Quando o patriarca de uma família falece o seu grupo de amigos decide arranjar um marido para a filha dele, e pelo meio, também para a viúva. Uma bela obra de Ozu, sobre a tradição dos casamentos combinados no Japão, mais direcionada para a sátira e comédia. Vemos muitas caras conhecidas no cast, de filmes anteriores do realizador, e até podemos fazer de conta que fazem todos parte do mesmo universo cinematográfico, e assim criar um fio condutor pelas narrativas.
O cinema meticuloso de Ozu oferece-nos um novo quadro de novela familiar tratado e revisto com o maior requinte, mas em que a simplicidade adquire o foro de obra-prima. Mais do que os temas e as tramas, é na impermanência do seu cinema que compreendemos a sua essência.
"Another gem from the Ozu canon, a masterpiece of tendernesss and serio-comic charm, as tonally ambiguous and morally complex as anything he ever made. Three conceited middle-aged salarymen attend a memorial anniversary for a contemporary, and the experience appears to reawaken their feelings for his beautiful widow Akiko (Setsuko Hara). Meddlesome busybodies that they are, the men try to match-make for Akiko's unmarried daughter Ayako (Yôko Tsukasa), clearly as a pretext for the next stage of their operations, remarrying off Akiko herself – to the eligible widower among them – allegedly so that she will not be lonely on her own. They act as one, and Ozu shows how, tellingly, they are persistently unable to remember exactly who said and did what with regard to Akiko, either long ago in their youth, or right now. This dysfunctional tic shows their group mentality and the deep reluctance of each to assume individual responsibility for casually interfering with her happiness. The exquisite politeness and gentleness of the mother-daughter relationship is expressed in an eternal smile: and when the women drop their smiles at the movie's climax, that simple facial change is as startling as a gunshot. As ever, viewers must accustom themselves to Ozu's distinctive film-making manner. The direct sightlines-into-camera and low shooting angles make his style a kind of realist cine-kabuki. But this exerts an insistent power that works at the deepest emotional level. Within the reticence, there is something profound, and genuinely beautiful."
"Una de las obras maestras del más profundo de los directores japoneses, donde revisaba una historia que ya había llevado al cine en 1949. Las relaciones entre una madre y una hija no sólo tienen una emotiva complejidad sino que ofrecen una lúcida mirada sobre el entorno social que condiciona su conducta. Aúna la belleza y la Verdad. "
— Fotogramas de Fotogramas
"Magistral revisión de Primavera tardía, con elementos del más puro cine japonés. La tradición nipona es aquí excusa para mostrar la complicada decisión de una viuda que debe buscar marido entre los amigos de su difunto marido."
— Antonio Albert de El País
