"Autumn Harmony", like many of Ozu Yasujiro's films, started when someone was urged to get married. This film is even very similar to "Late Spring", except that the gender has been switched. But what is the real theme of this movie? If it's just a remake of "Late Spring" with a gender swap, there's no need to make this movie.
Pay attention to this detail, the key characters of this movie are all bereaved. Ayako, played by Setsuko Hara, lost her husband, Ayako, played by Shi Ziye, lost her father, Ayako's best friend Yuriko lost her biological mother, Ayako's blind date Goto also lost her mother, and Mr. Hirayama, a classmate who likes Akiko, lost his wife.
Several core characters have all experienced the departure of their close relatives. I believe this is not accidental, but Ozu deliberately. The theme of this film is how we live after the loss of a loved one.
Akiko lost her husband and I believe she is alone. This was especially confirmed in the conversation with Yuriko, but in the end Akiko did not remarry, but chose to live alone. At the end of the film, Qiuzi kneels alone in an empty room and folds her clothes. She suddenly feels a burst of sadness, but she seems to remember something and smiles a little.
She obviously misses her husband and traveled with Ayako before her wedding, which was the last time they traveled while her husband was still around. Qiuzi was very happy to revisit her old place, as if she was back when her husband was still there. Looking out the window, the mountains are dyed green and the rivers are green, she finally made a choice to live alone. With nostalgia for her husband, she did not want to marry again. She's happy to have this trip, she's content to have this husband, so she can endure even if there are long nights to pass.
Ayako lost her father, and when she heard that her mother was going to remarry and was with her father's good friend, she turned her face with almost everyone. She thought that only she was missing her father, and it was dirty for her mother to pursue remarriage. The loss of her father made her love her mother more and value the name father more. She dare not love, worry about her mother, and get angry with her, all because of her deep love for her father. The loss of a loved one brought her ego.
Ayako's blind date, Goto, also lost her mother when she was a teenager. Before, he had a bad temper and smashed all the clay dolls that the family had treasured for many years. The mother was so angry that she couldn't eat, but that year her mother died. We don't know the reason for Goto's mother's death, but the impact of his mother's departure on him is peace. Whether it's dealing with people or persuading Ayako to forgive his mother, he is not the boy who was irritable in his childhood. The death of his mother made him fall in love in time and behave peacefully.
Mr. Hirayama lost his wife and became a widower. When he learned that he was going to continue with Qiuzi, he disagreed ten thousandly. But when he came back and asked his son, he actually supported him. Although it was for his own sake, he let go of his guard and was willing to continue his relationship with Qiuzi. And thus particularly excited, exercise, frequent urgency. Is Hirayama's love for Akiko real? At least he didn't miss his deceased wife too much. As long as the children did not object, he immediately urged his classmates to help him matchmaking. The deceased wife brought him the impatient marriage with Akiko.
Ayako's best friend, Yuriko, lost her mother, but instead injected a kind of anger into her, she was assertive about things, and for her best friend's sake, she sighed at the alienation of her best friend's marriage and punched in the air. I like this character a lot.
Although she accepts her stepmother, she still only recognizes her biological mother in her heart. Not only for the sake of her best friend, but more she regards her best friend's mother as her own mother. She hopes that her mother can be happy, because her father has resumed the string, and she does not want her mother to suffer. That's why she went so fiercely to match Qiuzi and Pingshan, and went to Qiuzi's house to persuade Qiuzi.
At the end of the film, after the wedding, Yuriko visited Qiuzi alone with a gift, wanting to see if Qiuzi was okay, for fear that she would be sad. Hope to see Qiuzi more in the future. Encourage the pursuit of love and not let the mother suffer, which is brought to her by the death of Yuriko's mother.
Loved ones may die, but their impact on us is profound and lasting. This may be the theme that Ozu wants to explore in this film.
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