The Lady and the Beard
(Shukujo to hige)
Screening on Film
With Okada Tokihiko, Kawasaki Hiroko, Iida Choko.
Japan, 1931, 35mm, black & white, silent, 75 min.
Japanese intertitles with English subtitles.
Print source: Janus Films
Kendo player and churlish traditionalist Okajima (Okada Tokihiko) sports a prominent beard, as well as a kimono and a pair of geta. His appearance and beliefs not only scare off the women he encounters, but they also hinder his ability to find a job as an office worker. Only good girl Hiroko (Kawasaki Hiroko) can convince him to change his facial hair, giving him a makeover reminiscent of The Taming of the Shrew. Once styled in a more conventional manner, Okajima softens and enters the workforce. The character of Okajima is an early iteration of a sporadically recurring Ozu archetype: a young person whose espousal of traditional ideals challenges the conflation of youth and modernity. That The Lady and the Beard frames Okajima’s conservativism as a social problem to be solved by employment and upward mobility demonstrates the extent of Ozu’s liberal humanism, complicating the image of Ozu as a politically passive filmmaker.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Late Spring
Tokyo Story
Early Summer
Passing Fancy
Dragnet Girl
Tokyo Story
A Story of Floating Weeds
Days of Youth
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice
Early Spring
The Munekata Sisters
Floating Weeds
Good Morning
Late Autumn
Tokyo Twilight
The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family
I Flunked, But …
Late Autumn
Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?
The End of Summer
Early Spring
Café Lumière
Tokyo Story