O Império da Paixão

Empire of Passion is Nagisa Oshima's follow up to his infamous 1976 film In the Realm of the Senses. Based on a novel by Itoko Namura, Empire details the love affair between a young soldier and an older woman.

Toyoji is becoming more and more obsessed with Seki, the wife of a rickshaw jockey. He begins by bringing her little treats and having tea with her while her husband is at work, then eventually works his way up to raping her. Of course, seeing as this is a Japanese film, Seki ends up enjoying the rape and falls head over heels for Toyoji.

The only problem facing the newfound couple's domestic bliss is Seki's husband, Gisaburo. Fortunately, Toyoji thinks of a solution - homicide. So the pair hatch a plan wherein Seki will ply her husband with sake, then when he is well and truly sloshed, Toyoji will pop in for a drive-by strangulation, thus leaving the two in peace.

Everything goes according to plan and the couple dump Gisaburo's body in a disused well. Now they are free to live happily ever after… or are they? When the village-people begin to gossip about Gisaburo's death and his ghost starts appearing to Seki, her daughter and random townsfolk in their dreams and, finally, reality, Seki and Toyoji begin to get a little worried.

Intertwined with the doomed lovers scenario is a traditional Japanese ghost story. Gisaburo returns as a vengeful ghost and harasses Seki while having her serve him sake and gives her a ride in his rickshaw, but in the end gets his retribution.

Empire of Passion is an entirely different film than In the Realm of the Senses, for one it has none of the explicit sex, perverse fetishes or indeed the powerful emotional pull that Senses has (no penis-lopping here folks). It's true that both films portray fanatical love affairs and show the lengths two people bloated with love can go to but they do it in two completely different ways.

In contrast to In the Realm of the Senses, which had an obsessive/possessive female lead, Empire of Passion has a young male playing the role of the infatuated lover. But once Toyoji conquers Seki and has her all to himself he begins to loose interest and she becomes the insecure one. The couple of sex scenes that are shown are not shot from an intimate, candid angle like Senses but more from a voyeur's point-of-view.

All in all Empire of Passion is a decent portrayal of illicit love set against the gorgeous backdrop of the Japanese forest. See this if you have a fondness for arty love stories and/or vengeful ghost tales.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** First, let me state that I am a huge film buff, but unfortunately somewhat new to Japanese films. I also want to clarify something that seemed unclear in previous reviews I've read here. The English title "In the Realm of Passion" appears to be truly an exploitive maneuver (probably by the director or studio executive) to lure the viewer into thinking that this is somehow related to "In The Realm of the Senses". It has nothing in common except that it's set in feudal japan, the plot involves a scandalous affair, starring the same leading male actor, and it's directed by the same director. the story and characters are not directly related in any way. I expected tons of steamy sex scenes, possibly involving the "in the..senses" characters.This is not that kind of movie.That having been said, I still liked it, and found it to be very haunting and disturbing at times.

BIG-TIME SPOILERS AHEAD In a nutshell, the story involves a boring, ignorant, (but diligent) husband who who goes about his daily business of providing for his family, which includes 2 children and a wife-who happens to be having an affair with a much younger man. Together their foolish passions ignite a ridiculous plot to kill her husband, after she gets him drunk on saki. They dump his body in a well and try to live their life as though nothing had happen. It isn't long before the village starts to doubt the wife's story about her husband being "out of town". Shortly after his death, the slain husband appears as a desolate, confused ghost, which tortures the now going insane wife. Soon an inspector arrives and probes deeper into the lover's tangled web...SPOILER END Even though the story is somewhat of a cliché, I feel it hasn't really dated. I found the tale truly creepy, and to me gave me a unique window into life in feudal Japan. I felt the undertone of a silent thriller, that would lead up to jagged little moments of shock, and suspense. I was slightly annoyed by the lead actress's "whiny" nature but thought, overall, everyone pulled it off. An interesting movie, that quietly grabs you, and slowly pulls you in. This may sound bizarre, but I kept feeling the same creepiness of "the Ring" ("Ringu") The well scene, themes of the undead, the ominous forest were all themes in comon with that thriller. Check it out.

This is a film by Oshima, the director of the notorious "In The Realm Of The Senses", a film so sexually brazed and unabashedly controversial it was banned for a while. This film takes place initially in 1895 in Japan and stars the very pretty Keziko Yoshiyuki as Seki, the wife of a rickshaw driver who falls for a much younger man who woos her in kind. That man, Toyoji, comes to her as she was sleeping and seduces her, though she soon is rather willing to be seduced. Soon they are having an affair and plot to kill Seki's husband, to be together forever. They do, and throw him down a well. However, they didn't count on the ghost of the dead husband haunting Seki and others in the village! This film is visually very stunning, the use of shadows highlighting this tale of murder for passion. Ms. Yoshiyuki (who is still active as an actress) is especially very good in her role. Its sexual at times, but not like "In The Realm Of The Senses". Some of what ensues is up to our imagination. I found this film to have a consistency of mood that makes it very watchable. A little creepy but that goes with the territory. I'd recommend this.

An atmospheric, grim, and often visually beautiful film about a man who has an affair with a woman, and convinces her they should murder her husband. Standard plot, but it's done well, and combines the inevitable "things falling apart after a poorly organised crime" stuff with an added horror element, as the murder victim returns as a ghost to haunt the small town the film takes place in.

Wasn't a fan of the horror element at first, as it felt like it wasn't entirely needed, but it grew on me. There are certainly a couple of scenes where the horror stuff is done well, and I guess whether it's a literal ghost or a manifestation of guilt within the minds of certain characters is still nice and ambiguous.

Maybe feels a little long in parts, and there's nothing outstandingly unique about it, but it tells its simple story well, has a great feel-bad kind of mood to it, and all the sets/locations/costumes/other visual aspects are all pulled off expertly.

A nightmarish tale of guilt and retribution, mixing eroticism and horror, Nagisa Oshima's Empire of Passion marks the director's only true kaidan venture, one of immense passion and offbeat humour. It's a bizarre mix of genres but one Oshima handles well, making fantastic use of Yoshio Miyajima's photography and the compelling performances, taking a very simplistic story and structure and delivering it well. The film does tend to meander quite a lot, with long sections not benefitting the tone or atmosphere the rest of the film builds upon, but regardless, this is a rather savage and unrelenting experience even if the ghostly aspects of its story are relatively cheesy, detailing the emotional and physical downfall a murder has on the individual.