Floating Clouds (1955)

Floating Clouds

Floating Clouds (浮雲, Ukigumo) is a black-and-white Japanese film directed by Mikio Naruse in 1955. This film is based on a novel with the same title written by Fumiko Hayashi in 1951.

Casting

Yukiko Koda: Hideko Takamine

Kengo Tomioka: Masayuki Mori

Sei Mukai: Mariko Okada

Sugio Iba: Isao Yamagata

Kuniko Tomioka: Chieko Nakakita

Seikichi Mukai: Daisuke Kato

Plot

The film starts with Yukiko Koda's return to Japan from French Indochina, specifically Da Lat, Vietnam. In Da Lat, she worked as a secretary for the forestry office. She falls in love with Tomioka, who is a married man. When they come back to Japan, situations change, and Tomioka goes back to his wife, who has been waiting for him the entire time. However, Tomioka visits Yukiko and continues to have an affair with her. Even when he is with her, he still plays around with other women. In the end, Yukiko follows Tomioka to Yaku-shima, and meets a tragic ending.

War

First thing that comes to mind, when watching this film, is war. The film's background is after Japan's defeat in the war. People come back to Japan from abroad, such as Borneo and Da Lat (Vietnam). Many things are changed, and people have harder time to move on in their lives due to the poor economy, and also because of their mentality of being empty and aloof from the reality. In my opinion, this also affects the emotional stability, which is shown clearly in this film through main characters, Tomioka and Yukiko. For instance, it is quite apparent that Yukiko is mentally unstable, given that she always looks for someone to depend on. When Tomioka is back with his wife, Yukiko meets an American soldier and has a very superficial relationship with him, showing how Yukiko had to have someone to depend on, for the one she used to depend on is gone. It is also shown in Tomioka's state of mind; it is actually shown in the movie through Tomioka's wife's lines, saying how even though Tomioka is physically back in Japan, he seems as if he is still away from home. If the person who lives with him feels that way, I think it is quite clear in how Tomioka could not settle back in Japan well. Additionally, the unstable economy and country's situation directly influences families in many ways, and this is shown through unstable relationships, such as affairs. For example, Tomioka's marriage becomes unstable as their household becomes unfortunate due to financial reasons (and, of course, I also believe that it is Tomioka's tendency to play with so many women, too). Even after his wife dies and he gets back with Yukiko, he still turns his eyes around to other women. This shows that Tomioka is unstable in both psychological and financial terms. Not only Tomioka, but Yukiko also moves around place to place, and never settles down. This is shown in the film through "life transition" scenes, such as Yukiko moving in with Sugio Iba at the temple, where she is not emotionally attached, yet financially fulfilled. This shows how the war created the unstable state in people's minds. Thus, they are always "floating" around like "clouds."

Flashback

During the film, you can see many flashback scenes. I would even say that the movie is focused more on the flashback scenes, rather than what is portrayed in the present time. They are mostly Yukiko and Tomioka's happy time spent together in Da Lat, Vietnam, during the war time, where they could have exploration in jungles, yet it is seen more as a romantic getaway. In my opinion, these flashback scenes show how Yukiko and Tomioka never actually "returned" to Japan. That is, although they are physically back in Japan, they never mentally returned. They are always reminiscing the old times in Da Lat and how happy they were, forgetting all the reality problems, especially marriage and other responsibilities they have in their actual lives.Therefore, whenever Tomioka and Yukiko meet up, they think of the happy and romantic days back in Da Lat, trying to get away from the reality, in effort to hide away from their responsibilities.
After Yukiko dies, the last flashback scene appears, in which Yukiko looks very free and happy. From this scene, I thought that Yukiko could not go through Japan's loss on the war, and her only escape was now gone that she did not have any more reason to cling on to her life. Although she had Tomioka with her at the end, this was still very different from their times in Da Lat. After watching the film, I thought how Yukiko tried to "own" Tomioka, believing that her happy and lovely times will come back to her life, even in Japan, yet the reality was different from her ideal, worsening her physical conditions.

Clothing Style

Yukiko's clothes are very diverse, and it clearly shows her financial situation and the general environment she is in. Her clothing style in Da Lat is very westernized and fancy. However, back in Japan, she wears old clothes with fewer patterns, showing how it's less stylish; it also shows that not only Yukiko, but many people don't have time or money to afford luxurious clothes. However, when she goes into a relationship with an American solider, her style changes again, along with her hairstyle. I think she changed her style to live up to her new lover's standards, and to look attractive to him. Everything changes yet again, when the American solider leaves and she gets back with Tomioka. Unfortunately, her poor financial status does not let her to buy pretty clothes and what not. These conditions change when she parts with Tomioka and goes to Iba at the temple. She is now well off and is dressed in better clothes. All these descriptions, however, I think shows her personality. There is a saying that one's wardrobe shows his or her personality. This applies very well to Yukiko's case. Yukiko always tries to cover up her secrets or other emotions through clothing that matches the situations. Also, the variety in clothes shows how she does not know where to settle down. This again leads back to my opinion that she is mentally unstable.

Music

In this film, music was well used to describe the atmosphere of each scene, and also emphasize the characters' emotions. For example, when the scene shows Yukiko in Da Lat, the music is rather exotic; it is different from a traditional Japanese style music. This can be compared easily when the scene suddenly changes back to a poor room Yukiko is in Tokyo after the return. Through these musical elements, it makes easier for audiences to understand and feel what kind of situations they are going through. 

Discussion Questions (Presentation)

• If you speak Japanese, do you think the translation of the film is fair?
• Who do you think is the "floating cloud"?
• Do you think Yukiko is naive for following Tomioka til the end?
• Do you think Tomioka sincerely loves Yukiko?
• Why is Tomioka so popular among women?