Oshima in Words and Images
January 15, 2013
Film Info
- Japan
- 1976
- 102 minutes
- Color
- 1.66:1
- Japanese
- Spine #466
Still censored in its own country, In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no corrida), by Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, remains one of the most controversial films of all time. A graphic portrayal of insatiable sexual desire, Oshima’s film, set in 1936 and based on a true incident, depicts a man and a woman (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda) consumed by a transcendent, destructive love while living in an era of ever escalating imperialism and governmental control. Less a work of pornography than of politics, In the Realm of the Senses is a brave, taboo-breaking milestone.
WARNING: THIS FILM IS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT
Cast
| Sada Abe | Eiko Matsuda |
| Kichizo | Tatsuya Fuji |
| Toku | Aoi Nakajima |
| Inn manager | Yasuko Matsui |
| Yoshidaya maid | Meika Seri |
| Old maid | Kanae Kobayashi |
| Old beggar | Taiji Tonoyama |
| Patron | Kyôji Kokonoe |
Credits
| Director | Nagisa Oshima |
| Producer | Anatole Dauman |
| Screenplay | Nagisa Oshima |
| Line producer | Koji Wakamatsu |
| Consulting producer | Hayao Shibata |
| Cinematography | Hideo Ito |
| Lighting | Kenichi Okamoto |
| Production design | Jusho Toda |
| Music | Minoru Miki |
| Editing | Keiichi Uraoka and Patrick Sauvion |
| Sound | Tetsuo Yasuda |
| Costumes | Jusho Toda and Masahiro Kato |
| Makeup | Koji Takemura |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- New audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns
- New interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji
- A 1976 interview with director Nagisa Oshima and actors Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, and a 2003 program featuring interviews with consulting producer Hayao Shibata, line producer, Koji Wakamatsu, assistant director Yoichi Sai, and film distributor Yoko Asakura
- Deleted footage
- U.S. trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie and a reprinted interview with Oshima
Current Posts
Photo Galleries
Film Essays
Nagisa Oshima on In the Realm of the Senses
April 30, 2009
The following article, based on an interview with Nagisa Oshima conducted by Katsue Tomiyama . . . Read more »
Film Essays
In the Realm of the Senses: Some Notes on Oshima and Pornography
By April 30, 2009
The concept of “obscenity” is tested when we dare to look at something that we desire to see . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Nagisa Oshima on In the Realm of the Senses
April 30, 2009
The following article, based on an interview with Nagisa Oshima conducted by Katsue Tomiyama . . . Read more »
Film Essays
In the Realm of the Senses: Some Notes on Oshima and Pornography
By April 30, 2009
The concept of “obscenity” is tested when we dare to look at something that we desire to see . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Clippings
On Oshima
March 15, 2011
Fans of Nagisa Oshima will be interested to hear that critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has posted on . . . Read more »
Clippings
IN THE REALM OF JAMES QUANDT
June 11, 2009
Close Criterion collaborator and friend James Quandt, longtime senior programmer at the . . . Read more »
Press Notes
PRESS NOTES: THE NOTORIOUS OSHIMA REVISITED
May 04, 2009
Perhaps the most shocking thing about Nagisa Oshima’s infamous, hard-core In the Realm of the . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Nagisa Oshima on In the Realm of the Senses
April 30, 2009
The following article, based on an interview with Nagisa Oshima conducted by Katsue Tomiyama . . . Read more »
Film Essays
In the Realm of the Senses: Some Notes on Oshima and Pornography
By April 30, 2009
The concept of “obscenity” is tested when we dare to look at something that we desire to see . . . Read more »
IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES: TWO WOMEN
By April 23, 2009
These profiles of the real-life Sada Abé and the actress who portrayed her in Nagisa Oshima’s . . . Read more »
Quotes
The Current Quote: Shohei Imamura
April 13, 2009
