ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

cmjuhsin Whether this film is porn or not depends on your definition of that genre. It clearly depicts sexuality, nudity and penetration of various sorts. if that suffices for the film to be pornographic then In The Realm Of Senses is porn. If the genre needs exploitation, sex for the sake of sex and entertainment only then this film is not pornographic.Either way, and here is the important point, the film has an important point to make. There are people, actions and rules in our world that do not deserve respect, adherence and all these matters are subjective and subject to individual choice. Just because I believe in one thing it does not follow that someone else must live their life according to that point-of-view. All options are on the table.In The Realm Of Senses clearly tries to insult and shock as many people as possible to make a point. The point is well made and the majority of viewers (or would-be viewers) would be aghast at the work. It is the beauty of the film. As for the nudity, inn, infidelity and the geisha those are actually incidental to the story. yet, I say if you enjoy them then more power to you.

Chri7 In the film IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES by Oshima Nagisa, we can not catch a trace of similarity to those cliché love stories where Romeo and Juliet show their affections implicitly and finally get together, pushing aside all obstacles and difficulties. Instead, there is extraordinarily explicit, intense, and stimulating lust between the two characters, who "do virtually nothing but pursue their sexual desires"(Peter Lehman). The carnal sexuality, as the main theme of the film, implies two sides of a coin: ideally returning to Eden where one can obey the instinctive desires and lightheartedly indulge in sexual pleasure, as well as suffering from Coitum Animal Triste – great void and solitude after extreme pleasure of orgasms. As Sada irresistibly drown in lust, deeper and deeper, she at last heads towards destruction with her lover.In the realm of sensory pleasure, Kichi, as a masculine and patricentric symbol, is put in a weak position throughout; hence Sada's aggressive and possessive passion for sex becomes the symbol of awakened female self-consciousness. It reminds me of another film, Joi Niku Dorei (1986) by Katsuhiko Fuji. In this Japanese pink film, Kumi, a beautiful doctor, married her colleague Kitame. A misleading sex tape in which the heroine looks exactly like Kumi soon ruins their idyllic marriage, sent anonymously. Kitame thinks Kumi betrayed him, and thence has sex with the misconceived wife with brutalities and humiliations ever after. In the end of the film, with all misunderstandings resolved, Kumi turns down Kitame's begging for forgiveness. In a hotel room, she masturbates to orgasm in front of a DV she bought for herself, then wanders around Tokyo streets aimlessly. The film ends with a reflection of Kumi's pretty but slightly flurried face on a showcase filled with televisions in an electronics store. Trauma and lust changes Kumi, a conventionally gentle and virtuous wife, into an independent woman who discerns and pursues her instinctive desire. In other words, the sex-tape incident awakes Kumi.In the context of women's sexual pleasure relying on pleasing men, Kumi and Sada resist male supremacy through sexuality. The difference is Sada opens to her desire at the very beginning, with the will and determination towards self-destruction.La petite mort, meaning "the little death", is a French euphemism for orgasm. Ecstasy during transient orgasm does have resemblances with death: they are both extreme experience. In the end of the film, Sada strangles Kichi to death and cut off his genital. She regards it as the only way towards eternal sexuality, and in this way she and Kichi can be together forever. Death, self-destruction, and lust, seems to be Sada's final redemption.Explicit sex scenes in the film are astonishing. In his book, Running Scared: Masculinity and the Representation of the Male Body, Peter Lehman argues the difference between erotic traditions of ancient East and modern West. Lehman enumerates several features in western hard-core pornography: invariably erect penises, men ejaculating on women's faces, and moaning and groaning of women in ecstasy; either symbolizes man power or centrality of male sexuality. In this case, "women's pleasure becomes fetishized, not valued". Contrarily in In the Realm of Senses, Sada's sexual satisfaction is the only thing that Kichi values, as he says "No. But if it pleases you, yes," when Sada asks if he really wants she to strangle him. There are many shots of Kichi's flaccid average-size penis, and Sada always moans as an expression of her own pleasure.In the Realm of Senses is a significant masterpiece, on account of both its extremely sensual, erotic, and romantic story and its distinction comparing with western hard-core pornography – it stands for women's desires.

Jackson Booth-Millard This French-Japanese film, also known as Ai No Corrida, I knew was listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but then I found out that it featured real sexual intercourse, oral and various other intimate acts, so I had to see if a good story fit with it as well. Basically in 1936, Tokyo, former prostitute Sada Abe (Eiko Matsuda) works now as a maid in a hotel, and she is molested by the owner of the hotel Kichizo Ishida (Tatsuya Fuji), but she is not offended by it and the two of them begin an intense affair. They make love passionately with all kinds of sexual experimentation, drinking and other various forms of self-indulgence, and they do not seem to be bothered with people walking in on them, and to pursue his affair with her Ishida leaves his wife and family. As time passes Abe for some reason becomes jealous of Ishida, probably in terms of receiving pleasure, and she also becomes very possessive, but all he ever wants to do is make her happy, whether it means more intense experimental sex. They become so obsessed with their escalating attempts to achieve the ultimate love making experience and orgasm that he allows her to engage in sadomasochism, this mostly involves her strangling during lovemaking. Eventually it comes to the point when Ishida is killed by Abe strangling him to death, but she is not completely phased by his death, in fact she goes as far to cut off his penis and testicles, and with his blood write the words "Sada Kichi the two of us forever" on his chest. Being based on a true event the real woman was arrested for the crime of murder, but in fact many people who heard about the story were empathetic towards her because of the passionate love she had for the man. Also starring Aoi Nakajima as Toku, Meika Seri as Maid Matsuko and Taiji Tonoyama as Old Beggar. I will be honest and say first that I was most intrigued to see real lovemaking on screen, and it is not something I have seen often in a foreign film regarded by critics, but then I remembered seeing a clip of the controversial ending on a programme, very hard to watch, it is a very interesting insight into how extreme passion can sometimes go too far, a most watchable erotic drama based on a true story. It was number 28 on The 100 Greatest Sexy Moments. Very good!

billcr12 A former prostitute, Sada, starts working as a maid at a hotel and is assaulted by the owner, Kichizo, and the two soon begin a torrid affair with many sado masochistic aspects to the relationship. Kichizo leaves his wife and family to please his demanding lover. He becomes obsessively jealous of his insatiable soul mate. The lovemaking becomes more and more violent until Kichizo requests that Sada strangle him while they are engaged in the act. In the realm of the senses is an extremely graphic film for a main stream movie, so if you are offended by explicit sex and gory violence, stay away from this and rent a Disney feature instead.