The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (“Todake no kyodai”)
Directed by Yasujirô Ozu
Written by Yasujirô Ozu and Tadao Ikeda
1941/Japan
Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing/Streaming on Hulu Plus
Watching Fantasia (1940) I understood we could never win the war. “These people seem to like complications”, I thought to myself. — Yasujirô Ozu
War seems very far away in Ozu’s 1941 film that presages his treatment of similar themes in Tokyo Story.
The story begins on Mrs. Toda’s 61st birthday. We learn that the 61st birthday begins a new “cycle” in Japanese tradition – the person begins again in this year. Mr. Toda is 69 years old. All the many sons and daughters come to the party. Most of the children are married. Grown son Shojiro and daughter Setsuko still live at home, though Setsuko is soon to be married. Shojiro is by far the least filial of the children, having to be coaxed out of his room to sit for the family portrait. The Toda’s are a wealthy and happy family.
.Mrs.Toda’s “new beginning” takes place before the day is out. Her husband is struck with chest pains that very evening. He is dead by morning. After his death, it is discovered that he was the guarantor on a large loan to a bankrupt company. The house and all its contents will need to be sold to pay the debt. All that is left is an uninhabitable country villa. Setsuko’s fiance bows out immediately. Shojiro decides to leave for China to work in one of his father’s companies.
Mrs. Toda and Setsuko start be shuttled from one of the married children’s families to another. They are not really welcomed anywhere. The ladies of these houses, even blood daughters, find the soft-spoken Mrs. Toda a major inconvenience/embarrassment. The two homeless ladies are miserable. A solution to their problem comes from the most unlikely quarter.
Although this story is set firmly in the context of Japanese culture (class issues prevent Setsuko from working), the problems it addresses are universal. Having one’s relatives move in is challenging whatever the time and place and starting a new life is not easy. Ozu makes the story so real and understated that it is very moving. Needless to say, the composition of the frames is exquisite.
If it were not for the son’s work in China, there would no hint that this was filmed in the midst of the Great Pacific War.
The complete film is currently available on YouTube.
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