In the Realm of the Senses

1976 ‘愛のコリーダ’ Directed by Nagisa Ōshima

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.

Eiko Matsuda Tatsuya Fuji Aoi Nakajima Yasuko Matsui Meika Seri Kanae Kobayashi Taiji Tonoyama Akiko Koyama

Alternative Titles

O Império dos Sentidos, 官能王国, 感官世界, 感官王国, El imperio de los sentidos, Aistien valtakunta, L'empire des Sens, L'Impero dei sensi, Ai no corrida, Ai no korîda, Империя чувств

romance drama

105 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by davidehrlich ★★★★★ 7

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

The first time you watch Ōshima Nagisa’s “In the Realm of the Senses,” it might seem like more of a horror movie than a love story. Even now, when American viewers coming to the film for the first time might be inclined to sympathize with a story about two people who self-quarantine to save themselves from their country’s suicidal ideology, it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees and mistake Ōshima’s transgressive 1976 masterpiece for something tawdry or even sinister.
This is, after all, a claustrophobic (and broadly true) saga of erotic obsession from the most hostile of Japanese auteurs; a mad and scandalous work of art that’s full of unsimulated sex, peppered with a massacre’s worth…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 6

i am a fan of the ~sex~
that weird thing people do that i have also done
would recommend
Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★ 3

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

The key moment comes at about one hour and twenty minutes into the film, where Kichi (for the first time in the film, I think?) walks outside by himself, and we see marching soldiers and children waving Japanese nationalist flags. Kichi looks downward - maybe in shame, maybe in protest, maybe both. But this moment recontextualizes everything that has come before and contextualizes everything that will come: this hidden world that Sada and Kichi create - the 'realm of the senses' so to speak, is one made not as an extension of culture, but as a kind of suspension from it. Not just sex, but love becomes a reaction against the world.
To be offended by this film, one really…
Review by katie ★★★★ 1

that sure was... sex
Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★★ 11

Ahhh, yes... the beauty of sexual intimacy, the great variety of sensations felt during the most beautiful act of love, the very emotions of the human being reaching an extreme point of pleasure. Ai no Corrida is the most cinematically graphic representation of a fully-developed study on human eroticism, but what is often confused with either a strictly pornographic film or with a fully perverted movie is actually an essay of political ideas depicted with extreme liberalism. Audacious and poetical Japanese director Nagisa Ôshima directs his definitive masterpiece, a controversial work of art of impeccably explicit proportions that awakens the very human reactions of denial when sexual content is mercilessly displayed on the screen, a reaction that, ironically, people do…
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★½ 3

In the Realm of the Senses is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an infamous incident in Japan in 1936 involving a Japanese woman named Sada Abe (portrayed by Eiko Matsuda) and her lover Kichizō Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji). It is an intense liaison which swerves into sadomasochism territory as the couple propel themselves towards complete euphoria. The uncontrollable emotions they have for one another increases to the degree that ordinary existence is no longer of consequence.
The movie prompted much controversy during its release due to its unsimulated sex scenes; which resulted in the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) suggesting the movie be exhibited in specialist adult theatres only to circumvent the necessity for significant cuts, and within the United States it became prohibited shortly after its première. Director Nagisa Oshima organises scenes of affection together with some threatening erotica and this movie stands as a tremendous revolutionary work.
Review by Monday Seagull

Hello? Mrs. Bobbitt?
It's Blockbuster Video. Just calling to inform you of a $43.00 late fee on your account...
Review by Jaime Rebanal ★★★★★

When a film depicts sex for the mere sake of it, that's where I believe it can be deemed pornography. In the case of In the Realm of the Senses, as explicit as the sex may be, I don't at all see it as pornography - it nearly borders on that but to me, it wouldn't seem fair especially when what we have is a story being told, one especially that shocked Japan during its time. But out of everyone they got to direct it, it was a man who wanted to push beyond the limits, none other than Nagisa Oshima. It's interesting how others can read into this, but I find it extremely masterful and at that, it is…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★½ 4

The film is about Obsession not sex! Unsimulated sex is rampant, but after awhile it loses it's allure and even the voyeurs among us wish they'd take a break! That is the point when we begin seeing it for what it truly is... an obsession!
Based on a true story about an incident that took place in 1936 Japan! The funny thing about this is Japan doesn't censor gory, bloody, graphic violence and serves it up on a silver platter on a regular basis but god forbid if a film depicts unsimulated sex or a male penis that's instant ban material! Thankfully Oshima found a French partner otherwise this film would never have seen the light of day!
So I applaud the film for simply existing!
Review by Evan ★★★★★ 1

Love all of the straight cinebros on here calling this 'tatty old porn masquerading as arthouse.' What kind of porn are y'all watching?
Even if this was pornographic (it's not), does that make it a bad thing? Should a story that's about sexual obsession just have the camera pan over to a window or fade to black?
Not sure how, but I forgot just how (intentionally!) funny this is. Matsuda and Fuji give the performances of a lifetime. Really stunning.
Review by Larry ★★★★ 11

Yeah, this is gonna be a tough one to recommend!

Nagisa Oshima's In The Realm Of The Senses is an uncompromising sexual odyssey of two lovers and their slow descent into the maddening swirls of masochism, jealousy, perversion and obsession. Notorious for it's explicit sex scenes and that nightmarish ending, it's Oshima's thoughtful direction and solid screenplay that prevent In The Realm of The Senses from being some pornographic, pretentious art film. It's at times playful as it is sexual, for this erotic romance explores the limits of love, the ecstasy of sex, the boundaries of intimacy, the unbridled lust and the deeply toxic jealousy that binds these two star cross'd lovers together forever and ever and ever....
Meet Sada…
Review by pynechone ★★★★★ 1

happy valentines day

Recent reviews

Review by Blake Peterson ★★★½

youtu.be/_ZifMB2oxPE
Review by eva ★★½ 2

when she said she got her period and the dude slid two fingers in then licked the blood clean off i knew he would drive her to insanity
Review by Adam ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Putting the subtitles directly over the mutilated genitals during that final shot...Punishment
Review by Fernando Lino

there aren't many films
where actors are this close to the edge
Matsuda walks on a razor blade
watched the first part of this film drunk
and thought it was incredibly erotic
the second part, not as much
Review by Javier Giron ★★★

Creo que acabo de ver la película mas jodida desde que tengo memoria.
Sabia que esta película se consideraba una controversia, gráfica y difícil de ver, y después de verla, creo que ni esas palabras le hacen justicia. Realmente no estaba preparado para lo que acabo de ver. En ciertos momentos hasta me sentí físicamente enfermo.
Definitivamente una película que empuja los limites, y entiendo que algunos piensen que esos limites se cruzaron.
Review by Angelo Cordeiro ★★★★

O prazer e o sexo levados até as últimas consequências como mecanismos de dominação e libertação da mulher.
Ôshima toca bem mais fundo do que Gaspar Noé com Love, Tinto Brass com seus filmes eróticos e Lars von Trier com Ninfomaníaca. Lindo, charmoso e triste.
Review by Guyzo997 ★★★½

Extreme with a capital E. What may surprise most is how funny the movie is, peppering in the fascinatingly weird dialogue between the experimentation the lovers indulge in together. Half the time it admittedly feels like an exercise in indecency, but I sense that the director was trying to make something audiences had never seen before.
But what’s important to note is the contrast between the inner world the two lovers occupy, and the outer one gradually closing in. It’s the 1930s and Japan was heavily militarizing in advance of the second world war, as we see in a late scene. Yet, throughout the film, the strictly traditional clothes most of the characters wear almost make you forget it takes…
Review by Lucia ★★★★★

Sada Abe ¡Te amo!
Review by rafavieira ★★★

artepensamento.com.br/item/o-imperio-do-individuo-uma-analise-de-o-imperio-dos-sentidos-de-nagisa-oshima/
Review by Gabriel Zupiroli ★★★★½

Nagisa Ōshima cria uma atmosfera erótica sublime ao filmar de uma maneira simples, com a câmera geralmente estática, sob uma trilha sonora de músicas tradicionais. Toda a tensão sexual aqui é desdobrada cada vez mais em níveis maiores até o sexo adquirir uma faceta psicológica hipnotizante que conduz a um jogo de loucura e, consequentemente, morte. Tem um plano simbólico muito bem estabelecido e umas cenas absurdamente boas, surpreendentes.
Pra um filme explícito, visual, com cenas de sexo reais, esse filme se envereda por um jogo multifacetado de possibilidades de uma maneira magistral, quase onírica em certos momentos. A densidade das personagens reflete essa situação polivalente em que o casal se encontra e culmina em uma verdadeira força motora lúdica, onde este aspecto justamente substitui o real - a cena do corte dos órgãos genitais. Um filmaço sem precedentes, dos melhores filmes eróticos já feitos, provavelmente.
Review by Nick Laskin ★★★★

Pornhub, meet the Japanese arthouse.
Gaspar Noe’s “Love,” eat your motherfuckin’ heart out.
Review by Douglas Otts ★★★★

I watched this. And immediately bought it. Because there is no way I can continue in life without owning this outrageously bold film.