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17 June 1920 – 5 September 2015 was a Japanese actress. Though best known for her performances in Yasujirō Ozu's films Late Spring (1949) and Tokyo Story (1953), she had already appeared in 67 films before working with Ozu.原節子 She is widely considered to be one of the greatest Japanese actresses of all time.
She came to prominence as an actress in the 1937 German-Japanese co-production Die Tochter des Samurai ( The Daughter of the Samurai), known in Japan as Atarashiki Tsuchi ( The New Earth), directed by Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami. In the film, Hara plays a woman who unsuccessfully attempts to immolate herself in a volcano. She continued to portray in many of her films until the end of World War II, like The Suicide Troops of the Watchtower (1942) and The Green Mountains (1949), directed by Tadashi Imai, and Toward the Decisive Battle in the Sky, directed by Kunio Watanabe.
Hara’s first film of six with Yasujirō Ozu was Late Spring (1949), and their collaboration would last for the next twelve years. In Late Spring, she plays Noriko, a devoted daughter who prefers to stay at home and take care of her father than to marry, despite the urgings of her family members. In Early Summer (1951), she played an unrelated character also called Noriko, who wanted to get married, and finds the courage to do so without her family’s approval. This was followed by Tokyo Story (1953), perhaps her and Ozu's best-known film, in which she played a widow, also called Noriko whose husband was killed in the war. Her devotion to her deceased husband worries her , who insist that she should move on and remarry.
Hara's last major role was Riku, the wife of Ōishi Yoshio, in the film (1962).
After seeing a Setsuko Hara film, the novelist Shūsaku Endō wrote: "We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depths of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: Can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?"
After more than half a century of seclusion, Hara died of pneumonia at a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, on 5 September 2015, at the age of 95. Her death was not reported by the media until 25 November of that year due to her family only approaching them later (presumably for privacy). 原節子さん死去、日本映画黄金期を代表する女優 日刊スポーツ 2015年11月25日 The anime film Millennium Actress (2001), directed by Satoshi Kon, is partly based on her life, although it was produced and released more than a decade prior to her death.
In 2000, Hara was selected by celebrities as the greatest Japanese actress in Kinema Junpo's list of the greatest 20th-century movie actors and actresses.Kinema Junpo, "20th Century Movie Stars, June 2000"
Postwar career
Hara remained in Japan after 1945 and continued making films. She starred in Akira Kurosawa’s first postwar film, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946). She also worked with director Kimisaburo Yoshimura in The Ball at the Anjo House (1947) and Keisuke Kinoshita in Here’s to the Girls (1949). In all of these films, she was portrayed as the “new” Japanese woman, looking forward to a bright future. However, in most of her movies, especially those directed by Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse she plays the typical Japanese woman, as either daughter, wife, or mother.
Later years
Hara, who never married, is nicknamed "the Eternal Virgin" in Japan and is a symbol of the golden era of Japanese cinema of the 1950s. She quit acting in 1963 (the year Ozu died), and subsequently led a secluded life in Kamakura, where many of her films with Ozu were made, refusing to be interviewed or photographed. For years, people would speculate about her reasons for leaving the public eye. Hara herself confessed during her final press conference that she never really enjoyed acting and was only using it as a means to support her family; however, many people continued to speculate over her possible romantic involvement with Ozu, or the possibility of failing eyesight. Hara was an avid smoker and drinker.原節子さん「実はさばさばしていて男っぽい方」共演女優語る, 2015, AERA.dot
Legacy
Hara is considered by many critics and filmmakers to be the greatest Japanese actress of all time. Yasujirō Ozu, with whom she worked six times, said of her in 1951: "It is rare for an actress to perform as well as Setsuko Hara. She's a radish, without rather than revealing his own ignorance of the director not noticing the radish. In fact, without flattery, I think she's the best Japanese film actress." Asahi Entertainment Newspaper, 9 September 1951 In his 1991 autobiography, Chishu Ryu described Hara as "not just beautiful, but also a skilled actress. She didn't make mistakes. Ozu rarely praised actors, ever. But he did say, "She's good", which meant she was truly something."Ofuna Diary: Memories of Yasujiro Ozu, 1991, Chishu Ryu Actors and crew members who worked with Hara described her as shy but also friendly to work with.Uncovering the fresh appeal of Setsuko Hara, famous for her work with director Yasujiro Ozu; JFF, September 16, 2022
Selected filmography
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