Unsimulated sex, eggs, and castration: Inside Japan’s notorious erotic film, ‘In the Realm of the Senses’

Nagisa Ōshima’s 1976 film *In the Realm of the Senses* dramatises the story of Sada Abe, whose lover she killed and castrated, and became notorious for its explicit, unsimulated sex scenes. To realise his vision despite Japan’s censorship laws, Ōshima had footage processed in France, making the film a French-Japanese production.

The film and an accompanying book faced obscenity proceedings in Japan; Ōshima was acquitted in 1979. The film was blurred, cut or banned in various countries, and Japan still does not allow the uncut version to be legally shown. In Britain, it was removed from VHS shelves during the video-nasty period, then released in cinemas after BBFC edits; a disputed scene was restored in 2011.