Backdrop fallback

In the Realm of the Senses

In the Realm of the Senses

Share

In the Realm of the Senses

"Never before had a man and a woman loved each other so intensely."

1976

1h 42m

6.6(741 votes)

Drama

Romance

Overview

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Argos films

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Eiko Matsuda

Eiko Matsuda

Sada Abe

Tatsuya Fuji

Tatsuya Fuji

Kichizo Ishida

Aoi Nakajima

Aoi Nakajima

Toku

Yasuko Matsui

Yasuko Matsui

Tagawa Inn Manager

Meika Seri

Meika Seri

Matsuko (Yoshidaya Maid)

Kanae Kobayashi

Kanae Kobayashi

Old Geisha Kikuryû

Taiji Tonoyama

Taiji Tonoyama

Old Beggar

Kyōji Kokonoe

Teacher Ômiya

Naomi Shiraishi

Geisha Yaeji

Shinkichi Noda

Street Restaurant Owner

Creative team

Directed by: Nagisa Ōshima
Written by: Nagisa Ōshima
Produced by: Anatole Dauman

Similar Movies

9 Songs

9 Songs

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

Walk the Line

Walk the Line

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

Floating Vessel

Floating Vessel

Floating Vessel (源氏物語浮舟 , Ukifune) is a 1957 color Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. Drawn from parts of the famous Genji monogatari by Lady Murasaki.

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

In this sequel to Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, Alexander's story is told in both the past and the present. Alexander's parents send him away from home for being too sensitive and not helping enough on their farm. He goes to Los Angeles in hopes of going to art school, but when he can't find a job as a minor, he turns to prostitution. After being arrested, he wants to head to Arizona to marry Dawn, but he falls into a lucrative job/relationship with a gay football star.

The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue

The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue

Mika works as a nurse by day; by night she entertains covetous men at a girls' bar. Shinji is blind in one eye and ekes out a living as a construction worker. Young and grown-up at the same time, they both lead a lonely existence, but somehow their paths keep miraculously crossing under the Tokyo sky.

The Aviator

The Aviator

A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The Other Side of the Bed

The Other Side of the Bed

When Paula leaves her mate Pedro, he misses her and looks for comfort with his best friends, Javier and Sonia. Paula is having an affair with Javier. Pedro tries to find who is the secret lover of Paula, and hires a private eye. Meanwhile, while comforting Pedro, Sonia has a one night stand with him and Javier thinks she is cheating on him with her lesbian friend Luzia.

Indochine

Indochine

In colonial Vietnam, dashing French naval captain Jean-Baptiste, wealthy plantation owner Éliane Devries, and her adopted Vietnamese daughter Camillevare form the three points of a cross-cultural romantic triangle. As the struggle against European imperialism sweeps Indochina, Jean-Baptiste and Camille have to choose sides and Éliane faces the emotionally difficult challenge of raising the child of her daughter and ex-lover.

Only the Lonely

Only the Lonely

Danny Muldoon, a Chicago policeman, still lives with his overbearing mother Rose. He meets and falls in love with Theresa Luna, whose father owns the local funeral parlour. Naturally, his mother objects to the relationship, and Danny and Theresa must either overcome her objections or give up the romance.

The Bounty

The Bounty

An idyllic voyage to Tahiti in 1789 turns a crew aboard the H.M.S. Bounty against its captain when they find a tropical paradise.

Next Goal Wins

Next Goal Wins

Dutch coach Thomas Rongen attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.

Sanyasi Raja

Sanyasi Raja

Zamindar Surya Kishore Chowdhury is a kind-hearted man who loves playing chess and is a fantastic singer. While he cares for his estate and the people, he is careless towards his wife, Indu's feelings. Dr. Bijoy Chakrabarty, who was helped by the zamindar during his student days, lives in his palace and one day, he successfully executes his plot to murder the zamindar while coercing Indu to keep quiet. However, fate takes a different turn and in the cremation grounds, a monk saves the life of the zamindar, who returns to his estate no more as an aristocratic noble but as a monk at heart.

Emergency

Emergency

Based on true events that unfolded in 1975, the film chronicles incidents that took place under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, one of the most powerful women in Indian history.

Cape of the North

Cape of the North

A Swiss nun falls in love with a Japanese engineer.

Joseph

Joseph

Joseph, favored son of Jacob and great-grandson of Abraham, is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Rising to become prime minister of Egypt. Joseph governed the country during a seven year famine, during which his brothers visit Egypt seeking grain, only to encounter their brother, presumed long dead.

Earth

Earth

A mysterious exterminator falls in love with two women who live in a distinctive wine-producing region in Spain.

Belle Époque

Belle Époque

In 1931, a young soldier deserts from the army and falls into a country farm, where he is welcomed by the owner due to his political ideas. Manolo has four daughters, Fernando likes all of them and they like him, so he has to decide which one to love.

Lady Snowblood

Lady Snowblood

A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

Recommended Movies

Tokyo Decadence

Tokyo Decadence

A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.

Antiporno

Antiporno

Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.

The Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy

Day in and day out, lovers Cynthia and Evelyn enact an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy as mistress and maid. But as their ritual of domination and submission begins to turn stale, Cynthia yearns for something more conventional, while Evelyn tries to push their taboos even further.

Angel Guts: Red Classroom

Angel Guts: Red Classroom

A porn magazine editor stumbles upon an amateur gang rape film and, struck by the girl's acting, decides to find her.

Female Yakuza Tale

Female Yakuza Tale

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

It Feels So Good

It Feels So Good

When it rains it pours. Kenji divorced his wife, lost his job and his old squeeze Naoko is getting married back home in the north of Japan, specifically in Akita. He returns there in order to attend her wedding. Naoko surprises him by proposing that they have sex again. The one night stand is the new beginning.

Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Freed

Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.

The Man from Elysian Fields

The Man from Elysian Fields

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

Below Her Mouth

Below Her Mouth

An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.

Gate of Flesh

Gate of Flesh

In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post–World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama, shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.

Auto Focus

Auto Focus

A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter. This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.

Intimacy

Intimacy

Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Original Sin

Original Sin

A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.

Story of a Prostitute

Story of a Prostitute

Volunteering as a "comfort woman" on the Manchurian front, where she is expected to service hundreds of soldiers, Harumi is commandeered by the brutal Lieutenant Narita but falls for the sensitive Mikami, Narita's direct subordinate. Seijun Suzuki's Story of a Prostitute is a tragic love story as well as a rule-bending take on a popular Taijiro Tamura novel, challenging military and fraternal codes of honor, as seen through Harumi's eyes.

The Dreamers

The Dreamers

When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.

The Garden of Sinners: Murder Speculation Part B

The Garden of Sinners: Murder Speculation Part B

In February 1999, a string of murders has Shiki Ryougi and Mikiya Kokutou on edge. These crimes share a disturbing resemblance to a similar set of homicides from 1995, when Shiki and Mikiya first met, and awaken a dark, murderous desire that has laid dormant within Shiki's soul ever since then.

Newness

Newness

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

Belladonna of Sadness

Belladonna of Sadness

An evil feudal lord rapes a village girl on her wedding night and proceeds to ruin her and her husband's lives. After she's eventually banished from her village, the girl makes a pact with the devil to gain magical ability and take revenge.