In the Realm of the Senses



In the Realm of the Senses (French: L'Empire des sens, Japanese: 愛のコリーダ, Ai no korīda) is a 1976 Franco-Japanese pornographic arthouse romance/drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima.

The film is a semi-Biopic about the life of Sada Abe, who infamously strangled her lover before cutting off his genitals and carrying them around in her handbag, thus becoming a cultural icon. Set in Tokyo in 1936, Sada is played by Eiko Matsuda. Sada is a former prostitute who gets employed as a maid in a hotel. She begins a torrid affair with the hotel's owner, Kichizo Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji). The two engage in various sex games, including slapping each other, Kichizo urinating inside her, and Kichizo having sex with an old woman who comes to play music for them in front of her. Alas, Sada grows jealous of Kichizo's ongoing sexual relations with his actual wife, insisting that he love only her. Eventually, with his encouragement, she erotically aspyxiates him and cuts his genitals off so she can keep them inside her forever; with the film concluding with her painting "Sada Kichi the two of us forever," in blood on his chest.

Because bans in Japan on depictions of genitalia would have prevented Oshima from completing the film to his vision in that country, the production was officially listed as a French enterprise, and the undeveloped footage was shipped to France for processing and editing. The film does not so much examine Abe's status as a folk hero in Japan, but rather the power dynamics between Abe and Ishida. Many critics have written that the film is also an exploration of how eroticism in Japanese culture is often morbid or death-obsessed.

An obvious precursor of Takashi Miike's Audition.


 * All Women Are Lustful: So lustful, that they will strangle their lovers and cut their dicks off so they can keep them inside them forever.
 * Based on a True Story
 * Erotic Asphyxiation
 * Euroshlock: A bit of an unusual example.
 * Girl with Psycho Weapon: Sada with a knife.
 * Groin Attack: Averted. Kichizo consents to having his wee-wee cut.
 * It's Not Porn, It's Art
 * Male Frontal Nudity
 * Rape as Drama: Sada forces Kichizo to rape the elder housemaid.
 * That Didn't Happen: Sada sees Kichizo having sex with another girl. She is shocked and the next shot shows her sticking a knife inside the girl's head, whereupon the bleeding girl screams in agony. Then it turns out she just fantasized about it.
 * Yandere: Sada.