Wissenswertes

In 1961, Spätherbst (1960) (Akibiyori) was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 33rd Academy Awards®, but was not accepted as a nominee.

The original title "Akibiyori" means "Clear autumn day."

The principle of the story is similar to Später Frühling (1949) also directed by Yasujirô Ozu: in that movie, a young woman living with her widowed father does not want to marry in order not to leave him alone, while in Spätherbst (1960) (Akibiyori) the young woman lives with her widowed mother.

Spätherbst (1960) (Akibiyori) is an indirect remake of Später Frühling (1949), the 1949 masterwork that's often considered the first film of Yasujirô Ozu's so-called late period. Among other connections, actress Setsuko Hara---whose pensive eyes and charming smile made her Ozu's most memorable female star---played the daughter in Late Spring but returns in Late Autumn to play the sensitive, caring mother who replaces the widowed dad of the earlier movie. In addition, Ozu now gives the single parent a more self-sufficient life and free-spirited personality while placing more emphasis on the daughter's needs and feelings. The result is an absorbing new take on some of Ozu's most abiding interests.

Yasujirô Ozu directed Spätherbst (1960) three years before his death in 1963, followed by Der Herbst der Familie Kohayagawa (1961) and Ein Herbstnachmittag (1962); earlier he had made Weizenherbst (1951), and Früher Frühling (1956). Of course, Ozu also used titles of different kinds---he directed 54 features---but when he chose to name a movie after a season, the only one he didn't use is winter, and only one of his many postwar films (Tokio in der Dämmerung (1957)) takes place in that inhospitable time.