SHOCHIKU

THERE WAS A FATHER

原題

父ありき

Original Title

Chichi Ariki 父ありき

Production Year

1942

Running Time

94min.

Genre

Drama

Color

Black & white

Director

Yasujiro OZU(小津安二郎)

Cast

Chishu RYU 笠智衆
Shin SABURI 佐分利信
Shuji SANO 佐野周二
Takeshi SAKAMOTO 坂本武

The only Ozu film during WWII. The story follows a single father who must live separately from his son. Later, the son follows his father’s footsteps and becomes a teacher. The profound joys and sorrows in this father-son relationship make this one of the pinnacles of Ozu’s works. The repeated fishing scenes between father and son highlight the deep bond between the two.

Synopsis

Ever since his wife died, Horikawa (Chishu Ryu) has been single-handedly raising his son Ryohei (Haruhiko Tsuda) while working as a middle school teacher in Kanazawa. But when an accident occurs on a school trip, Horikawa takes responsibility and resigns, moving back to his hometown in Nagano to work at a municipal office. When Ryohei enters middle school, he starts living in a dorm and Horikawa announces that he will work in Tokyo so that he has enough money to send Ryohei to college. Eventually, Ryohei (Shuji Sano) gets into the Imperial University in Sendai and is hired as a teacher in Akita. Horikawa asks Ryohei to consider marrying Fumi (Mitsuko Mito), the daughter of Hirata (Takeshi Sakamoto), his former colleague in Kanazawa. Ryohei bashfully tells his father that it’s up to him, but a few days later, Horikawa suddenly collapses and passes away. In the end, Ryohei and Fumi head to Akita together.