Special Series

Wife! Be Like a Rose!

妻よ薔薇のやうに

Directed by: Mikio Naruse
1935 / 74 minutes / Unclassified all ages

When love grows distant, only a daughter dares to mend the roots.

Modern in both her mindset and fashion sense, Kimiko is a headstrong Tokyo woman living with her mother Etsuko. Fifteen years after her husband Shunsuke abandoned the family for Oyuki, a former geisha, Etsuko remains steeped in grief, filling her days writing poetry in quiet despondency. As Kimiko’s wedding approaches, her fiancé’s father demands a formal introduction of her long-estranged father, so Kimiko sets out to the countryside alone to retrieve him. Fuelled by the bitter tales spouted by her mother growing up, Kimiko strides into the town where her father now resides, bracing herself for a confrontation with his second wife. However, the welcome she receives in their modest rural household is far from what she anticipated. 

Directed by Mikio Naruse and based on the shinpa (contemporary theatre) play Two Wives by Minoru Nakano, Wife! Be Like a Rose! is a charming and humorous exploration of marriage and familial duty. The first Japanese talkie screened in New York and among the first Japanese films to be theatrically released in the United States, this remarkable comedy-drama stands as a hallmark of Naruse’s work and was voted Kinema Junpo’s Best Japanese Film of 1935. Blending city and country life, the film exemplifies Naruse’s nuanced portrayal of female characters and his talent for depicting the everyday lives of ordinary people.