Late Spring (1949)

Setsuko Hara: Noriko Somiya

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Quotes 

• Noriko Somiya : I want us to stay as we are. I don't want to go anywhere. Being with you is enough for me. I'm happy just as I am. Even marriage couldn't make me any happier. I'm content with this life... I just want to be by your side. I'm so fond of you. Being with you like this is my greatest happiness. Please, father, why can't we stay just as we are? I know marriage won't make me any happier.

  Shukichi Somiya : That's not true. You'll see. I'm 56 years old. My life is nearing its end. But your life as a couple is just beginning. You're starting a new life, one that you and Satake must build together. One in which I play no part. That's the order of human life and history.

• Noriko Somiya : Father, for your loving care these many years, I thank you.

  Shukichi Somiya : Be happy and be a good wife. Be happy.

• Noriko Somiya : So which type am I?

  Shôichi Hattori : Let's see. I'd say you're not the jealous type.

  Noriko Somiya : Oh, but I am.

  Shôichi Hattori : You sure?

  Noriko Somiya : As the saying goes, when I slice pickled radish, it comes out all strung together.

  Shôichi Hattori : That's a matter of the relative interaction between you and the knife. There's no logical connection between pickled radish and jealousy, now is there?

  Noriko Somiya : So you like pickles strung together?

  Shôichi Hattori : At times I wouldn't mind them.

• Masa Taguchi : I have a fine prospect. Won't you meet him? His name is Satake. He studied science at Tokyo University. He's from a good family. He works at Nitto Chemicals. His father was a director there until the war. He's 34. Just right for you. His office speaks highly of him. What do you say? He looks like that American. The man in that baseball movie.

  Noriko Somiya : Gary Cooper?

  Masa Taguchi : That's right, Cooper. Looks just like him. He has the exact same mouth. The top half is different, though.

• Jo Onodera : You're looking healthy and plump.

  Noriko Somiya : Really?

• Noriko Somiya : I'd find it distasteful.

  Jo Onodera : What's distasteful? My wife?

  Noriko Somiya : No. You!

  Jo Onodera : Why?

  Noriko Somiya : It seems - indecent.

  Jo Onodera : Indecent?

  Noriko Somiya : Filthy, actually.

  Jo Onodera : Filthy?

  [laughs] 

  Jo Onodera : How far I've fallen! Filthy, eh?

• Noriko Somiya : Who are you to lecture me about marriage?

  Aya Kitagawa : I'm an authority on the subject.

  Noriko Somiya : Authority? You're a divorcee.

  Aya Kitagawa : So what? I only have one "out". Next time I'll get a run.

  Noriko Somiya : Still stepping up to bat?

  Aya Kitagawa : Why not? I just struck out. Next time I'll crack it out of the park.

• Aya Kitagawa : What's there to think about? Go on, marry him. Good men are rare these days. Grab him.

  Noriko Somiya : But I don't like it.

  Aya Kitagawa : What?

  Noriko Somiya : Arranged marriage.

  Aya Kitagawa : Don't be picky. You'd never marry unless someone arranged it.

  Noriko Somiya : But...

  Aya Kitagawa : It's true, isn't it? If you found someone you liked, would you walk up and propose? You're not that bold. You'd just blush and squirm in your seat.

  Noriko Somiya : That's true.

  Aya Kitagawa : An arranged marriage suits someone like you.

• Aya Kitagawa : She couldn't make it. Her tummy is this big. Seven months along.

  Noriko Somiya : When did she get married?

  Aya Kitagawa : She didn't.

• Shukichi Somiya : How time flies. One minute we arrive, and the next we're leaving.

  Noriko Somiya : But I loved it here in Kyoto.

  Shukichi Somiya : I'm glad we came, but a day in Nara would've been nice too. Why didn't we do this more often? This is our last trip together.