Akitsu Springs (Japanese: 秋津温泉, Hepburn: Akitsu onsen) is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, starring Mariko Okada and Hiroyuki Nagato.
Contents
Plot
Shortly before the end of World War II, young soldier Shusaku, ill with tuberculosis, arrives at Akitsu, expecting to die soon. Shinko, daughter of a widow and innkeeper, helps him to recover and invigorates his will to live. They fall in love, and although she is first willing to follow him when he suggests to commit suicide together, they eventually let go of their plan. Shinko muses to marry Shusaku, but her mother intervenes and sends him away. Over a span of 17 years, Shusaku, now married and a father, continues to meet with Shinko, but also has affairs with other women. During their last encounters, she declares that she is now ready to die with him, but Shusaku is reluctant. When he leaves Akitsu again after a visit, Shinko, who has sold her inn and is tired of living, commits suicide alone, later found by the grieving Shusaku.
Cast
Mariko Okada as Shinko
Hiroyuki Nagato as Shusaku Kawamoto
Jūkichi Uno as Kenkichi Matsumiya
Eijirō Tōno as Priest
Kei Taguchi
Asao Koike as Osaki
Akira Nagoya as Shimamura
Sō Yamamura as Mikami
Taiji Tonoyama as Rokusuke
Production
Akitsu Springs was Mariko Okada's 100th film and the first under the direction of her future husband Yoshida.
Awards
1962 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actress for Mariko Okada
1962 Mainichi Film Award for Best Actress for Mariko Okada
Home media
Akitsu Springs was released on DVD in France in 2008 and in Japan in 2013 as part of DVD boxes with collected works by Yoshida.