The daily grind of the elderly cleaner of a Japanese bathhouse is disrupted when a young man attempts suicide.
Day after the day, and for the last 40 years, Chieko has been scrupulously cleaning the local sento: the public bathhouse where all the locals come bathe after work. But one day as she readies the bathhouse for opening, she stumbles on a young man about to commit suicide on the premises.
She's mad at him for disturbing the sento's peaceful routine, and asks him to get on with it; as for him, he's furious at her for interrupting a solemn act and refuses to leave.
What seems to be an absurd and farcical encounter becomes a moving discovery that reminds them both of their humanity.
Day after the day, and for the last 40 years, Chieko has been scrupulously cleaning the local sento: the public bathhouse where all the locals come bathe after work. But one day as she readies the bathhouse for opening, she stumbles on a young man about to commit suicide on the premises.
She's mad at him for disturbing the sento's peaceful routine, and asks him to get on with it; as for him, he's furious at her for interrupting a solemn act and refuses to leave.
What seems to be an absurd and farcical encounter becomes a moving discovery that reminds them both of their humanity.
The daily grind of the elderly cleaner of a Japanese bathhouse is disrupted when a young man attempts suicide.
Day after the day, and for the last 40 years, Chieko has been scrupulously cleaning the local sento: the public bathhouse where all the locals come bathe after work. But one day as she readies the bathhouse for opening, she stumbles on a young man about to commit suicide on the premises.
She's mad at him for disturbing the sento's peaceful routine, and asks him to get on with it; as for him, he's furious at her for interrupting a solemn act and refuses to leave.
What seems to be an absurd and farcical encounter becomes a moving discovery that reminds them both of their humanity.
Day after the day, and for the last 40 years, Chieko has been scrupulously cleaning the local sento: the public bathhouse where all the locals come bathe after work. But one day as she readies the bathhouse for opening, she stumbles on a young man about to commit suicide on the premises.
She's mad at him for disturbing the sento's peaceful routine, and asks him to get on with it; as for him, he's furious at her for interrupting a solemn act and refuses to leave.
What seems to be an absurd and farcical encounter becomes a moving discovery that reminds them both of their humanity.
