Equinox Flower

Equinox Flower (彼岸花, Higanbana) is a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. The film is based on a novel by Ton Satomi. The film won the 1958 Blue Ribbon Award for Fujiko Yamamoto's performance as Best Actress.

Plot

Wataru Hirayama (Shin Saburi) is a wealthy Tokyo businessman who acts as a go-between for couples seeking marriages. When an old schoolmate Mikami (Chishū Ryū) approaches him for help concerning his daughter Fumiko (Yoshiko Kuga), who has run off owing to a conflict with her father, he agrees. Finding her in a bar where she now works, he listens to her side of the story. Fumiko complains that her father is stubborn, insisting on arranging her marriage, whereas she has now fallen in love with a musician and is adamant to lead life her own way.

One day during work, a young man named Masahiko Taniguchi (Keiji Sada) approaches Hirayama to ask for the hand of his elder daughter, Setsuko (Ineko Arima). Hirayama is extremely unhappy that his daughter has made wedding plans on her own. He confronts her at home, during which he blows his top, and rules that she must remain locked at home until she sees the folly of her ways. Hirayama tries to find out more about Taniguchi from his subordinate.