Ai no onimotsu / Burden of Love

 

Yuzo Kawashima: 愛のお荷物 / Ai no onimotsu / Burden of Love (1955).

Yuzo Kawashima: 愛のお荷物 / Ai no onimotsu / Burden of Love (1955).

愛のお荷物
JP 1955. Director: Yuzo Kawashima
    Scen.: Yuzo Kawashima. F.: Shigeyoshi Mine. Scgf.: Kimihiko Nakamura, Mus.: Toshiro Mayuzumi. Ass. regia: Shohei Imamura, Kirio Urayama.
    Int.: So Yamamura (Jozaburo Araki), Tatsuya Mihashi (Jotaro Araki, Joichiro Kaida, attore Chambara), Isuzu Yamada (Some Kaida), Mie Kitahara (Saeko Godai), Yukiko Todoroki (Ranko Araki), Eijiro Tono (Jozo Araki), Eitaro Ozawa (Sakaguchi), Kin Sugai (Kamioka), Frankie Sakai (Debanokoji Kamenosuke).
    Prod.: Nikkatsu. 35 mm. 111 min. Bn
    Unreleased in Finland.
    Bologna: Il Cinema Ritrovato: Yuzo Kawashima: The Missing Link
    Print: Nikkatsu.
    Introduce Alexander Jacoby.
    Viewed at Cinema Jolly, 27 Aug 2020.

Alexander Jacoby and Johan Nordström (Il Cinema Ritrovato 2020): "Described by Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie as “a satiric treatment of the haha-mono” (the popular genre focused on maternal love and suffering), this film, Kawashima’s first for Nikkatsu, is a study of fecundity in the context of early postwar anxieties about overpopulation, and the state-sponsored birth control campaign of the 1950s. Its protagonist, Jozaburo Araki (Yamamura), serves as Minister of Health and Welfare, and is charged with promoting population control; his mission is comically compromised by a series of simultaneous pregnancies in his family. Art director Kimihiko Nakamura, who was later to work on a number of films by Kawashima’s apprentice, Shohei Imamura, helped to imbue the film with verisimilitude by crafting a precise replica of the Japanese parliament building in Akasaka, Tokyo. The political elements of the film are as telling as the comic ones are uproarious. Kawashima, however, was stung by accusations of plagiarism; the film was inspired by a celebrated play, Lorsque l’enfant paraît, by André Roussin, which Kawashima had seen at Tokyo’s Bungaku-za theatre in 1953, with a similar premise about a senator who prescribes birth control while his family procreate. With characteristic self-deprecating defensiveness, he commented that “If it is called plagiarism, I wouldn’t agree, as actually its story and theme are different. However, the fact that it got that much criticism from so many different people got me down. If you were to compare it you would see that it didn’t plagiarise that much”. Despite such criticisms, the film received an admiring review in “Kinema Junpo”, whose critic praised it as a milestone in the director’s career, claiming that it made Kawashima a rival of Kon Ichikawa as a director of comedy, and fostered high hopes for his future works. He praised Kawashima’s directorial tempo, and the verve of the characters, which together imbued the film with a sense of energy. He also celebrated the excellent acting, which is indeed one of the movie’s main virtues. Tatsuya Mihashi, who plays multiple roles, had moved to Nikkatsu in order to work with Kawashima, and was to go on to appear in another 15 of his films. Nikkatsu’s own in-house publicity declares that: “This special director and lead actor relationship between Mihashi and Kawashima is reminiscent of similar pairings in the history of Hollywood comedic cinema, such as the duos of Howard Hawks and Cary Grant, Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon, and Preston Sturges and Joel McCrea”. The cast also includes such luminaries of Japanese cinema as Isuzu Yamada, who had superbly delineated the rebellious heroines of Mizoguchi’s pre-war classics, Osaka Elegy (1936) and Sisters of Gion (1936), and who, two years later, was to give an indelible performance as Kurosawa’s Lady Macbeth in Throne of Blood (1957). So Yamamura, as the minister, gave distinguished performances for Ozu, Mizoguchi and Naruse, as well as directing several films, including the celebrated proletarian classic, The Crab-Canning Ship (Kanikosen, 1953)." Alexander Jacoby and Johan Nordström (Il Cinema Ritrovato 2020)

AA: Tonkatsu taisho / Our Chief, Our Doctor (1952), that opened Bologna's Yuzo Kawashima retrospective, was an emotionally engaging tale of a traditional community being bulldozed in a new, modern post-war spirit of reconstruction, urban development and economic boom. It was also a tender and wistful account of unrequited love.

Ai no onimotsu / Burden of Love is something different. It is also a contemporary story, but this baby boom satire has little to do with unrequited love. The Minister of Health and Welfare, Jozaburo Araki, who is campaigning to stop the baby boom, learns that his wife (48) is pregnant, as is his indispensable secretary Saeko Godai who is dating the minister's son. Also his youngest daughter, who has been waiting to get married for a long time, is expecting a baby – to Debanokoji Kamenosuke, who is married. The 80 year old grandfather of the family is also still highly active with his tea-drinking physiotherapists. The Minister, on a trip to give a speech in Kyoto, learns from his ex-lover Some Kaida, that even she has given birth to a baby of theirs. Clearly the Araki family seems to be in the forefront of the baby boom.

Alexander Jacoby in his introduction told us that Ai no onimotsu / Burden of Love is a classic of Japanese comedy in which the members of the superb and popular cast are seen in their prime.

Kawashima handles both the parliament debates and the family scenes with verve and affection, using a mobile camera and displaying a dynamic sense of the mise-en-scène. Based on a French play, there is nothing salacious in this sex comedy. It radiates with tenderness and affection. Like Our Chief, Our Doctor, this is also a social drama, with a similar sense of a spirit of the community, but this time it is about the whole nation on its hard-won way to peaceful reconstruction and (literally) rebirth.

Because I needed to catch the next film, Sedotta e abbandonata, I had to leave early, and the last scenes I saw were about the Minister's desperate attempts to persuade the family's expectant mothers to stop their pregnancies.

A good print from Nikkatsu, a joy to the eye.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: DATA FROM NIKKATSU:

愛のお荷物
(あいのおにもつ)
人口問題に対する政治家たちの無為無策と一般の人々の無関心に対し、明るく上品なくすぐりをもって痛烈に衝く明朗諷刺映画。

監督
川島雄三

キャスト
新木錠三郎＝山村聰　新木錠太郎、貝田錠一郎、チャンバラ役者＝三橋達也(入社第一回・三役)／貝田そめ＝山田五十鈴　五代冴子＝北原三枝　新木蘭子＝轟夕起子／新木錠造＝東野英治郎　山口さん＝殿山泰司　山内博士＝三島雅夫　坂口老紳士＝小沢栄／新木さくら＝高友子　お照＝小田切みき　神岡婦人議員＝菅井きん　荒巻和子＝東恵美子　こきん＝坪内美子／出羽小路亀之助＝フランキー堺　鳥井秘書官＝小沢昭一　佐久間代議士＝小川虎之助　代議士＝芦田伸介　荒巻章吾＝田島義文／出羽小路氏＝小笠原章二郎　代議士＝片桐常雄　長居＝村田寿男　高木三郎＝山田禅二　記者＝高品格／出羽小路夫人＝紅沢葉子　中沢栄子　カメラマン＝八代康二　記者＝宮原徳平　新木長春丸本舗の従業員＝高瀬乗二　赤線組合員＝青木富夫／中岡千子　新木長春丸本舗の従業員＝真下治子　赤線女給＝渡規子　赤線女給＝三船明子　解説＝加藤武　（以下、主なクレジットなしの出演者）結婚式場の廊下で最も画面手前の部屋から出て来る新郎新婦の付き添いの女性、厚生省で新木錠三郎に取材するメガネの女性記者（二役）＝堺美紀子　結婚式場の廊下で神主の直前を歩く新郎＝古田祥　山口の母＝若原初子　記者＝柳瀬志郎　厚生省の職員＝坂井一郎　厚生省の職員＝紀原耕　本牧亭の客＝瀬山孝司　記者、本牧亭の客（二役）＝神山勝　赤線女給＝鈴木俊子　新木錠三郎と赤線の視察に同行している役人＝河上信夫　紋付を着た赤線の男性＝花村信輝　記者、坂口の部下（二役）＝弘松厳　坂口の部下＝英原穣二　京都嵐山の渡月橋で時代劇を撮影をしている女優＝雨宮節子　貝田そめが営む置き屋の舞妓＝安藤孝子　映画監督＝柳沢類寿

脚本
柳沢類寿　川島雄三
音楽
黛敏郎　
その他スタッフ
製作／山本武　撮影／峰重義　照明／森年男　録音／福島信雅　美術／中村公彦　編集／中村正　助監督／今村昌平　製作主任／林本博佳　スクリプター／飯村知子　漫画／清水崑

戦後ベビーブーム。人口の増加を食い止めようと考えていた、時の厚生大臣・新木錠三郎は「受胎調節相談所設置法案」の施策を講じる。ところが厚生委員議会で人口軽減に関する大演説を行っていた頃、48歳になる蘭子夫人が産婦人科で妊娠を告げられていた！そればかりか新木家の長男・錠太郎は、かねてから秘かに恋愛中だった、父・錠三郎の秘書・五代冴子から愛のお荷物が出来たらしいと打明けられていた。その日から新木家には、てんやわんやの騒動が繰り広げられる。嫁入りして6年、いまだ子宝に恵まれない錠三郎の長女・和子は喜び「ママも錠太郎も遠慮いらないわ。私のところは赤ちゃんが欲しくて困っているのよ。赤ちゃんは私が育ててあげるから」と言ったものの、結婚式を控えた末娘さくらも、結婚が待ち切れず許婚の出羽小路亀之助との間に愛のお荷物が出来てしまっていた！しかも新木家の御隠居・八十歳になる錠造翁までもが、若い茶飲み友達との間に愛のお荷物ができかねない状況に。そんな中、京都へ遊説に行った錠三郎は、かつての恋人・貝田そめに訪問され、彼女との間に出来た子供の存在を知らされて愕然となる。新木家の人口は一躍倍以上にはね上ることになり、新木家の御婦人たちは一斉にお芽出たの日を待つばかりとなったが、日本の人口問題はどうなることやら･･･。