In the Realm of the Senses

Japanese Title: Ai no corrida
AKA: Empire of the Senses
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Actors: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima
Year Released: 1976
Genre: Drama
See Also: Gohatto (Taboo), Cruel Story of Youth
Otaku Alert: Lead actor Tatsuya Fuji has done everything from Gamera movies to the recent Midnight Eagle.
Availability Note: Out of print.

Is it or isn't it? It's almost not even worth having this argument anymore. Nagisa Oshima's controversial 1976 In the Realm of the Senses has sparked plenty of debate in its 32 years of existence—so much so that it's almost old hat by now to pontificate over its pornness. Yeah, that's what we're talking about here: is it pornography because it shows actual sex, or is it just arty sex?

The shouts of "it's porn!" tend to come from the conservative side of the debate, as one would expect. The argument goes that: any filmic depiction of sex—be it penetration, fellatio, ejaculation (all of which occur in the film)—automatically defines the event as pornography, and is thus worth banning, or censoring, or feeling ashamed for liking it.

The other side, on which I stand, says that just because there's sex doesn't mean it's pornography. Sex isn't all that icky, really, so what's the big deal about telling an honest story about consenting adults who happen to have an amorous love life? Just because this film is more honest than most, does that automatically assign it to the status of prurience? For really, isn't that what defines pornography? Pornography exists to masturbate to. You'd have a difficult time saddling In the Realm of the Senses with that definition.

Based on a true story, Senses centers around the couple of Sada Abe, a former prostitute who's gone to work as a servant for a wealthy man, and Kichizo Ishida, said wealthy man who finds in Sada an equal in amorousness. The two progress from quick dalliances around the house to a full-blown sexual obsession, squirreled away in an inn and taken to choking each other in coitus to heighten the pleasure. Anyone familiar with the famous, Showa-era source material will already know how it ends; the story thus builds to this climax and provides reasons for how something so outlandish could actually happen. (If you don't know the story, think of a pre-war, Japanese John Wayne Bobbitt.)

As difficult as In the Realm of the Senses is to pigeonhole as pornography, it comes pretty damn close, and not just for the fact that it graphically depicts sex. As with "real" porn, Senses suffers from becoming boring. Really, how much sex can you watch in one sitting? Also, Sada Abe is a doctor-certified nymphomaniac, a common porn plot device (common back when porn had plots, at least). I find this unfortunate, as it defines her sexuality as a pathology, while Kichizo Ishida's is merely manly. (Also, Eiko Matsuda, the actress who played Sada, quickly disappeared into the world of softcore while Tatsuya Fuji, a longtime character actor with kids' movies under his belt, continues working today.)

I consider Oshima a director with a mission. Like with Gohatto, his film about homosexuality among the samurai of the Shinsengumi, Oshima is here making a point as much as he is telling a story. Oshima had to go to France to make the movie he wanted to, and was greeted with an obscenity charge in his native Japan upon his return (acquitted). The movie has still never been shown uncensored in Japan, which proves his point rather nicely, I think. That it also tells a rather interesting story is testament to his abilities as a director. If only it had managed to avoid the same pitfalls as—in the words of Troy McClure— "the finest R-rated movies Europe has to offer."