Title : In the Realm of the Senses (1976) [Ai no korîda]
2 CDs
Language : Japanese (English Subtitle)
time : 00:49:20 + 00:53:08
Video: XVID 720x432 23.98fps 1877Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: MPEG Audio Layer 3 48000Hz stereo 106Kbps [Audio 1]
size : 705MB (740159496 bytes) + 697MB (731888360 bytes)
Film's director : Nagisa Oshima
Cast : Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui, Meika Seri, Kanae Kobayashi, Taiji Tonoyama, Kyôji Kokonoe, Naomi Shiraishi, Shinkichi Noda, Komikichi Hori, Kikuhei Matsunoya, Akiko Koyama, Yuriko Azuma, Rei Minami
Story : Based on a true story set in pre-war Japan, a man and one of his servants begin a torrid affair. Their desire becomes a sexual obsession so strong that to intensify their ardor, they forsake all, even life itself.
More details : 'In the Realm of the Senses' is a 1976 Franco-Japanese film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident which occurred in 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe. It garnered great controversy during its release; while it was intended for mainstream release, it contains scenes of unsimulated sexual activity between the actors (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, among others).
In 1936 Tokyo, Sada Abe (Matsuda) 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, drinking, and various self-indulgences. Ishida leaves his wife and family to pursue his affair with Abe. Abe becomes increasingly possessive and jealous of Ishida, and Ishida more eager to please her. Their mutual obsession escalates to the point where Ishida finds he is most excited by being strangled during lovemaking, and he is killed in this fashion. Abe then severs Ishida's penis and writes, "Sada Kichi the two of us forever," in blood on his chest.
Strict censorship laws would not have allowed the film to be completed as per Oshima's vision in Japan. To get around this, the production was officially listed as a French enterprise, and the undeveloped footage was shipped to France for processing and editing. At its première in Japan (and in all prints of the film there ever since), the sexual activity has been optically censored.
In the USA, the film was initially banned upon its première at the 1976 New York Film Festival, but later screened uncut; a similar fate awaited the film when it was to be released in Germany. The film was not available on home video until 1990.
The British Board of Film Censors, at the time of its first limited screenings in the UK, recommended it be shown under private 'cinema club' conditions to avoid the need for cuts to be made, but only after the Obscene Publications Act had been extended to films (in 1977) to avoid potential legal problems. More recently the BBFC has granted the film an "18" certificate (suitable for adults only), leaving all of the adult sexual activity intact, but ordered that a shot showing a prepubescent boy having his penis pulled as punishment be optically reframed so that the act itself was not shown. The film has been made available, however, in completely uncut forms in France, the United States (including The Criterion Collection DVD), the Netherlands and several other territories.
Extras :
1. Deleted Sceen Footage
2. Interview - Oshima and his Actors
3. Interview - Recalling the Film
4. Interview - Tstsuya Fuji
5. Original US Theatrical Trailer
Extras :