The Setting Sun

The events take place in the mid-1940s, against the backdrop of Japan’s military defeat and the collapse of old social and moral foundations. At the center of the story is a impoverished aristocratic family, each of whose three members is destined to face a thorny life path. The mother awaits an incurable illness. Son Naōji sinks into lawlessness; the breakdown in his relationship with the outside world, total disappointment, and depression will lead him to suicide. Daughter Kazuko is tested by unfamiliar, harsh labor; and the result of her strange romantic involvement with the fallen writer Uehara will be the discovery of a new, “revolutionary,” morality.