Story of movie In The Realm Of The Senses :
In the Realm of the Senses (French: L'Empire des sens, Japanese: ??????, Ai no kor?da, "Corrida of Love") is a 1976 French-Japanese art film written and directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe. It generated great controversy during its release; while intended for mainstream wide release, it contains scenes of unsimulated sexual activity between the actors (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, among others).
| In the Realm of the Senses | |
|---|---|
Japanese theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Nagisa Oshima |
| Produced by | Anatole Dauman |
| Written by | Nagisa Oshima |
| Starring | Eiko Matsuda Tatsuya Fuji |
| Music by | Minoru Miki |
| Cinematography | Hideo Ito |
| Edited by | Keiichi Uraoka |
Production company | Argos Films Oceanic Oshima Productions |
| Distributed by | Argos Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Japan France |
| Language | Japanese |
| Box office | 1,424,906 kr |
Screenplay
In 1936 Tokyo, Sada Abe (Eiko Matsuda) is a former prostitute who now works as a maid in a hotel. The hotel's owner, Kichizo Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji), 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 to the point where Ishida finds 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".
- Eiko Matsuda as Sada Abe
- Tatsuya Fuji as Kichiz? Ishida
- Aoi Nakajima as Toku
- Yasuko Matsui as Tagawa Inn manager
- Meika Seri as Matsuko
- Kanae Kobayashi as Old geisha Kikury?
- Taiji Tonoyama as Old beggar
- Kyôji Kokonoe as Teacher ?miya
- Naomi Shiraishi as Geisha Yaeji
- Komikichi Hori as Mitsuwa Geisha
The film was released under 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).
Strict censorship laws in Japan would not have allowed the film to be made according to Oshima's vision. 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 première in Japan, the sexual activity was optically censored using reframing and blurring.
In the United States, the film was initially banned upon its première at the 1976 New York Film Festival, but later screened uncut, and a similar fate awaited the film when it was released in Germany. It was also banned because of a scene in which Kichi pushes an egg into Sada's vulva, forcing her to push it out of her vagina, with Kichi eating the egg. The film was not available on home video until 1990, although it was sometimes seen uncut in film clubs.
At the time of its initial screening at the 1976 London Film Festival, the British Board of Film Censors recommended it be shown under private cinema club conditions to avoid the need for heavy cuts to be made, but only after the Obscene Publications Act had been extended to films (in 1977) to avoid potential legal problems. 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. The film is available in uncut form in France, Germany, the United States (including 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 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.
Due to its sexual themes and explicit scenes, the film was the cause of great controversy in Portugal after it aired on RTP. Some deemed it inappropriate even for the watershed slot, while others actually appreciated its airing, such as the Archbishop of Braga D., Eurico Dias Nogueira, who said he "had learned more in 10 minutes of the film than in his entire life". The film aired again on RTP2, almost unnoticed.
Chaz Jankel of Ian Dury and the Blockheads fame, along with Kenny Young (Under The Boardwalk) made a pop song in 1980 called Ai No Corrida based on the movie's Japanese title. This song has since been recorded by many different artists, including Quincy Jones, whose version was a Top 20 hit in the UK.
- Unsimulated sex
- Nudity in film (East Asian cinema since 1929)
