Buy In the Realm of the Senses on DVD

In the Realm of the Senses


DVD Widescreen Criterion Coll. More Info Criterion Collection Region Code: 1 UPC: 715515045018 Catalog #: DL1092974 Languages: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono (Primary), English subtitles	In stock and ready to ship	$35.99 (10% off) List Price: ~~$39.99~~

Blu-ray Criterion Blu-ray More Info Criterion Blu-ray Region Code: 1 UPC: 715515045315 Catalog #: DB1092975 Languages: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono (Primary), English subtitles	ON ORDER Ships when stock arrives	$35.99 (10% off) List Price: ~~$39.99~~

When new special editions or price reductions are announced.

Synopsis

Still censored in its own country, In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no Corrida), by Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, remains one of the most controversial films of all time. A graphic portrayal of insatiable sexual desire, Oshima's film, set in 1936 and based on a true incident, depicts a man and a woman (Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda) consumed by a transcendent, destructive love while living in an era of ever escalating imperialism and governmental control. Less a work of pornography than of politics, In the Realm of the Senses is a brave, taboo-breaking milestone.

3 Reasons To buy this film

New Criterion Edition is so sharp, you might be disturbed by the details
Also includes deleted footage
"Oshima's erotic masterpiece" – Geoff Andrew, Time Out

Review

Oshima's most debated work in a career marked by controversy, In the Realm of the Senses is an unrelenting journey into the world of passion and eroticism. Oblivious to social restraints and public sentiment, a geisha and her lover engage in a torrid sexual spree, losing themselves in the fervor of their lovemaking and their quest for ultimate ecstasy. The ideology of male dominance and female submission is thoroughly undermined as the obsessed lovers create a closed existence of incessant lovemaking and sadomasochistic experiments. This is an eerily beautiful examination of the intensity of physical desire. (Japanese with English subtitles)

Product Format Information

DVD Widescreen: $35.99 (Criterion Collection)

Availability: In stock and ready to ship
Region Code: 1
UPC: 715515045018
Catalog #: DL1092974
Studio: Criterion
Languages: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono (Primary) , English Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
Features:
Digitally mastered: New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary: New audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns
Interview(s): New interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji
Interview(s): A 1976 interview with director Nagisa Oshima and actors Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, and a 2003 program featuring interviews with consulting producer Hayao Shibata, line producer, Koji Wakamatsu, assistant director Yoichi Sai, and film distributor Yoko Asakura
Bonus footage: Deleted footage
New and improved English subtitle translation PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie and a reprinted interview with Oshima

---------------------------------------------------

Blu-ray : $35.99 (Criterion Blu-ray)

Availability: ON ORDER
Ships when stock arrives
Region Code: 1
UPC: 715515045315
Catalog #: DB1092975
Studio: Criterion
Languages: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono (Primary) , English Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
Extras: 1 Trailer
Features:
Digital copy: New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary: New audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns
Interview(s): New interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji
Interview(s): A 1976 interview with director Nagisa Oshima and actors Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, and a 2003 program featuring interviews with consulting producer Hayao Shibata, line producer, Koji Wakamatsu, assistant director Yoichi Sai, and film distributor Yoko Asakura
Bonus footage: Deleted footage
New and improved English subtitle translation PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie and a reprinted interview with Oshima

Keywords

Erotica - Straight, Mature: Fetish/BDSM, Mature: Foreign/International, Sadomasochism, TLA Favorites

Genres

Drama, Erotica, Gay/Lesbian, International Films, Skin & Cult

Customer Reviews

Passionate and Erotic

Amos Lassen wrote on 01/24/2009:

“In the Realm of the Senses”

Passionate and Erotic

Amos Lassen

Everyone who has seen the Japanese film “In the Realm of the Senses” has an opinion, no one seems to have neutral feelings about it. Now we have a new Criterion edition that is loaded with extras that enhance one of the most erotic mainstream movies ever made.
Until lately the film has been banned or available only in censored versions but now we have the original film just as it was made in the 1970’s. Some have hailed it as art while others dismiss it as porn and in reality; it seems to me to be a combination of both. It is serious and it is voyeuristic and prurient. It is not quite a masterpiece but it deserves to be seen as an extreme and taboo breaking film. Once we get past the explicitness there is a real story here with a subtle political context as it deals with the rise of Japanese militarism and nationalism. There is a great deal of explicit sexual contact. The characters are self- destructive and dangerous and sex becomes an expression of their inhumanity.
Sada and Ishida share a passion foe sex. Sada is the more aggressive of the two and she is both possessive and inflammatory. Ishida is relaxed and submissive and just soaks it all up. As the two fall downward into depravity and self-destruction everything is thrown onto the screen and at us. The film is audacious and it overwhelms but it is so much more than just sex. It examines a world of experimentation and pain as it takes us on a voyage to the unknown. The film deals with the search for fulfillment and pleasure in a world where nothing else matters and reality is discarded. Sada and Ishida separate themselves from all that is real because they know that in order to find true happiness, they must transcend al levels of consciousness and reality. They feel that a few wonderful moments are worth more than any heartache that might follow.
“In the Realm of the Senses” is a dark and disturbing psychological drama about sexual obsession. It is masterfully directed by Nagisa Oshima and he is known for shocking his audience and doing so usually by confronting bourgeois sensibilities or an accepted view of society or history. Here he added the sexual element and for me it works beautifully.
The DVD extras include an audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns, an interview with the director and lead actors from 1976 an interview with producer, line director, film distributor and assistant director, a new interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji, deleted scenes, improved subtitles and lots of full frontal nudity.