Pour une meilleure expérience sur MUBI, Mettez à jour votre navigateur.

Please log in to watch a film

MUBI Rental
3.7
3,773 Ratings
Rent this film for €3,99
Play button Rent for €3,99

In the Realm of the Senses

L'Empire des sens

Trailer
Directed by Nagisa Ôshima
Japan, France, 1976
Drama, History, LGBT+

Synopsis

In one of the most controversial films of all time, a servant begins a passionate, dangerous affair with her master in pre-World War II Japan. This graphic tale of sexual obsession was based on the true story of Sada Abe.

Our take

We embark on a trip to Japan with Nagisa Oshima’s masterpiece In The Realm Of The Senses, notorious for its graphic and unsimulated sexual content.

In the Realm of the Senses Directed by Nagisa Ôshima
Show all (16)

Awards & Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

1976

2017 | Cannes Classics

Berlin International Film Festival

1990

2010

Locarno International Film Festival

1976

San Sebastián International Film Festival

2013

Show all (33)

Cast & Crew

Articles from the Notebook

Movie Poster of the Week: Rated X at the Quad

A selection of the outré posters for a new retrospective of films officially deemed not suitable for children.
Adrian Curry
3

Critics reviews

Show all (10)
Erotic cinema at its most corporeal. In setting out to create a work of true pornography, Oshima doesn’t present a single image that feels excessive or unnecessary.
December 14, 2018
Read full article
If Abe and her lover were applauded for their doomed pursuit of individualism at the height of Japan’s nationalistic fervor, Matsuda’s own anti-establishment political statement brought an end to her young career. It is a risk that Matsuda must have considered when she committed to the project, and it is a testament to her powers as an actor that none of this fear for what may come leeches into her performance.
August 28, 2018
Read full article
Too much intimacy elicits more discomfort than pleasure, and as Oshima’s work engages with unsimulated acts, he intimately challenges the label of pornography. In presenting real sex, Oshima transgresses on the forbidden nature of sexuality as a private and personal experience. In the Realm of the Senses acts consciously to break down taboos to liberate the audience from their own obsessions.
September 02, 2016
Read full article
Show all (222)

What are people saying?

In these lists

Related films

    I Am Not a Witch

    Rungano Nyoni United Kingdom, 2017

    Exclusive
    9 days to watch
    THE DIRECTORS'
    FORTNIGHT

    Exploring Zambia’s little-known culture of “witch camps,” this debut feature is a masterful combination of comedy, tragedy, magic, and dazzling visuals. A portrait of a defiant young girl and an acerbic criticism of women’s oppression and corruption through tourism, media, and societal superstition.

    More info