Eastward-bound to another iconoclastic film-maker Nagisa Oshima, and his equally controversial depiction of raw obsession and unchecked primal passions, In the Realm of the Senses, a film so raunchy and explicit the only way he could get away with filming it in Japan was to list it as a French production and ship the footage abroad for processing. Psychologists have often noted a link between sex and death, with Freudian Eros - the drive to sex and propagation - complimented by Thanatos, the instinct towards death and destruction. While this link is debated by academics, it seems to be more prominent in Japanese culture and is a recurring theme in Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses, in which two lovers increasingly push the boundaries of their physical and sexual relationship. Sexually explicit throughout, the perversity of these passionate encounters reaches fever pitch, climaxing in the notorious final scene, where sadomasochism goes one step too far and sex and death become one indivisible whole. Is this arthouse cinema, an intricate if somewhat graphic portrayal of lust run amok? Or borderline pornography dressed up with pretensions of social commentary and transgressive sexual politics? Something to ponder while watching with your partner on Valentine's Day, if you're feeling particularly kinky.
