star here though, elevating the film every time she's on the screen. Kinoshita doesn't give us a masterpiece here, but between the film's playfulness, its cast, and the feelings it touches on, it was an enjoyable watch.
