Naruse's first film made after the American occupation, Mother bolstered the consensus that the director had returned to form after a wartime slump, placing seventh in the Kinema Junpo poll and earning the praise of Cahiers du Cinema critics André Bazin and Alain Resnais. The titular mother Masako (Tanaka Kinuyo) is a monument of maternal love venerated by her eldest daughter Toshiko (Kagawa Kyoko). Using as its source material a contest-winning essay by a child, the film deconstructs its own saccharine tone as Toshiko crosses from childhood into adulthood by opening her eyes to the fact that Masako is more than her sacrifices. – Kelley Dong

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