Floating Clouds (Naruse Mikio)

In Floating Clouds by Naruse Mikio, the effects of post-war occupation era on Japan as a nation greatly reflect within the mentality and situations of Yukiko. As Catherine Russel explains it in “The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity”, the people of of post-war Japan often felt out of place in the changing society. Yukiko, one of the victims of this change, illustrates the Japanese sense of displacement through her endless wandering and loneliness. It is through the melodramatic elements Naruse directs in this film that bring to light her listless lifestyle.

In Melodrama and Modernity, by Ben Singer, he states that “Melodrama as it is generally used today refers to a set of subgenres that remain close to the heart and hearth and emphasize a register of heightened emotionalism and sentimentality.” Examples of this emotional atmosphere and “sentimentality” definitely present themselves throughout the film. Yukiko’s memories of Da Lat with Kengo are flashbacked to in the beginning of the film, as well as referenced to with a heavy sense of nostalgia. Her endless sentimentality over her past illustrates the contrast between her psychological state during and after the war. During the war time in Da Lat, Yukiko had drive and motivation to start an independent life, triggered by her rape. However, after the war, Yukiko finds no motivation to start a new life. Rather she drifts in between independence and dependence on Kengo. This independence is usually short lived however, as she tries to cling to her past with Kengo, saying she cannot live without him. This perhaps becomes a symbol of the nation longing for the times of unoccupied pre-war Japan.  

Yukiko’s dependence on Kengo seems to have similarities to the “lacking subject”, as called by Jeffrey Dym in the “Pacific Affairs”. He describes that post-war women, often mothers, in Japan become these “lacking subject”s that “does not act according to its own will but acts following someone or something.” I wouldn’t completely agree that Yukiko doesn’t have her own will, but I would say that her will is determined by the actions and whereabouts of Kengo. She is lacking in terms of fulfillment without his presence and suffers from much loneliness. For example she wanders to wherever he’s moved to, often exploding into tears at the sight of another woman’s belongings in his abode. Yukiko also physically becomes a lacking woman when she has an abortion. She implied that she wanted to keep the baby and marry Kengo, but upon his encouragement she got an abortion. By becoming physically lack of child, mentally she continues to throw away her desires for the sake of following and being accepted by Kengo.