like many celebrated works of cinema, "late spring" has inspired varied and often contradictory critical and scholarly interpretations. the two most common interpretations of "late spring" are: a) the view that the film represents one of a series of ozu works that depict part of a universal and inevitable "life cycle", and is thus either duplicated or complemented by other ozu works in the series; b) the view that the film, while similar in theme and even plot to other ozu works, calls for a distinct critical approach, and that the work is in fact critical of marriage, or at least the particular marriage depicted in it.