Banned in many countries thanks to its immensely explicit depictions of sex and sexual acts, Nagisa Ōshima’s “In the Realm of the Senses” is an immense movie, and one that straddles the line between erotica and thriller. Although “In the Realm of the Senses” revels in the eroticism of sexuality and sex, it also delves deep in to the darkness of sexual obsession, control, and the appetite for sex (all of the sex scenes are un-simulated) that can consume our lives. I’ve never actually seen director and writer Nagisa Ōshima’s film before, so viewing it now was quite the surprise. The director fancies themselves in exploring the acts of sex along with the behavior between its core characters that result in lust that inevitably becomes deadly.
The fictionalized accounts of two villagers in Tokyo that form an affair that heightens not just in boldness but in pure dangerous pursuits. 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. A majority of “In the Realm of the Senses” revolves around Sada and Ishida and how they spent most of their time indulging in sex as often as possible.
It becomes such a center point of their lives that they never hesitate to gorge on one another in the middle of restaurants and even parties. A lot of their dynamic revolves around their obsessions with sex and how they see how far they can take their addiction to hedonistic acts. What begins as an affair transforms in to infidelity, and then orgies, and sexual assaults. Both partners always seem to be working toward tantalizing the other and exploring how far they can go in tempting the other. They’re constantly in competition and this only encourages them to go as far as possible. Nagisa Ōshima is great in injecting and draining the appeal of sex through many of the depictions of sexual intercourse.
The movie begins conveying a sheer sense of eroticism, but the more the narrative progresses the darker and uglier the act of sex is depicted. One scene in where Ishida ravages an elderly Geisha woman is especially dark as what he perceives initially as pleasure turns in to more of a demonstration of violence and shame. Sadly, “In the Realm of the Senses” bases the entirety of the narrative on the pair and their sexual acts to a fault, as the movie becomes increasingly repetitive by the time the second act unfolds. Nevertheless, Nagisa Ōshima does build to one of the most grotesque and gruesome finales I’ve ever seen in a movie not categorized as horror.
It’s a haunting depiction of two people consumed with their lust for one another to where it inevitably destroyed them. “In the Realm of the Senses” is a fascinating movie exploring the inherent madness of sex and sexual obsession. It’s a very worthwhile arthouse gem.
Playing at the LA&M Film Fetish Forum August 19th, @7pm; Co-Presented by Asian Pop-Up Cinema.