#Eiko Matsuda

[roseillith]

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) dir. NAGISA OSHIMA

[oui-bo-wie]

Eiko Matsuda - Nagisa Ôshima

[actressplaygroundxxx]

Eiko Matsuda (34) in The Realm of the Senses (1976)

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

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IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) dir. Nagisa Ōshima

[cinematicmasterpiece]

in the realm of the senses (1976)

[ouibo-repris]

Eiko Matsuda - Nagisa Oshima

[byneddiedingo]

Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda in In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976)

Cast: Eiko Matsuda, Tatsuya Fuji, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui, Maika Seri, Kanae Kobayashi, Taiji Tonoyama, Kyoji Kokonoe, Naomi Shiraishi, Homikichi Hori. Screenplay: Nagisa Oshima. Cinematography: Hideo Ito. Production design: Shigemasa Toda. Film editing: Patrick Sauvion, Keiichi Uraoka. Music: Minoru Miki. 

Even almost four decades later, In the Realm of the Senses still has the power to shock, and not just because of the full nudity and unsimulated copulation -- we've all seen pornography in some form. It's that we've never seen them used in service of story, characterization, and theme as well as they are in this film. It's based on an actual incident that took place in Japan in 1936: Sada Abe killed her lover, Kichizo Ishida, during an experiment in erotic asphyxiation, then cut off his genitals and carried them with her for three days until she was arrested. Fascinated by this story, and by producer Anatole Dauman's suggestion that they should make a pornographic film, Nagisa Oshima wrote the screenplay and set about putting together a cast and crew. The lead actors, Tatsuya Fuji as Kichizo and Eiko Matsuda as Sada, are extraordinary, transcending the mere shock value of their physical encounters with their commitment to illuminating the motives and the inner life of the couple. They give as complete a portrait of sexual obsession as we're ever likely to encounter in a movie. Oshima doesn't skimp on portraying the excesses of their passion: Sada persuades Kichizo to have sex with the 68-year-old geisha who comes to serenade them -- he is somewhat disgusted, but she is aroused when he does. The maids who tend to their room complain that it smells -- "We like it that way," Sada replies -- and the older man with whom Sada has been having sex to get money to support the lovers ends their relationship by saying she smells like a dead rat. Oshima  portrays them as symbolic rebels against the militarism of 1930s Japan -- making love not war, if you will -- in a scene in which Kichizo, returning to Sada, passes marching troops being cheered by flag-waving schoolchildren. The real Sada was tried for his murder and mutilation, but served only five years in prison and became something of a folk legend in Japan, living on until the 1970s. A French and Japanese co-production, In the Realm of the Senses was filmed in Japan, but the footage had to be developed in France to avoid prosecution, and it has never been released in Japan without cuts or strategic blurring of its sex scenes. It's possible to admire the skill with which the film was made, while also unable to shake the sense of being exploited by it.

[roseillith]

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) dir. NAGISA OSHIMA

[mydarkmaterials]

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

[black404dick]

[ouibo-repris]

Eiko Matsuda - Nagisa Oshima

[valentinsylve]

Sometimes after feeling a lot of emotions for way too long, one has to get cross-faded and watch In the Realm of the Senses. Tatsuya Fuji is insanely hot. Eiko Matsuda has a red scorpion tattooed on her earlobe. She brandishes her hunting knife only a few minutes into the film. This is going to go very badly, and sometimes that's a comfort to know going in.

[roseillith]

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) dir. NAGISA OSHIMA

[mydarkmaterials]