In the Realm of the Senses

A film based on the exploits of a woman who carried her lover's severed penis around in her handbag really ought to be more entertaining than this.

Director Nagisa Ôshima infamously pushed the boundaries of 1970s cinema by showing graphic, unsimulated sex, but leaves no room for anything else. What could have been an interesting story of obsessive love or defiance is nothing more than a seemingly endless string of sex scenes and uncomfortable misogynistic fantasies. Any shock value is lost early on and it quickly becomes boring, despite the odd kinky moment borrowed from an alien autopsy. We learn nothing about the characters other than what they look like naked, and the most interesting part of the whole story is reduced to a note in the end credits. 

Uncut on blu-ray for the first time, its value now is purely as a historical cinematic footnote. It broke new ground in its day, but that time has long since past. [Scott McKellar]