It seems that Mikio Naruse's 1935 film, Wife! Be Like A Rose! is considered one of his breakthrough films. It is a typical Naruse film in that it is mostly about the unhappiness of women in families. However each story has its specific causes for unhappiness. In this story of a man who has left a cold, artistic wife for a more earthy woman causes complications for the daughter he has left behind. The daughter wants to marry her fiance, but needs her father to act as a go-between for the marriage. Thus, the daughter seeks him out and gets him to return briefly in order to ensure her marriage can take place. The daughter finds sympathy for her father as she sees how he is a devoted father to his other family and sees how cold and indifferently her mother treats him as they are opposites and unable to understand one another. The film quality of the version I saw was not so good, but one can still see the virtues of Naruse's style: editing, framing shots, and different camera angles used for specific dramatic purposes.
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