Tokyo, 1936: Sada Abe, a former prostitute, suffocates her lover during sex and, in order to finally possess him and his sexuality entirely, cuts off his genitals. At her arrest a couple of days later, his penis was still found in her kimono. It was a crime that shook the whole country.

Shocking to most, the case became the inspiration for the defining work of Nagisa Oshima. The director is known as one of the most infamous figures of the Japanese New Wave. He wrote and directed „Im Reich der Sinne“ (In the Realm of the Senses), a film that tells the brutally fascinating story of this couple.

Sada Abe begins a new job as a housemaid for Kichizō Ishida, with whom she quickly starts an affair. At first, she still shares him with his wife, but Sada soon claims sole ownership over Kichizō and his body. Plot-wise, this is mostly it: over the span of 105 minutes, the viewer is confronted with countless (unsimulated!) sex scenes, which become almost metaphorical through their excessive repetition.

What changes is the dynamic. Sada’s complete dedication to her employer initially feels almost upsetting from a feminist perspective, as her portrayal quickly shifts into that of an insatiably aroused nymphomaniac. Kichizō seems amused by it at first. But he soon becomes completely captivated by her as she demands his promise to sleep exclusively with her, and the two begin testing sexual boundaries by choking each other during the act. It is here that the dynamic shifts entirely, and he becomes nothing more than a willing surrender to her desires.

Isolated and unconcerned with the rest of the world, the two spiral deeper and deeper into a space of obsession, ownership, freedom and pain in such a radical manner that it eventually becomes almost claustrophobic to watch.

The traditional Japanese clothing of the period, paired with Minoru Miki’s beautifully composed score, creates a captivating cultural contrast to the horrors unfolding on screen.

„Im Reich der Sinne“ had to be cut and edited further in France, as no Japanese film laboratory dared to work with material this explicit. At its first screening at the Berlinale in 1976, the film was immediately confiscated. After careful investigation, it was ultimately not deemed pornography and was screened again in 1977.

Often misunderstood, a restored version of the film is now being shown in German cinemas to mark its 50th anniversary.

Whether it is a good film or not, what remains revolutionary, then and now, is Oshima’s insistence on portraying desire as a radical act in itself. With a movie that probably contains more sex scenes than almost any other, he paradoxically manages to depict sex in a non-sexual way, instead using it to explore the concepts of desire and the point at which love meets morbid obsession.

„Im Reich der Sinne“ will be screened in German cinemas from 11 June.