Haru no Kane (春の鐘), also known as Spring Bell, is a 1985 Japanese romantic drama film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and written by Kôji Takada. It was adapted from a novel of the same name by Masaaki Tachihara, first published in 1978 by Shinchosha.^[1][2] The film's story concerns an extramarital affair and its impact on the marriage of an art museum director and his wife. It stars Kin'ya Kitaōji and Yoshiko Mita in the lead roles. Toho released Haru no Kane theatrically on November 9, 1985, in Japan.^[1] Joe Hisaishi, credited onscreen as "Yuzuru Hisaishi", composed the film's score.^[1]

Rokuheita Narumi and his wife Noriko spend their lives separated. Soon they start looking for love elsewhere.

Rokuheita Narumi (Kin'ya Kitaōji) achieves acclaim as the curator of a Nara museum of ancient Oriental pottery. He desires to move his family with him to Nara. However, his wife Noriko (Yoshiko Mita) does not wish to leave Tokyo. The two continue to live separately. As they drift further apart, Noriko feels neglected by her husband and stressed by her role as sole caretaker of their child. Secretly she undertakes an affair with a local doctor, Katsumori (Akira Nakao), though their relationship is passionless. In Nara, Rokuheita hires a devoted assistant, Tae Ishimoto (Yūko Kotegawa), a divorcée who calls him sensei. They, too, begin an affair. When Rokuheita arrives back in Tokyo to visit his family, he quickly discovers Noriko’s deception. However, he feels he cannot divorce her for the sake of their child, and also due to his own affair. He considers forgiving her. Meanwhile Tae, cast out by her mother-in-law, seeks to liberate herself, and must come to terms with her relationship to Rokuheita. Simultaneously, Noriko realizes she still loves her husband and desperately tries to win back his affections.

Cinematographer Akira Shiizuka and editor Akira Suzuki had worked with director Kurahara on his previous films Antarctica and The Glacier Fox.

The production originally cast Ken Ogata as Rokuheita and Ayumi Ishida as Noriko, but Ogata insisted on "changing the role to a male-oriented film with Narumi [Rokuheita] at the center".^[3] Creative disagreements ensued, and the pair dropped out. They were replaced by Kin’ya Kitaōji and Yoshiko Mita, respectively. Mita was persuaded when Kurahara told her, "If you don't appear in this film, I won't do this film."^[4]

Haru no Kane originally featured a nude scene with Yūko Kotegawa’s character. She was nervous about the scene, but accepted the role in order to work with Kurahara.^[4] However, during editing, Kurahara determined that the scene was too long and cut most of Kotegawa’s nudity from the film.^[4]

10th Hochi Film Award^[5]

• Won: Best Actor - Kin'ya Kitaōji (also awarded for his performance in Fire Festival)

9th Japan Academy Film Prize

• Won: Best Supporting Actress - Yoshiko Mita

Haru no Kane at IMDb