Review of The Eternal Breasts

As a female director in 1950s Japan, Kinuyo Tanaka was quite a rarity, and some may find worth in seeing the film for that reason alone, or, conversely, worry that that is the *only* reason it receives any approbation, but avoiding those two extremes and looking at the film objectively, it is well worth your time, especially if you are familiar with the works of directors (like Ozu and Naruse) of family- or women-oriented Japanese films of the 50s. If you assume from the broad plot outline - a woman suffers from breast cancer, while trying to raise two children and make ends meet and to pursue her interest in writing poetry, despite her unemployed (and philandering) husband - that you are in for a simplistic tearjerker, you will be surprised. The protagonist (Fumiko) is not a saint, and has complex relationships with each of the other major adult characters, including romantic desires for two very different men after divorcing her husband. Her battle with cancer is presented with some realism and jarring moments (a friend recoils in horror when she gets a glimpse of Fumiko's scars after a double mastectomy; an ominous corridor, down which cancer patients who have passed on are wheeled to the morgue, looms outside her room at the hospital). One might even call some moments Bergman-esque. Pacing and camera angles are expertly handled by director Tanaka, and cliches are for the most part avoided. A word about the title: "Eternal Breasts" is not a good English translation at all. "Eternal" does not modify "breasts" in the Japanese title. It's literally more like "Above and Beyond Breasts, The Getting Used to Permanence," or maybe "Becoming Accustomed to the Permanent Condition of Being More Than Breasts." I watched it on the Criterion Channel, which called it "Forever a Woman," which is not really a translation, but does make sense as a title in English.