Empire Of Passion

Our DVD Price: £9.99 RRP: £19.99 Save £10.00 (50%)   special offer A Selection of Erotic Film - from £5.99! click for details Availability This product should be despatched within 7 days.  This product will be dispatched from Guernsey. Delivery times   Earn 45 Bonus Points when you buy this product. More info

Also available on... 

VHS £15.99 

View in full detail

Film Description

Aka Ai No Borei. A companion piece to Oshima's notorious 'In the Realm of the Senses' (Ai No Corrida). A soldier conspires with his lover to murder her elderly husband. Three years later his ghost appears, but the threat of discovery rekindles the murderers' illicit passion. Sensual, heady, and visually rich, this won Oshima Best Director at Cannes.

Film Information

DVD Extras

Remastered from restored print; 'Erotic Cinema In Japan' documentary; Picture gallery.

Technical Details

Film Media

5 Stills

View Stills

Reviews & Articles

Share your thoughts and opinions - write a review

Review by Graeme Hobbs on 7th July 2005

After making The Realm of the Senses, Oshima continued his exploration of the violence of overwhelming passion with Empire of Passion. In the film, two lovers decide that they must kill Gesaburo, the woman's husband, as the man cannot bear the thought of him making love to her. The deed done, he is thrown into a well. After a period of calm however, Gesaburo begins to appear in person and in people's dreams, provoking crisis between the lovers.
Sharing similar themes to Realm of the Senses as well as the same male lead, Empire of Passion is actually an atmospheric ghost story with recurring visual themes of water, wheels and mists, and a sparse and subtle musical accompaniment provided by Toru Takemitsu (responsible, among many other films, for the striking soundscapes of Teshigahara's Pitfall). In its atmosphere of measured exposition punctuated by moments of visual shock, it is a recent ancestor of the new generation of Japanese horror exemplified by Hideo Nakata’s Ring.

View more reviews by Graeme Hobbs

Browse all Film Reviews

See Also...

Hand-picked recommendations of related films

Les Diaboliques Dir: Henri-Georges Clouzot A man's mistress and downtrodden wife join forces in this well-crafted noir thriller. Atmospheric and scary, wi... More >

The Realm of the Senses Dir: Nagisa Oshima It is a testament to director Oshima that the Realm of the Senses (Ai No Corrida) was distributed at all. An exp... More >

The Ring Trilogy (Collectors Edition) (DVD) Dir: Norio Tsuruta / Hideo Nakata The very best of contemporary Japanese psychological horror in a box set. Features Ring, Ring 0, Ring 2 and Naka... More >

Collections & Lists

This film is part of the following Film Collections

Films About Sexuality

Including: 9 Songs, A Ma Soeur, A Short Film About Love, Anatomy Of Hell, Baise-Moi, Black Narcissus, Boogie Nights, Closer, Crash, Empire Of Passion.

View all collections

Create your own Film List!

Customers who bought this also bought...

Recommendations from fellow customers

The Realm of the Senses

by Nagisa Oshima

Night And Fog

by Alain Resnais

Hiroshima Mon Amour

by Alain Resnais

The Tin Drum

by Volker Schlondorff

Ugetsu Monogatari

by Kenji Mizoguchi

Other films by...

More films directed by Nagisa Oshima

Night and Fog in Japan

The Suns Burial

Naked Youth

Pleasures of the Flesh

Violence at High Noon

View more >

For questions or assistance, call us on (+44) 0844 776 0900 or email on enquiries@moviemail-online.co.uk

© 2004-2007 MovieMail, Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Find out more about MovieMail