No More Easy Life
もう頬づえはつかない
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A student between two men decides to belong to neither — the 1979 film of the 'independent woman'.
Tokyo in the 1970s. Mariko, a university student, lives in a boarding house where men are not allowed, and since her mother stopped sending money to make her come home, she lives on part-time jobs. For about a year she was with Tsuneo, an older freelance reporter from the student-protest generation, until he walked out six months ago. Now, without loving him, she has drifted into sleeping with Hashimoto, a brash, cheerful student she met at a job answering phones.
Her landlord, Takamizawa, finds her work at his wife's beauty salon. Then Tokiko, who owns the salon, suspects her husband of another woman and stabs him in the leg; no charges follow and the couple make up, but Mariko loses the job. Tsuneo reappears after half a year, and a jealous Hashimoto who squares up to him is knocked flat.
Mariko finds she is pregnant by Tsuneo. The clinic wants the man's signature for an abortion, but when Tsuneo finally calls he will not listen and only demands that she find him 300,000 yen. She meets her father, who lives apart from her mother, and cannot bring herself to mention money. Hashimoto, back from his home town with a job lined up, is thinking of marrying her.
Mariko goes to a gynaecologist alone, forges Tsuneo's signature and has the abortion. On the way home she buys baby's breath, arranges them in her room, and sits in a corner of her room eating celery from the fridge. She leaves Hashimoto a note that ends it. Tsuneo, when they meet, will only tell her to get rid of the pregnancy; he has been on the run from men demanding 300,000 yen over a story he wrote about the yakuza. Done with a man who thinks only of himself, she gets up and leaves. In the street she walks past a man trying to pick her up. The film ends on Mariko alone, cheerfully packing to move out of the boarding house.
Starring
Kaori Momoias Mariko
A university student living on part-time jobs, drifting between two men until a pregnancy makes her decide for herself.
Mariko’s story
Mariko once left a pharmacy college and started again at Waseda for the sake of Tsuneo, an older reporter she lived with until he walked out six months ago. Now, without loving him, she sleeps with Hashimoto, a brash student she met at a phone-answering job. She loses her job at the landlord's wife's salon. Tsuneo comes back, and she finds she is pregnant by him; when he finally calls, he will not listen and demands she find him 300,000 yen. She cannot bring herself to ask her father for money. She goes to a gynaecologist alone, forges Tsuneo's signature and has an abortion, then sits in a corner of her room eating celery. She leaves Hashimoto a note that ends it, walks out on Tsuneo, and cheerfully packs to leave the boarding house.
Eiji Okudaas Hashimoto
A brash, cheerful student she sleeps with out of drift, who starts planning to marry her once he has a job.
Hashimoto’s story
Hashimoto answers phones alongside Mariko, asks her to a concert on her last day in the job, and after that turns up at her room from time to time. He thinks mostly about sex; he dislikes condoms and wants her on the pill, and when he takes her to Akemi, a woman in his building who has pills, Akemi rounds on him for what men push onto women. When Tsuneo comes back, Hashimoto squares up to him out of jealousy and is knocked flat. He goes home to Kagoshima, lines up a job there and comes back to Tokyo meaning to marry Mariko and take her home with him. But Mariko ends her pregnancy on her own, and all he gets from her is a note that ends it.
Leo Morimotoas Tsuneo
Mariko's older ex-lover, a freelance reporter from the protest generation who drifts in and out of her life.
Tsuneo’s story
Tsuneo is past thirty and has yet to make his name as a reporter. Mariko gave up her pharmacy studies for him and they lived together for a year, until he walked out without warning six months ago. He is hard to reach, quick to pick fights and getting nowhere in his work. When he reappears and finds Hashimoto in her life, he knocks him flat. Mariko becomes pregnant by him, and when he finally calls, he does not listen; he only demands that she find him 300,000 yen. When they meet, all he will say about the pregnancy is to get rid of it. He has been on the run from men demanding the money over a story he wrote about the yakuza. Mariko, done with a man who thinks only of himself, gets up and leaves him.
Juzo Itamias Takamizawa
The landlord who watches the door for male visitors and finds Mariko work at his wife's salon.
Sakura Kamoas Tokiko
The landlord's wife and owner of the beauty salon, who suspects him of another woman and stabs him.
Why it matters
No More Easy Life began as a novel Noriko Minobe wrote as her graduation work at Waseda, and it sold half a million copies because young women found themselves in its cool, unembarrassed account of sex. The film keeps that temperature. Mariko is not punished for sleeping with two men, and neither of them rescues her. The issues it puts on the table are practical and still familiar: a boyfriend who dislikes condoms and wants her on the pill, a clinic that will not end a pregnancy without a man's signature, a lover who treats her pregnancy as his inconvenience. Kaori Momoi, in her first leading film role, won a string of best actress prizes that year, and the film's box office gave the Art Theatre Guild its first operating surplus in twelve years. The question it leaves is quieter: what a young woman owes the men who say they love her, and what she owes herself.