A Different Angle on the Noh Scene (Adam Davis)

Mr. Lozuaway-McComsey and Ms. Kirschbaum have done a good job tracing the progression of Noriko’s emotions throughout the Noh scene, but the question of why it takes place during a Noh performance hasn’t been addressed yet. Why did Ozu choose to film this emotionally-charged moment of the film in this particular setting? I think this question can be approached at three different levels of specificity: 1. Why does the scene occur during a play? 2. Why does the scene occur during a Noh play? 3. Why does the scene occur during this particular Noh play? (Which, by the way, is called Water Iris). I’ll take them one by one, and propose some possible answers for each. 

1.) There’s plenty of precedent for this type of scene. The most notorious (though far from the only) examples are the plays-within-plays that appear in Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In these two Shakespeare scenes. the plays-within-plays are used to very different effects—the play in Hamlet builds the tension, while the play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream releases it—but they resemble each other in one notable way. They both facilitate a powerful emotional experience for the characters, which is meant to be reflected in the audience. The Noh scene in Late Spring also shares this quality. 

I can see two reasons why a playwright/filmmaker would choose for emotionally momentous scenes of a play/film to happen while the character themself is experiencing a play/film. First, it gives the creator an opportunity to comment on the nature of art—to demonstrate its power, not only to make us feel the emotions of characters, but to reveal our own emotions to us. One of the primary purposes of art is to give us an opportunity, by looking through the lens of the characters’ emotions, to see our own emotions more clearly, and this purpose is made more explicit when the characters themselves undergo an experience of art. Second, it may allow the audience to identify with the character in a deeper way, since the character is in the same position as them. In this type of scene, the character becomes an audience-member, and, just like the real audience-members, the character is experiencing intense emotions due to the art they’re viewing. It seems to be a very effective way for a playwright/filmmaker to intensify the affinity the audience feels for whatever emotions the character is experiencing in a scene. Although Noriko’s emotional reaction is primarily due to seeing her father’s potential wife, the play she’s watching certainly plays a role in eliciting these emotions, which she’d been trying to suppress. 

2.) Ms. Ha already posted some good thoughts about why Ozu chose Noh specifically as the theatrical form to feature in this scene, so I’ll just add a few remarks. In light of the conflict we see throughout Late Spring between traditional and modern values, it makes sense that he’d want to use a very traditional theatrical form. It seems likely that Noh is meant to represent an older version of Japanese culture. It also seems likely that attending Noh performances is something Noriko and her father do together often. If this is the case, the presence of the potential wife would probably seem even more invasive to Noriko: “Here’s the woman who’s trying to marry my father, intruding on the thing we do together. They aren’t even married yet, and she’s already trying to take my place.” 

3.) Finally, I’ll share my thoughts on why Water Iris is the play chosen for this scene. 
Crying in the night, the cicada sheds its brocade gown, revealing sleeves as white as Deutzia blossoms, as white as snow. These lines, which are sung as Noriko becomes troubled after seeing the woman, evoke a sense of fleeting existence. Cicadas have a 17-year life cycle, the majority of which they spend maturing underground. Once they’ve reached maturity, they emerge from the ground and shed their skin, but only live for a few weeks afterward. Noriko, in denial of life’s transience, wants to stay underground, that is, living as a child in her father’s house. But this is impossible. She has reached maturity, and it’s time to for her to emerge from the state of childhood and transform herself, like the adult cicada shedding its skin. This process is painful but natural, and by the end of the movie, I think Noriko has reached a state of acceptance.