Uwasa no musume / The Girl in the Rumour

Mikio Naruse: 噂の娘 / Uwasa no musume / The Girl in the Rumour (JP 1935). Matchmaking. Shintaro (Heihachiro Okawa) and two sisters, the modern Kimiko (Ryuko Umezono) and the traditional Kunie (Sachiko Chiba). 

噂の娘 / The Girl in the Rumor (US) / The Girl on Everyone's Lips / La Fille dont on parle / [La ragazza di cui si parla].

    JP (Empire of Japan) 1935. Prod.: P.C.L.

    Director: Mikio Naruse. Scen.: Mikio Naruse. F.: Hiroshi Suzuki – b&w. M.: Koichi Iwashita. Scgf.: Junnosuke Yamazaki. Mus.: Noboru Ito. Int.: Sachiko Chiba (Kunie), Ko Mihashi (Kenkichi), Ryuko Umezono (Kimiko), Kamitari Fujiwara (the uncle), Toshiko Ito (Oyo), Masao Mishima (the barber), Yo Shiomi (Keisaku), Heihachiro Okawa (Shintaro).

    "St. James Infirmary Blues" (trad.) sheet music first published as "Gambler's Blues" (1925), first recorded by Fess Williams and his Royal Flush Orchestra (1927), definitive recording by Louis Armstrong and his Savoy Ballroom Five (1928). n.c.

    54 min

    Not released in Finland.

    35 mm print from NFAJ (National Film Archive of Japan).

    Courtesy of Toho.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2025: Sorrow and Passion: Pre-War Mikio Naruse.

    Introduced by Alexander Jacoby and Johan Nordström.

    Viewed with e-subtitles in English and Italian at Cinema Jolly, 23 June 2025.

Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström (Bologna 2025): "Terse, economically paced, stylish and fascinating, the fifth and final film that Naruse directed in 1935 (it was released on 21 December of that year) was loosely inspired by Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, and was actually referred to as The Cherry Orchard (Sakura no sono) during production. It shares the Russian playwright’s theme of a family in decline, but relocates his story from an aristocratic milieu to that of a family-run business, and alters the structure of the family. A mother-daughter story becomes the story of Kenkichi, proprietor of a liquor store, and his two daughters by different women."

"The contrast between siblings Kunie and Kimiko personifies the characteristic 1930s polarity between the kimono-clad traditional woman and the modern girl (moga). Masumi Tanaka aptly writes that “the contrast between the old-fashioned sister, who clings to traditional ethics, and the younger sister, who defiantly tries to escape into the modern world, foreshadows Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sisters of Gion, made the following year.” Older sister Kunie is again played by Sachiko Chiba, the lead actress in Tsuma yo bara no youni and P.C.L.’s top star."

"The film was a critical success, earning Naruse his second mention in that year’s “Kinema Junpo” Best Ten critics’ poll, where it ranked eighth. It also scooped the top prize in a film competition sponsored by the Tokyo “Nichinichi Shimbun” (now the “Mainichi Shimbun”). “Kinema Junpo” critic Seiji Mizumachi wrote that Uwasa no musume made him feel “a particular appreciation of the talkie format”, which “helps to express the psychology of the drama”."

"A few months later, Minoru Murata directed a more faithful adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, which was released under that title. But as Susanne Scherman notes, “Naruse was praised as having a better understanding and grasp of the original work.” According to Audie Bock, the success of the film ensured that Naruse would be able to work with artistic freedom at P.C.L." Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström (Bologna 2025)

AA: Mikio Naruse's Uwasa no musume is a multi-character study about a sake business family in three generations. The English title The Girl in the Rumour does not make sense, nor the reference to Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, but of course anything can be an inspiration to something else.

The Nadaya Sake shop "has fallen on hard times, mostly because Grandfather partied away all the money before retiring to his room to drink sake and play the shamisen" (Japan on Film). Grandfather Keisaku (Yo Shiomi) guided his son Kenkichi (Ko Mihashi) to an arranged marriage, which presumably fortified the finances of the family business, but "money can't buy me love", and Kenkichi has lived a double life with a long-term mistress, Oyo (Toshiko Ito). He has also become an alcoholic, launching his sake diet in the morning.

Now it's marrying time for Kenkichi's two daughters. Shintaro (Heihachiro Okawa), a dapper young man from a wealthy family, is available, and an omiai (a matchmaking encounter) is arranged by the daughters' uncle (Kamatari Fujiwara). 

The traditional, deferential sister Kunie is played by Sachiko Chiba, who electrified Naruse in Wife! Be Like a Rose! as the modern woman. After making Uwasa no musume, they married.

The modern sister Kimiko is played by Ryuko Umezono, who had been Chieko, one of the sisters, in Naruse's Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts.

At the matchmaking meeting, meant as a stage towards a union between Shintaro and Kunie, the young man, however, seems clearly more interested in the modern Kimiko. A preference similar to what had taken place in Nadare.

The father Kenkichi is against arranged marriages anyway, because he does not want his daughters to endure a situation of a double life like his. After his wife's death, Kenkichi has invited Oyo to move with him, a proposal welcomed by Kunie but rejected by Kimiko.

At last, Kimiko is told the truth: her mother is Oyo. Perhaps this has been the subject of the rumour of the film's title all along. In fact, the words "it's time to tell Kimiko the truth" are uttered in the beginning, as Kenkichi is taking his "rejuvenation pills".

Since the beginning, there have been suspicions about the quality of the beverages at the Nadaya Sake shop. At an investigation, it turns out that Kenkichi has been diluting his sake with water.

Because Kimiko is illegitimate, marriage with Shintaro is out of the question. And because the family has fallen into disgrace due to the sake scandal, also Kunie in ineligible.

Everything happens fast in the finale, and there is a blunt, matter-of-fact attitude in Naruse's way of telling it. Perhaps it is an intentional shock ending, or perhaps Naruse was in a hurry to wrap it all up in the year 1935 during which he directed five films.