Cinema
Akitsu Springs
秋津温泉
Yoshishige Yoshida · 1962
Synopsis
Towards the end of the war, Kawamoto Shūsaku, a young tubercular soldier, arrives at the hot-spring resort of Akitsu convinced that he is going to die. Shinko, the daughter of the widow who runs the inn, helps him recover, and they fall in love, but her mother separates them. For seventeen years he returns to Akitsu, married and then a father. The Rotterdam festival specifies that the film shows only the few days of each reunion, each time in a different season, between a weak-willed intellectual and a strong woman.
Context
The film adapts a novel by Fujiwara Shinji, which the director changed considerably, according to the programme of a Dutch festival. It celebrated Okada Mariko's hundredth film, of which she was co-producer with Shirai Masao, and marked the first collaboration between the actress and the man who would become her husband. It was also her first colour film, and the British Film Institute's obituary regards it as the masterpiece of his studio period. Shōchiku released it on 15 June 1962.
Who it is for
One hundred and twelve minutes, in colour, in Japanese with subtitles. No theatrical release in France; shown at Rotterdam in 2010.
Prizes and reception
Okada Mariko received the best actress awards from Kinema Junpō and the Mainichi Film Concours for it.