In the Realm of the Senses
Japanese theatrical poster
Directed byNagisa Ōshima
Written by
Produced byAnatole Dauman
Starring
CinematographyHideo Ito
Edited byKeiichi Uraoka
Music byMinoru Miki
Production
companies
  • Argos Films
  • Oceanic
  • Oshima Productions
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 15 September 1976 (1976-09-15) (France)
  • 16 October 1976 (1976-10-16) (Japan)
Running time
  • 102 minutes (Producer's Cut)
  • 108 minutes (original theatrical cut)
Countries
  • France
  • Japan
LanguageJapanese
Box office
  • $7.65 million (France/Germany)
  • 1,424,906 kr (Sweden)

In the Realm of the Senses (French: L'Empire des sens, Japanese: 愛のコリーダ, Ai no Korīda, "Bullfight of Love"[1]) is a 1976 erotic art film written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima.[2][3] It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of a 1936 murder committed by Sada Abe.[4] An international coproduction of France and Japan, the film generated great controversy at the time of its release.[4] The film had the involvement of pink film luminary Kōji Wakamatsu as co-screenwriter and assistant producer.[5] While intended for mainstream wide release, the film contains scenes of unsimulated sexual activity between the actors (Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji, among others).

Plot

In 1936 Tokyo, Sada Abe is a former prostitute who now works as a maid in a hotel. The hotel's owner Kichizo Ishida molests her, and the two begin an intense affair that consists of sexual experiments and various self-indulgences. Ishida leaves his wife to pursue his affair with Sada. Sada becomes increasingly possessive and jealous of Ishida, and Ishida more eager to please her. Their mutual obsession escalates until Ishida finds that she is most excited by strangling him during lovemaking, and he is killed in this fashion. Sada then severs his penis. While she is shown next to him naked, it is mentioned that she will walk around with his penis inside her for several days. Words written with blood can be read on his chest: "Sada Kichi the two of us forever."

Themes

The film explores themes of sexual obsession, power dynamics, and the blurred lines between violence and love, representing extreme consequences of resistance to social repression.[6][7]

Cast

  • Eiko Matsuda as Sada Abe
  • Tatsuya Fuji as Kichizō Ishida
  • Aoi Nakajima as Toku
  • Yasuko Matsui as Tagawa Inn manager
  • Meika Seri as Matsuko
  • Kanae Kobayashi as Old geisha Kikuryū
  • Taiji Tonoyama as Old beggar
  • Kyôji Kokonoe as Teacher Ōmiya
  • Naomi Shiraishi as Geisha Yaeji
  • Komikichi Hori as Mitsuwa Geisha

Title

The film was released under the title of In the Realm of the Senses in the U.S. and the U.K., and under L'Empire des sens (Empire of the Senses) in France. The French title was taken from Roland Barthes's book about Japan, L'Empire des signes (Empire of Signs, 1970).[1]

The original Japanese title Ai no Korīda was later reimagined as the title of the 1979 funk song "Ai No Corrida", originally recorded by Chaz Jankel and later brought to success by Quincy Jones in 1981.[8]

Censorship

Strict censorship laws in Japan would not have allowed the film to be made according to Ōshima's vision.[4] This obstruction was bypassed by officially listing the production as a French enterprise, and the undeveloped footage was shipped to France for processing and editing. At its premiere in Japan, the film's sexual activity was optically censored using reframing and blurring.[9][10] A book with stills and script notes from the film was published by San’ichishobo, and in 1976 the Japanese government brought obscenity charges against Ōshima and San’ichishobo.[11] Ōshima testified in the trial and said. "Nothing that is expressed is obscene. What is obscene is what is hidden."[12] Ōshima and the publisher were found not guilty in 1979; the government appealed and the Tokyo High Court upheld the verdict in 1982.[11]

In the United States, the film was initially banned upon its premiere at the 1976 New York Film Festival[13] but was later screened uncut, and a similar fate awaited the film when it was released in West Germany. It was also banned because of a scene in which Kichi pushes an egg into Sada's vagina, forcing her to push it out of her vagina before Kichi eats the egg. The film was not available on home video until 1990, although it was sometimes seen uncut in film clubs.

At the time, the only European country in which the film was banned was Belgium.[14][15][16] The ban was lifted in 1994,[17][18] and Belgium has not censored a film of any kind since.

At the time of its initial screening at the 1976 London Film Festival, the British Board of Film Censors recommended that it be shown under private cinema club conditions to avoid the need for heavy cuts, but only after the Obscene Publications Act had been extended to films in 1977 to avoid potential legal problems.[19] The film opened at the Gate Cinema Club in 1978. It was given an official countrywide cinema release in 1991, though the video release was delayed until 2000 when it was passed with an "18" certificate (suitable for adults only). All of the adult sexual activity was left intact, but a shot in which Sada yanks the penis of a prepubescent boy after he misbehaves was reframed, zooming in so that only the reaction of the boy was shown.[20] In Australia, the film was originally banned, but a censored version was made available in 1977. In 2000, it finally became available in its complete version.[21][22] The graphic sexual content of the production also caused it to be banned in Israel in 1987.[23][24]

The film is available in uncut form in France, Germany, the United States (as part of The Criterion Collection), the Netherlands, Belgium and several other territories.

In Canada, when originally submitted to the provincial film boards in the 1970s, the film was rejected in all jurisdictions except Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia. It was not until 1991 that individual provinces approved the film and gave it a certificate. However, in the Maritimes, the film was rejected again as the policies followed in the 1970s were still enforced.

In Brazil, the film was banned during the military dictatorship due to its explicit sex scenes. The ban was lifted in 1980.[25]

Due to its sexual themes and explicit scenes, the film was the cause of great controversy in Portugal in 1991 after it aired on RTP.[26] Some deemed it inappropriate even for the watershed slot, while others appreciated its airing. The film aired again on RTP2, almost unnoticed.[27]

Box office

In France, the film sold 1,730,874 tickets,[28] grossing approximately €4,673,360[29] ($5,203,732).[30] In Germany, where it was released in 1978, the film sold 693,628 tickets,[28] grossing approximately €1,803,433[29] ($2,446,050).[31] Combined, the film sold 2,424,502 tickets[28] and grossed approximately $7,649,782 in France and Germany.

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 86% based on 36 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.7 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Sexual taboos are broken and boundaries crossed In the Realm of the Senses, a fearlessly provocative psychosexual tale."[32]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Turim, Maureen (1998). The Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese Iconoclast. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-520-20666-5.
  2. ↑ Richie, Donald. "In the Realm of the Senses: Some Notes on Oshima and Pornography". Criterion. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Fountain, Clarke. "In the Realm of Passion". Allmovie. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Sandra Buckley, ed. (14 December 2001). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture. Routledge. p. 9. ISBN 0-415-14344-6.
  5. ↑ Crispim, Pedro (2022). "Kōji Wakamatsu: Alienation and the Womb" (PDF). Disegno Journal of Design Culture. 6 (1): |pp=34–53. doi:10.21096/disegno_2022_1pc. S2CID 255084597.
  6. ↑ Mellen, Joan (2004). In the realm of the senses = Ai no corrida. Bfi. ISBN 1-84457-034-7. OCLC 915749093.
  7. ↑ Knauss, Stefanie (2009). "Deathly Passion: "Oshima"'s "in the Realm of the Senses" and the Transgressive Character of Sexuality and Religion". Literature and Theology. 23 (3): 332–343. doi:10.1093/litthe/frp039. ISSN 0269-1205. JSTOR 23927566.
  8. ↑ Simon Matthews (2021). Looking for a New England. Oldcastle Books. p. 1842. ISBN 9780857304124 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "In the Realm of the Senses: Some Notes on Oshima and Pornography". The Criterion Collection.
  10. ↑ "Nagisa Oshima's Realm of Restraint and Precision". The New York Times. 26 April 2009.
  11. 1 2 Alexander, James R., Obscenity, Pornography, and Law in Japan: Reconsidering Oshima's 'In the Realm of the Senses' (April 17, 2012). Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, vol. 4 (winter 2003), pp. 148-168., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2041314
  12. ↑ Lim, Dennis (15 January 2013). "Nagisa Oshima, Iconoclastic Filmmaker, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  13. ↑ "In the Realm of the Senses director Nagisa Oshima dies at 80". BBC News. BBC. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2019. The film fell foul of censors in Germany, the UK and the US - where it was seized by customs officials ahead of a planned screening at the New York Film Festival.
  14. ↑ "Cinemazuid". Cinemazuid.be. 25 April 2013. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "Video: Op 17 november 1977 zond de VRT dit uit". Cobra.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "Ons Erfdeel. Jaargang 29 · dbnl". Dbnl.org. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Nova Cinema". 11 June 2021.
  18. ↑ "Adieu Nagisa Oshima (1932–2013) - Filmmagie". Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  19. ↑ Case Study: L'Empire des Sens (In The Realm Of The Senses) Archived 13 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Students' British Board of Film Classification page
  20. ↑ Wurm, Gerald. "In The Realm of the Senses (Comparison: BBFC 18 - US Blu-ray) - Movie-Censorship.com".
  21. ↑ "In the Realm of the Senses (1976) - Censor - Refused-Classification.com".
  22. ↑ Cetti, Robert (September 2014). Offensive to a Reasonable Adult. Robert Cettl. ISBN 9780987242556.
  23. ↑ Jones, Derek (December 2001). Censorship. Routledge. ISBN 9781136798641.
  24. ↑ "Director of banned film nixes accord". Los Angeles Times. 5 May 2004.
  25. ↑ "Cinco filmes que incomodaram a censura durante a ditadura militar no Brasil". GZH (in Brazilian Portuguese). 16 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  26. ↑ What Culture#15 Archived 15 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine; In the Realm of the Senses
  27. ↑ "O Império dos Sentidos".
  28. 1 2 3 "L'Empire Des Sens (Ai no Corrida)". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  29. 1 2 "Cinema market". Cinema, TV and radio in the EU: Statistics on audiovisual services (Data 1980-2002) (2003 ed.). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 2003. pp. 31–64 (61). ISBN 92-894-5709-0. ISSN 1725-4515. Retrieved 23 May 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  30. ↑ "Historical currency converter with official exchange rates from 1953". fxtop.com. 31 December 1976. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  31. ↑ "Historical currency converter with official exchange rates from 1953". fxtop.com. 31 December 1978. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  32. ↑ In the Realm of the Senses at Rotten Tomatoes

Sources

  • Buehrer, Beverley (1990). "In the Realm of the Senses (1976) Ai no Koriida". Japanese Films: a filmography and commentary, 1921–1989. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland. pp. 222–225. ISBN 0-89950-458-2.
  • Marran, Christine (2007). "Why Perversion Is Not Subversion: Tanaka Noboru's The True Story of Abe Sada and Oshima Nagisa's In the Realm of the Senses". Poison Woman: figuring female transgression in modern Japanese culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 150–161. ISBN 978-0-8166-4727-9.
  • Kenny, Patrick T. M. (2007) Conflicting Legal and Cultural Conceptions of Obscenity in Japan: Hokusai's Shunga and Oshima Nagisa's "L'Empire des sens". Earlham College thesis
  • Durgnat, Raymond (1985). "In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no Koriida)". In Frank N. Magill (ed.). Magill's Survey of Cinema: Foreign Language Films; Volume 3. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press. pp. 1475–1479. ISBN 0-89356-243-2.

Further reading

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