The Cinematheque

“Possibly Naruse’s most perfect entry in his preferred genre of shoshimin-eiga.”

Dag Sødtholt, Senses of Cinema

Held in the highest regard by Naruse admirers, this exquisitely realized and profoundly moving drama of a failed marriage is based on one of the major novels of Kawabata Yasunari, winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature. Naruse himself said of Sound of the Mountain, ​“This is one of my all-time favourites. I love this picture.” Hara Setsuko, reuniting with the director (they previously collaborated on Repast), is luminous as desperate housewife Kikuko, unhappily married to philandering cad Shuichi (Uehara Ken). Often alone, Kikuko finds herself spending more and more time with her kindly and considerate father-in-law Shingo (Yamamura So, in a superb performance), and a close, complex, and affectionate relationship develops between them. The film was shot in the vicinity of Kawabata’s home, and features sets designed to resemble the author’s house. Sound of the Mountain is another work of great subtlety that showcases the understated gifts of its director.

In Japanese with English subtitles

“Taking on a quiet and subtle tone, Naruse paints a complex picture of how traditional codes of family and marriage are confronted with shifting gender roles in postwar Japan.”

Vicky Wong, TIFF