The Only Son (1936)
by Yasujiro Ozu
87 mins
A title sets the tone: “Life’s tragedy begins with the bonding between parent and child.” This is a remarkable statement, outside the delusional reference point of a few American insistences: family as the basis for the successful send-off of the individual into society; independence; self-determination. It leaves no doubt that the tragic dimension of human life is something an individual can rarely, if ever, avoid or adjust. It also stresses the launching point of this tragedy: not birth (as in the case of the Judeo-Christian notion of Original Sin), but the parent-infant bond. This provides a psychological basis for what will inevitably beset the vast majority of human lives: parental disappointment in the child’s outcome as an adult; the grown offspring’s deep sense of guilt for having thus disappointed the parent.
This startlingly inflexible idea is illustrated in the film by a central example, although touching it, implicitly, are other human examples in a community of socioeconomic failure and canceled dreams. Ozu’s passivity, which often leads to a wholly admirable acceptance of life-as-it-is by his characters, here at least seems to lead to a darker sense of futility. Only tears can temporarily relieve the stress of living in a world governed by this futility.
The film starts at 8.30 PM
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Venue:
Sands Films
82 Saint Marychurch Street London, SE16 4HZ
Dates