Arsenevich: Yasujiro Ozu - Shukujo wa nani o wasureta ka (1937)

¿Qué ha olvidado la señora?

Komiya es un profesor casado con Tokiko, una mujer muy estricta y autoritaria. Ambos se encargan de la custodia de su sobrina Setsuko, una chica muy avanzada para la época, que fuma y sale por las noches pese a ser aún menor de edad. Komiya es obligado por su mujer a jugar todos los fines de semana al golf, pero un sábado a Komiya no le apetece, así que sale de casa, deja los palos en casa de Okada, uno de sus estudiantes, y se va a un bar con un amigo. Allí se encuentra fortuitamente con Setsuko y ésta le pide que le lleve a una casa de geishas. Ante lo descabellado de la idea, Komiya se pone en contacto con Okada y le pide que acompañe a Setsuko a casa, mientras él se queda durmiendo en casa de su estudiante. Al ver aparecer a Setsuko con Okada, y descubrir que Komiya no ha ido a jugar al golf, Tokiko se enfadará seriamente con su marido y le exigirá una explicación...

What did the Lady Forget?

One of Ozu's most delightful comedies involves the minor household upheaval caused by a freewheeling Japanese debutante's visit to her henpecked professor uncle and his fussy wife. This film is blessed with a surfeit of small, droll gestures that amply demonstrate both the whimsicality and the sharpness of Ozu's observations of human behavior: the clucking communion of housewives, clever games played by singing schoolboys and the subtle, playful banter of relatives who know each others' foibles all too well. The schoolgirl character is of particular interest as a prototypical "liberated woman" who gets her uncle to take her to a geisha house and isn't afraid of letting her leg show under her skirt (here I wonder how much of this was influenced by the '30s Hollywood screwball comedies Ozu loved, or if it was truly indicative of emerging behavioral trends among Japanese women). Things come to a head though as the girl and her uncle conspire for a night away from her aunt, only to be confronted for their deception. The film stands as a provocative exploration of male-female relationships amidst the shifting mores of modern society.