Film Festival: 2010 Cannes Film market

With an all star cast, joined by a stellar team of veteran actors in supporting roles, Flowers depicts the precious moments of strong, noble women in a saga spanning three generations.

Spring, 1936. Rin (Yu Aoi) is about to be wed to a man she’s never met, a marriage arranged by her stem father according to traditional custom. Having graduated from a girls’ school, she’s a progressive thinker and harbours doubts about the restrictive life of a woman in her time. Distraught at her fate, Rin runs away on her wedding day, still dressed in her bridal outfit.

Summer, 1960’s. Rin has three grown daughters. Eldest Kaoru (Yuko Takeuchi) tries to recover from the trauma of losing her husband in a car accident, whilst second daughter, Midori (Rena Tanaka) has more feminist views and wavers between a  professional career and the prospect of marriage. The youngest, Sato (Yukie Nakama), has a heart condition, and braces for her own death as she prepares to give birth to her second child.

Winter, present day. Sato’s eldest daughter, Kana (Kyoka Suzuki) has moved to Tokyo to pursue her dream of becoming a pianist, but must come to terms with her shortcomings as well as an unplanned pregnancy. Meanwhile Sato’s youngest daughter, Kei (Ryoko Hirosue) is married with a child and always wears a smile. There’s a reason for her cheerful exuberance, though - she’s determined to live life to the full for a mother she never met…

Yu Aoi, Kyoka Suzuki, Yuko Takeuchi, Yukie Nakama, Ryoko Hirosue, Rena Tanaka