El imperio de los sentidos

I wrote a review of this film 15 years ago in which I claimed it was quite sophisticated. It was found helpful by 71 out of 89 people on this site. How naive I was, and, I must admit, pretentious. I am a good deal wiser now and I see the film in a completely different light. Now all I see is subversion and misogyny. Specifically it is a desperate effort to subvert conventional society by depicting heterosexual sex as baleful and destructive. Why would the director want to do such a thing? Think about it. It won't take more than a few seconds. This kind of thing obviously used to pass for art. Not any more. March 2019

I saw this film the first time in the movies in holland about 78; I was sitting next to a nice girl wiht her boyfriend and felt terribly upset. I knew this was very real. Not romantic at all. It shows what sex can do to people and although in the ending the dramatics are overdone to my taste; this is a classical tragedy. The acting is incredible; i think the one big problem making movies showing real sex that the actors can't cope with it. These actors could. Everybody who can't see through the pornografic explicities is sexually unfree and morally limited. This film isn't a happy one and doesn't show us the freedom that sex can bring us; it shows the slavery which sex can bring about; it's problably the best film ever about sex addiction there is. It's a problem that is hardly publicly debated; or if in the hands of Christian crusaders, who want to take us all the fun. In other critics you read about th Art question : "is this Art?" Not an important question, but for me it is; it has learnt me very much about the human condition and how we cope with it.

It's clear that a lot of people can't get past the explicitness of this film, which is a shame. I recall a lot of embarrassed giggling last time I saw it at the cinema. The art/pornography debate seems futile to me - this is a film about an obsessive sexual relationship/love affair and it tells it like it is. But it's about as far away from the likes of "Debbie Does Dallas 26" as you can get. The film is clearly serious in intent and there is a lot of beauty in it.

The subtle political content/context of the film is often overlooked - some of the few scenes shot outside the bedroom show groups of soldiers marching the other way from the direction our characters travel - and we all know where the rising Japanese militarism and nationalism of the 1930's led.

I think the best comparison is probably with a film like "Last Tango in Paris" which dealt with similar themes in a similar way - and was probably also pretty boring for those with a short attention span.

This movie was quite a shocker when my friend and I rented it a few years back. It was clear from the first explicit sex scene that this movie was going to be different from the types of movies my friend and I were generally used to.

After having viewed it recently again, and this time focusing more on the intrinsic value of the film rather than just on the shocking images alone like I had the first time I viewed it, I was surprised to find a dark, disturbing psychological drama about sexual obsession that really held my interest. It is interesting to note how the male and female leads, who both seem emotionally sterile to the world around them and are barely communicative towards one another in the traditional and normal sense, are inseparably bonded by a strange and sexual attraction they have for eachother. It is a fatal attraction of the darkest kind I've ever witnessed in a movie.

This movie is definitely not for all tastes or who are easily offended by graphic scenes of sex. But for those adventurous souls looking for something different and interesting, I recommend this film. Nagisa Oshima's other films of interest are Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and the recent Taboo.

With his landmark film The Ceremony, Nagisa Oshima became one of Japanese filmdom's leading social critics as he dissected the logic behind ritual suicide, arranged marriages and other activities considered acceptable 'traditional' behavior. Here he examines the story behind a famous Japanese scandal - a prostitute was found wandering the streets of Tokyo out of her mind following the death of her lover by erotic asphyxiation - in terms of what is considered 'acceptable' Japanese social behavior. The principals engage in obsessive sexual activity, and allow the addictive and dangerous aspects of their relationship to get out of hand precisely BECAUSE it was considered so unhealthy and immoral by Japanese standards. In a society in which all sexual activity is viewed as shameful, shame no longer mediates behavior. Limits become meaningless. The film itself is colorfully made, with excellent period detail and production design, and the actors are attractive. The structure is that of an erotic novel, as game playing, obsession and danger escalate to a fitting point-of-no-return climax. It is much better and more socially relevant than similar American films such as Nine 1/2 Weeks.