Empire of Passion (1978)

aka Ai No Borei

dir: Oshima Nagisa

Considered a companion film to 1976's In the Realm of the Senses (famously by the same director), Realm of Passion rehashes the same Japanese/French co-production team, on the French side represented by Anatole Dauman and Argos Films.

Both films also star Fuji Tatsuya, in this much tamer role of Tsuyoji, a vagabonding Sino-Japanese War vet living on the fringes of society, at the bottom rungs, in who's charge is his disabled younger brother. He persistently pursues married woman Seki (Yoshiyuki Kazuko) who is unable to resist some forced upon, but ultimately pretty good head. Pussy shaving is the tipping point, advancing the lovers forward with Tsuyoji's plan to murder Seki's husband, hard-working rickshaw driver Gisaburo (Tamura Takahiro).

This ghost story is beautifully shot with its lush landscapes and undeniable expression of the seasons. Revealed is the unknown drama a snow storm lends to the dragging away and hiding of a corpse, for instance. Elsewhere, the quiet presence of the red-leaf carpeted forests in Fall make themselves known.

Nature here also includes human nature (Gisaburo's selflessness; Seki and Tsuyoji's murderousness), as well as the realm of the spirits. Sex too is present heavily, and sexily so, though not (porno)graphically. As it turns out, Nature, a big theme for Oshima, envelops everything, the sexual not to be excluded.

Elements of the natural world manifests audibly as well, with the call of birds, the chirping of insects, the cries of Seki's baby. It is the ever-louder inner calling of Seki and Tsuyoji's nature, dragging them further and further down into the depths, symbolized ultimately with the lovers in the well.

Oshima describes this film's world view, including sex and love, as ultimately devoid of meaning, and consequently reality is revealed as a living hell. Even so, it is yet a source of unending beauty. Such extreme contradictions coexist though-out the work, best encapsulated by the passion that leads to the very unraveling of the protagonists.

The masterfulness with which he's been said to have elevated the pornographic in the past is definitely present this time absent the porno. Of course, this is an unequivocal testament to Oshima's dominance of the medium, clearly evident in 1999's Taboo, his final film to date.