Konyaku yubiwa

Noriko is a married woman who commutes once a week between Tokyo, where she runs her family’s jewellery store, and her home at the coast. Her husband has been ill for some time already and has to remain in bed to convalesce. He was a soldier during the war; over the course of their seven-year marriage, they’ve only really lived together for a short time. On the train ride between Tokyo and Ajiro, Noriko meets a young doctor (Toshiro Mifune), who takes over her husband’s treatment. The encounter with this untroubled, vibrant man helps her regain the joie de vivre lost through years of selflessly doing what had to be done. Even her husband notices the new radiance in her face. He realises that his wife has found something in the doctor that he cannot give her and begins to despair. The way in which he is bound to the house is in contrast with the movements of Noriko and the doctor, whose affection for each other grows during their train rides together. Their contact, at first uninhibited and playful, turns wistful when they realise the impossibility of living out their love, and the consequences that this carries. All that remains are gestures full of tenderness and caring.