''In the Realm of the Senses'' (french: link=no, L'Empire des sens, Japanese: , ''Ai no Korīda'', "Bullfight of Love") is a 1976 erotic

art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

written and directed by

Nagisa Ōshima was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. One of the foremost directors within the Japanese New Wave, his films include '' In the Realm of the Senses'' (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930s Japan, and ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrenc ...

. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of a 1936 murder committed by

Sada Abe was a Empire of Japan, Japanese geisha and prostitute who murdered her lover, , via strangulation on May 18, 1936, before cutting off his Human penis, penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her kimono. The story became a natio ...

. An international coproduction of France and Japan, the film generated great

controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

at the time of its release. While intended for mainstream

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical r ...

, the film contains scenes of unsimulated sexual activity between the actors (

Eiko Matsuda was a Japanese actress. She is best known for her performance as Sada Abe in ''In the Realm of the Senses ''In the Realm of the Senses'' (french: link=no, L'Empire des sens, Japanese: , ''Ai no Korīda'', "Bullfight of Love") is a 1976 erotic ...

and

Tatsuya Fuji is a Japanese actor. He was born in Beijing and raised in Yokohama. In 1962, Fuji joined Nikkatsu Company and began his acting career with small roles in Nikkatsu film. In 1968, Fuji married actress Izumi Ashikawa. He gained popularity throug ...

, 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."

Cast

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 Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western pop ...

's book about Japan, ''L'Empire des signes'' (''Empire of Signs'', 1970). 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 Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

in 1981.

Censorship

Strict censorship laws in Japan would not have allowed the film to be made according to Ōshima'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 premiere in Japan, the film's sexual activity was optically censored using reframing and blurring. In the United States, the film was initially banned upon its premiere at the 1976

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

but was 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 The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, vestibular bulbs, vulv ...

, forcing her to push it out of her

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

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 Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The ban was lifted in 1994, 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 BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

, the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national clas ...

recommended that it be shown under private cinema club conditions to avoid the need for heavy cuts, but only after the

Obscene Publications Act Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by Lord ...

had been extended to films in 1977 to avoid potential legal problems.Case Study: ''L'Empire des Sens (In The Realm Of The Senses)''
, Students' British Board of Film Classification page 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. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, the film was originally banned, but a censored version was made available in 1977. In 2000, it finally became available in its complete version. The graphic sexual content of the production also caused it to be banned in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1987. The film is available in uncut form in France, Germany, the United States (as part of

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

), 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 Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

. It was not until 1991 that individual provinces approved the film and gave it a

certificate Certificate may refer to: * Birth certificate * Marriage certificate * Death certificate * Gift certificate * Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something * Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pr ...

. However, in the

Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of C ...

, 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 A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...

due to its explicit sex scenes. The ban was lifted in 1980.

Controversy

Because of its sexual themes and explicit scenes, the film was the cause of great controversy in Portugal in 1991 after it aired on RTP. Some deemed it inappropriate even for the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

slot, while others appreciated its airing. The film aired again on RTP2, almost unnoticed.

Box office

In France, the film sold 1,730,874 tickets, grossing approximately ($5,203,732). In Germany, where it was released in 1978, the film sold 693,628 tickets, grossing approximately ($2,446,050). Combined, the film sold 2,424,502 tickets and grossed approximately in France and Germany.

Critical reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, 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."

References

Sources

* * * Kenny, Patrick T. M. (2007) ''Conflicting Legal and Cultural Conceptions of Obscenity in Japan:

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock print series '' Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print ''The Great W ...

Shunga is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e, often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word ''shunga' ...

and Oshima Nagisa's "L'Empire des sens".''

Earlham College Earlham College is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social ...

thesis *

External links

* * *
''In the Realm of the Senses: Some Notes on Oshima and Pornography ''
an essay by

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also di ...

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...

''Nagisa Oshima on In the Realm of the Senses''
an essay by Nagisa Oshima at the

{{Authority control 1976 films 1970s erotic drama films Japanese erotic drama films French erotic drama films Japanese multilingual films French multilingual films 1970s Japanese-language films Drama films based on actual events Films about prostitution in Japan Films set in 1936 Films set in Tokyo Films shot in Japan Adultery in films BDSM in films 1976 multilingual films Censored films Obscenity controversies in film Necrophilia in film Films directed by Nagisa Ōshima Films produced by Anatole Dauman Cultural depictions of Sada Abe 1976 drama films Film controversies in the United Kingdom Film controversies in Australia Film controversies in France Film controversies in Germany Film controversies in Belgium Film controversies in Japan Film controversies in Portugal Film censorship in the United Kingdom Film censorship in Australia Film censorship in France Film censorship in Germany Film censorship in Belgium Film censorship in Japan Film censorship in Portugal Nudity in film 1970s Japanese films 1970s French films