IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976)
"Don't let our pleasure ever end."
2 out of ****
Starring Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda
Written & Directed by Nagisa Oshima
Cinematography by Hideo Itoh
Many films have explored sexual obsession--DAMAGE, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, M. BUTTERFLY, FATAL ATTRACTION, to name a few--but most of them tiptoe around the central issue: sex. These movies show us the consequences of unrestrained passion, but don't actually show us the obsession as it's played out in the bedroom. Nagisa Oshima's infamous IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES is a movie which is not afraid to show us exactly what its lovers do when they're together. It shows us in explicit detail, and it shows us again, and again, and again.
I walked into the theatre knowing only that the movie, when first released, was considered scandalous for its sexual content. I expected something like LAST TANGO IN PARIS, considered offensive in its time but no longer especially provocative. About 15 minutes after the opening credits, as I watched an extreme close-up of semen dripping from a woman's lips, I realized that I had been--to put it mildly--mistaken. IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES challenges the distinction between art and pornography. It is relentlessly graphic and taboo-shattering. A man tastes his lover's menstrual blood; he puts an egg in her vagina and asks her to lay it like a hen; she asks him to urinate into her as they have intercourse. And there's much more. The gruesome finale manages to top even THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER, while the sexual antics of the two principals makes 9 1/2 WEEKS seem about as shocking as adolescents playing 'Show me yours and I'll show you mine.'
So we've established that it's daring. But is it any good? As a story, IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES is rather dull. The lovers are Kichi and Saba (Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda); he meets her when she comes to work in his household, and soon they are involved in a tempestuous affair. The plot's trajectory is no different from countless other tales of compulsive desire: what begins as straightforward passion becomes twisted into something more sinister, as the lovers become consumed with one another. Kichi and Saba copulate like bonobo chimps in heat, incessantly, relentlessly, and mundane sex acts soon become tiresome for them. They begin to move beyond pleasure into the realm of pain, experimenting with a little S&M, a little bondage, and some heavy-duty strangulation. Saba becomes possessive, to the point of referring to Kichi's penis as "him," and threatening to cut "him" off if Kichi does not stop sleeping with his wife. The end result is predictably disastrous, and offers no insights which other, better films have not already offered.
Fortunately, Oshima finds room for humour as the tale unfolds. Because the lovers are continually involved in one sex act or another, the servants basically go about their business, unheeding, while the happy couple go about their pleasure. Their lovemaking has become such a matter-of-fact occurrence that the servants even converse with their master, Kichi, while he is in the throes of ecstasy. These moments provide some welcome comic relief, momentary pauses in the film's single-minded examination of Kichi and Saba's all-consuming lust.
We're all fascinated by sex, but mostly as it pertains to us; when it's only happening to other people, it can become real boring, real fast. This is the problem with IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES: it becomes monotonous. There is too much sex, and not enough theme, character, and story. The film is beautifully photographed by Hideo Itoh in warm, golden tones, and the overall production values are solid. But while it may be nicely packaged, the contents are somewhat trivial.
For those who feel there's a meaningful distinction to be made between porn and art, the question to be asked is whether or not this is art. It is. Oshima is interested in more than mere titillation. This is a well-crafted movie that challenges our cultural taboos; it seeks to explore sexual issues through unabashed melodrama (based, however, on a true incident which shocked the Japanese nation in 1936). For me, however, the important question is not whether or not it's art, but whether or not it's good art--and, sadly, it is not.
A Review by David Dalgleish (February 10/98)
dgd@intouch.bc.ca
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