In the Realm of the Senses/愛のコリーダ (Ai no Korīda) (1976) - Ôshima's psycho-sexual shocker

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A tense and intimate moment between a man and a woman in old-fashioned Japanese garbs make up most of this exceedingly text-littered poster for Nagisa Ôshima's In the Realm of the Senses

In Japan in the 1930s, the young woman Sada is increasingly obsessed with her lover Kichizo, despite his married status, and her urge to possess him only increases.

 

In the Realm of the Senses is written and directed by Nagisa Ôshima (Ai to kibô no machi (1959)). The original Japanese title translates to, 'bullfight of love'. It is a fictionalized account of the real-life sensational murder of her lover by Sada Abe in 1936.

Ôshima's film is a blindingly strange and uncompromising one with sexual malaise, a psycho-sexual relationship in which the sexuality becomes all-encompassing and fatal. Shockingly explicit, - SPOILER including a scene in which Sada pinches a naked boy's penis, - In the Realm of the Senses is hard to watch, heavy as well, and inauspicious as a date movie. It is nevertheless a remarkable film.

 

 

Watch a scene from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 7.65 mil. $ (France and West Germany alone)

= Uncertain but likely at least a huge hit

[In the Realm of the Senses premiered 15 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 108 minutes (original cut)/102 minutes (producers' cut). The film's explicit sexual content meant that it would not pass Japan's censorship: Ôshima planned to get around this by making it as a French production in Japan, and shipping the film to France for post production. Shooting took place in Kyoto, Japan. Despite optically censoring, reframing and blurring his film to appease the censors, Ôshima was nevertheless sued with obscenity along with a man responsible for a book release based on the film. Both were found not guilty in 1979 and again in 1982. The film was met with outrage, longer or shorter bans and extraordinary interest in most countries it was released in. In France and Germany alone it sold 2.4 mil. tickets, grossing 7.65 mil. $. It also grossed 1.4 mil. SEK in Sweden. The film's cost and world gross is regrettably unknown, but it was likely a huge hit. Ôshima returned with 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return Empire of the Senses/Ai no bôrei (1978). Eiko Matsuda (Jack no irezumi (1970)) returned in Ôoku ukiyo-buro (1977); Tatsuya Fuji (Radiance/Hikari (2017)) in Empire of Passion. In the Realm of the Senses is fresh at 84 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

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Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) - Beauty and passion in the midst of devastation in Resnais' striking images

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A muscular man's back, a woman's red lips and a backdrop of stirring, passionate red indicates strong sexuality on this poster for Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour

A beautiful French actress ventures into a heartfelt affair with a local man in Hiroshima, Japan, where she spends a short visit, and their relationship is reconnected later in the new city built up after the nuclear bomb.

 

Hiroshima Mon Amour is written by Marguerite Duras (Le Camion (1977)) and directed by Alain Resnais (Ouvert pour Cause d'Inventaire (1946)). The original French title translates to 'Hiroshima my love'.

A poetical narration and a visual side that packs several scenes that radiate clean beauty are linked to footage of the horrors of the nuclear bomb and its at times horrific consequences, - as life inevitably goes on, not undisturbed by these horrors, but nevertheless still, as here, in the guise of a beautiful, loving couple.

The plot side of the film becomes distant and unreal, but the strong camera work (by cinematographers Michio Takahashi (Itohan monogatari (1957)) and Sacha Vierny (Stavisky/Stavisky... (1974))) keeps one fixed on this remarkable, unique film.

 

 

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain but likely a big hit

[Hiroshima Mon Amour premiered 8 May (Cannes Film Festival) and runs 90 minutes. Resnais was reportedly commissioned to make a documentary on the nuclear bomb attacks in Japan in the vein of his Holocaust documentary Night and Fog (1956). Shooting took place from September - December 1958 in France and Japan. The film was kept out of the main competition in Cannes out of a fear that it would offend the Americans with its representations of the devastation caused by their nuclear attacks. The film's box office performance at the time is regrettably not reported online, but it was likely highly successful, not least due to its erotic allure. It has also been re-released numerous times. It was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, lost to Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond for The Weekend. It also won 1/3 BAFTA nominations and a National Board of Review award, among other honors.  Together with The 400 Blows (1959) and Breathless (1960), Hiroshima Mon Amour was among the most important films in the French New Wave. Resnais returned with Last Year at Marienbad (1961). Emmanuelle Riva (For Sasha/Pour Sasha (1991)) returned in Le huitième jour (1960); Eiji Okada (Lady Snowblood/Shurayukihime (1973)) in Subarashiki musumetachi (1959). Hiroshima Mon Amour is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

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