In November and December, our special series is dedicated to Final Cut: remarkable endings in the broadest sense of the word.
Content warning: This film contains explicit scenes of sex and sexual violence, which some viewers may find disturbing.
“Nothing that is expressed is obscene. What is obscene is what is hidden,” said director Nagisa Ôshima during a court trial over the censorship of his film. This taboo-breaking work is infamous for good reason. With In the Realm of the Senses, Ôshima created an uncompromising, erotic, and shocking masterpiece.
Set in Tokyo in 1936, the film follows Ishida, who begins an intense affair with his maid, Sada. Seeking escape from the outside world, the two isolate themselves. Their relationship and their sex grows increasingly consuming. The couple descends into ever more extreme and destructive sexual experiments. Their disturbing climax became an immediate landmark in film history…