# Ozu's muse and Japanese screen legend Setsuko Hara dies at 95

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozus-muse-and-japanese-screen-legend-setsuko-hara-dies-at-95/738890>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 29, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozus-muse-and-japanese-screen-legend-setsuko-hara-dies-at-95/738890 "2015-11-29T00:14:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tim\_mcdonough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@tim\_mcdonough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim_mcdonough)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozus-muse-and-japanese-screen-legend-setsuko-hara-dies-at-95/738890/1 "2015-11-29T00:14:01Z")

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“We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depth of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: Can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?”

> **[Setsuko Hara, Japanese Star of Films by Ozu and Kurosawa, Is Dead at 95...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/arts/television/setsuko-hara-japanese-star-of-films-by-ozu-and-kurosawa-is-dead-at-95.html?referer=&_r=0)**
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> Ms. Hara was lauded for her portrayal of tragic heroines torn between duty and desire. Her abrupt retirement in the 1960s shocked Japan.

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**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ozus-muse-and-japanese-screen-legend-setsuko-hara-dies-at-95/738890/2 "2015-11-29T16:28:17Z")

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Slightly surprised that it took until the last few days for the news to spread.

Then again, I was surprised to learn from the [_Guardian_’s obituary](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/25/setsuko-hara) that she’d appeared in a German-Japanese co-production directed by Arnold Fanck (the guy who’d discovered Leni Reifenstahl). One of those odd connections.