Setsuko hara akira kurosawa biography

It is with a hint of sadness but also an enormous amount of respect that I report the passing of Japanese screen legend Setsuko Hara (1920-2015). Hara died of pneumonia on September 5 but the news of her death was made public only today.

Hara, who turned 95 earlier this year was best known for her roles in six films by Yasujiro Ozu, including Tokyo Story which is often considered the greatest Japanese film ever made. Hara also appeared in two of Akira Kurosawa‘s films, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) and The Idiot (1951), as well as numerous works by Mikio Naruse and others.

Japan’s “eternal virgin”, Hara never married and famously quit acting in 1963, the year Yasujiro Ozu died and at a time when her career was at its zenith. Hara (born Aida Masae) had since led a very private life in Kamakura, turning down all requests for interviews and refusing to make herself available for photographs.

Hara’s total vanishing act undoubtedly only solidified her status as a screen legend, while also keeping her eternally young in the eyes of the public. It should, however, in no way diminish the appreciation of the enormous talent, grace and presence that she brought to the silver screen.

Un travail qui a démystifié une légende

« Je vous demande de découvrir pourquoi Hara Setsuko a quitté le cinéma, pour pouvoir enfin élucider “l’énigme de l’ère Shôwa”. » Telle était la mission confiée à Ishii Taeko par un éditeur quelques années avant la mort de l’actrice qui n’avait accordé aucune interview depuis 1962, quand elle avait mis fin à sa carrière à l’âge de 42 ans.

Ishii Taeko  s’est rendu à plusieurs reprises dans la maison de Kamakura où l’actrice vivait retirée du monde, dans l’espoir qu’à plus de 90 ans, elle accepterait peut-être de parler de sa vie. À chaque occasion, le neveu de l’actrice et sa femme, qui vivaient avec elle, l’ont aimablement reçue, mais l’auteure n’a jamais pu voir Hara Setsuko. Le 17 juin 2015, jour de ses 95 ans, lorsqu’Ishii Taeko est allée apporter des fleurs et une lettre, le neveu lui a déclaré  comme il le faisait toujours que sa tante allait bien. Trois mois après, celle-ci avait quitté ce monde. « La Vérité sur Hara Setsuko » (Hara Setsuko no shinjitsu), publié l’année suivante, a demandé à son auteur trois ans et demi d’un travail intense pendant lesquels elle a lu de nombreux documents sur la période allant de l’avant-guerre à l’après-guerre, et recueilli de précieux témoignages sur l’actrice en tournage.

« Comme je n’avais de Hara Setsuko que l’image d’une belle femme juste et pure, comme celle de la professeu

Puncturing the Legend

Some years before Hara Setsuko’s death in 2015, writer Ishii Taeko’s editor asked her to solve the mystery of the Golden Age movie star’s retirement. In 1962, Hara withdrew from the spotlight after her final screen appearance at the age of 42, and refused interviews for over half a century.

Ishii thought that in her nineties Hara might be willing to look back on her life, and visited her Kamakura home on several occasions. Each time, she was received politely by Hara’s nephew and his wife, who lived in the same house, but was never able to meet the actress herself. On Hara’s ninety-fifth birthday on June 17, 2015, Ishii brought flowers and a letter, and was told as usual that she was in good health. Three months later, though, Hara passed away. Ishii’s book Hara Setsuko no shinjitsu (The Truth About Hara Setsuko) was published the following year. In the three and a half years it took to complete, Ishii carefully combed through materials dating back to before World War II, accumulating valuable testimony relating to the celebrated actress in the film business.

“At first I could only picture Hara as pure, proper, and beautiful, as she appeared in the parts she played in the films of Ozu Yasujirō and her role as an English teacher in Aoi sanmyaku [The Green Mountains], so I doubted whether I could write a compelling biography. During my research, though, I found that she was sometimes dissatisfied with the parts she was given and felt conflicted. This drew me in to the search for the real Hara Setsuko,” Ishii says. “In the books and articles about her to date, one story is repeated like a legend: that her great affection for Ozu and shock at his death led her to retire. Fans of both Hara and Ozu seem to want to believe in a deep mutual attachment between them. In my writing, I worked to puncture this lege

Japanese actress (1920–2015)

Setsuko Hara (原 節子, Hara Setsuko, 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. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest Japanese actresses of all time.

Early career

Setsuko Hara was born Masae Aida (会田 昌江, Aida Masae) in what is now Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama in a family with three sons and five daughters. Her elder sister was married to film director Hisatora Kumagai, which gave her an entry into the world of the cinema: he encouraged her to drop out of school, which she did, and then she went to work for Nikkatsu Studios in Tamagawa, outside Tokyo, in 1935. She debuted at the age of 15 with a stage name that the studio gave her in Do Not Hesitate Young Folks! (ためらふ勿れ若人よ, tamerafu nakare wakōdo yo).

She came to prominence as an actress in the 1937 German-Japanese co-productionDie 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 tragic heroines 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.

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 A Ball at the Anjo House (1947) and Keisuke Kino