In the Realm of the Senses

Nagisa Ôshima's In the Realm of the Senses is one of the most important erotic arthouse films ever made, a category that also includes Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, Andrzej Żuławski's She-Shaman, and Gaspar Noé's Love. Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of two lovers immersed in sexual obsession. The protagonists' relationship has a cannibalistic twist, as they both seem to be driven not by simple lust but by an intense physical hunger, the desire to devour each other. Their treatment of one another is sometimes loving, sometimes ruthless, as they experiment with their bodies in search of more and more intense experiences. Over time, their world shrinks to include nothing but the four walls around them, wherein they surrender themselves to perverse games day in and day out. The film contains unsimulated sex scenes that are explicit even by today's exorbitant standards.