The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)

Michiyo Aratama: Michiko

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Michiko : This isn't like you.

  Kaji : Why?

  Michiko : You're running away. Don't you want me?

  Kaji : Of course I do.

  Michiko : And I want you, too. Yet we can't marry-...

  Kaji : How many times must I explain?

  Michiko : Because you might be called up? I wouldn't care if it was the day after. Of course I'd cry. I'd cry bitterly. But happiness only lies in marrying the one you love.

  Kaji : Alright. I'll take you back to my dormitory. You'll stay with me tonight. Alright?

  Michiko : Yes, I'll go.

  [they start trudging through the snow] 

  Kaji : No, you better go back to your own dormitory... I can't take you to mine.

  Michiko : You were just testing me. You shouldn't have done that. You're a coward and a weakling! Now I see that!

• Michiko : I'm sorry about yesterday; I failed as a wife and a woman.

  [Kaji gives a refreshed sigh] 

  Michiko : I couldn't sleep.

  Kaji : This is your home. You can sleep soundly here.

  Michiko : Promise you'll share both your joys and your sorrows with me.

  Kaji : Sorrow for one is enough.

  Michiko : It's not! I'm walking down the same path you are. It's okay if I lose my way. Just tell me we might get lost and take me along. I'll follow you... and do my best to keep up.

  Kaji : I understand.

  Michiko : If I don't walk fast enough, will you wait just a tiny bit for me? Just a very tiny bit?

  Kaji : Of course.

  Michiko : I'll never ask you the same question twice.

• Michiko : We'll have lunch together and then go to the apple orchard. It's so wonderful, I feel as light as a balloon!

• Michiko : Is something wrong? Why won't you tell me about it?

  Kaji : Would you want a husband who runs a whorehouse?

• Michiko : A prisoner and a prostitute in love -- it's like a novel. But what will come of it?

  Kaji : Nothing can come of it while there's a war going on. They have their love today. That's all.

• Michiko : Women can't always live by unbending rules.

• Kaji : This bath feels good. Why don't you come in?

  Michiko : [smiles]  I think I will.

• Michiko : How can you ignore me like some stray dog?

• Michiko : Why must these terrible things happen to you? What have you done to deserve this?

• Michiko's Friend : You're too much the wife, Michi. You're forgetting to be a woman.

  Michiko : What do you mean?

  Michiko's Friend : Being a wife is a kind of profession, but its the woman that men love.

• Michiko : You did everything you could. Don't you care what happens to you? Well, I do!

  Kaji : Michiko, don't torment me!

  Michiko : I'll call for help! I won't let you do it. You always go your own way, and perhaps you're right. But if you free those men, they'll kill you for sure! Please don't go! I'll follow you! I'll shout for help!

  Kaji : Michiko, if I don't, I'm no longer a human being!

• Kaji : What a honeymoon!

  Michiko : What did you say?

  Kaji : It's all this wind and dust.

  Michiko : I don't care! It's wonderful! It feels like gravel in my mouth.

• Michiko : I hate feeling like I'm fighting a lone battle. You leave early every morning and return late at night. During that time, you work. Meanwhile, I clean the house, putter around the kitchen, and do the shopping... but it's like doing nothing. Still I try to convince myself that the little things I do help keep you going. Otherwise, there's no difference between a housewife and a housekeeper.

• Kaji : Loh Hu Liong is a tiny Manchurian village. All we'll find there are iron ore and labor camps. Would you go with me to a place like that?

  Michiko : I'd follow you anywhere.

• Michiko : For a man who aspires to great things, you have a small mind!

• Michiko : I'm sorry. Go and do as you see fit. Perhaps it's me who's wrong. I can't have you feeling I stood in your way. I don't want you hating me, not loving me anymore.