Crimes Of Passion And Crimes Of Murder

Crimes Of Passion And Crimes Of Murder

Static Mass Rating: 4/5
EMPIRE OF PASSION (Blu-ray)
StudioCanal

Release date: October 17th 2011
Certificate (UK): 18
Running time: 101 minutes

Year of production: 1978

Country of origin: Japan
Original language: Japanese with English subtitles

Writer and director: Nagisa Oshima
Composer: Tôru Takemitsu

Cast: Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Tatsuya Fuji, Takahiro Tamura

A crime of passion turns to murder in Nagisa Oshima’s follow-up to the hugely controversial In The Realm of the Senses (1976).

Made while the director was still being prosecuted for his earlier film, Empire of Passion sets the stage for breaking even more taboos.

Set in Japan in 1895, a young soldier, Toyoji (Tatsuya Fuji), and an older married woman, Seki (Kazuko Yoshiyuki), begin an illicit affair.

Empire Of Passion

Driven by lust and jealousy on Toyoji’s part, the couple decide to murder Seki’s husband, Gisaburo (Takahiro Tamura).

They ply him with alcohol, once drunk; they then strangle him to death and dispose of his body. Free to now carry on their sexual escapades but still in secret, Seki tells anyone who asks that Gisaburo is away on business. Time goes on and soon three years have passed but rather than living happily ever after with the crime they’ve committed, something else happens.

Gisaburo returns from the dead to wreak his revenge. With his pale face and ghostly eyes he haunts them, taunting them and playing on their guilt, he pushes them to the brink of insanity.

Empire Of Passion

It’s a frightening tale at times and the atmosphere is tense as Oshima unfolds a traditional ghost story mixed with erotic elements. In a film where love and rape seem to go hand in hand it raises questions early on as to how Seki could fall in love with Toyoji.

Was her rape a necessary element in Toyoji breaking down her defences or is it a misogynistic element of Oshima’s storytelling which is also present in In The Realm of the Senses? Either way, he’s a filmmaker who knows how to touch audiences’ nerves and Empire of Passion weaves revulsion, arousal and fear together in a compelling narrative.

Empire Of Passion

As the guilty couple are slowly driven mad, Gisaburo’s ghost can be seen both as literal and figurative. Is he really there or is he a by-product of their guilt?

For fans of traditional Japanese ghost stories and Nagisa Oshima, Empire of Passion is a film that should be seen and then discussed for its many interesting points as well as its influence on contemporary Asian horror.

You might also be interested in these articles:

Based on the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, this 1986 thriller directed by Michael Mann was the first screen outing for Hannibal the Cannibal, albeit sans Hopkins.

Another vigilante crime fighter takes to the streets in this short lived television series created by Tom Wheeler and starring David Lyons as a poorly disguised crusader.

Have you ever wondered how Santa gets all those presents to every boy and girl in just one night? And has he ever accidentally missed one child? Not with Arthur around!

Potiche is a genuinely feel-good comedy where, whilst life isn’t always enjoyable, good things will happen with hard work and a smile, and people get what they deserve.

Despite resemblance between Meryl Streep and Margaret Thatcher, we wonder if the upcoming biopic on the former Prime Minister can do her personality justice.