The Cinematheque

“Naruse’s masterpiece … What’s most impressive isn’t its fatalism or resignation but its energy and vivid portraiture.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

One of Naruse’s pantheon films, this character-driven tale of four retired geishas is based on three stories by Hayashi Fumiko. Sugimura Haruko heads the cast as cynical Kin, who long ago abandoned men for her new passion: money. Kin now makes a tidy profit wheeling and dealing in real estate, and doling out loans at interest to her former geisha pals Nobu, Tamae, and Tomi, each of whom lives in meagre circumstances and middle-aged disappointment. The reappearance of ex-lover Seki, with whom she once contemplated double suicide, fails to melt Kin’s cold heart, but when a letter arrives from Tabe (Uehara Ken), another old flame, she begins to get her romantic hopes up. Naruse’s dramatic touch is characteristically subtle, detailed, and poignant; his handling of performance is as sure as ever. The film’s 1985 release in the US found Vincent Canby hailing it as ​“extraordinarily elegant and somber … Late Chrysanthemums is 31 years old but, for us, it’s a major new work.”

In Japanese with English subtitles

“Naruse’s most perfect film … A film of unbridled riches.”

Keith Uhlich, Slant Magazine