In this nice family comedy about a Japanese couple in the 1930s with wife as actor (joyu) and husband as poet/writer (shijin), Naruse has created a parody of the dilemma of a modern couple - wife being the breadwinner and husband, writing novel for small money (only good enough to buy cakes).
Could the man still hold the honour and be the real "master" of the house? Naruse portrayed this change in the traditional values in modern Japan in a comical way where play intermingled with real life. The solution: just follow the man and if husband is happy, wife is happy too. As the saying goes: An angel with only one wing could not fly. But could such happy ending only happen in play / movie and not in real life? A rare piece of Naruse romance which are more often portrayed as a sophisticated tragedy rather than a light-hearted comedy.
Could the man still hold the honour and be the real "master" of the house? Naruse portrayed this change in the traditional values in modern Japan in a comical way where play intermingled with real life. The solution: just follow the man and if husband is happy, wife is happy too. As the saying goes: An angel with only one wing could not fly. But could such happy ending only happen in play / movie and not in real life? A rare piece of Naruse romance which are more often portrayed as a sophisticated tragedy rather than a light-hearted comedy.