2. In The Realm Of The Senses (1976)
Tokyo 1936 - Japan society is becoming increasingly militarised. Sada Abe (a hotel maid) and Kichizo Ishida (the hotel owner) embark upon an obsessive love affair which includes graphic unsimulated sex, more graphic sex and a bit more graphic sex. Eventually they get carried away with all of this sex and Sada strangles Kichizo to death while she is having sex with him in an act of erotic asphyxiation. Once he is dead, Sada chops off his willy and scribbles in blood on his chest. Fin. It is pretty easy to see why In the Realm of the Senses incurred an NC-17 rating. Unsimulated sex generally doesn't go down well with the authorities - and acts like the main actress putting an egg up her vagina for real and serving it up to her co star after it has plopped out, are distinctly censor bating. It wasn't just the USA that took umbrage with the film. It caused censors all over the world to get their knickers in a knot over whether it should be censored, banned, shown only in private clubs. Still provocative and controversial by today's standards, In the Realm of the Senses is not an easy film to classify - is it art or just glorified pornography? Why not watch for yourself and pretend you are a censor? That's a fun activity with this film.