Empire of passion = Ai no Borei = Phantom of love

Following the world-wide success of his highly erotic and controversial ‘Ai No Corrida’ (The Realm of the Senses) in 1976, Oshima directed a companion piece, ‘Empire of Passion’, but this time set in late 19th century rural Japan. Toyoji (Tatsuya Fuji), a soldier, returns from the first Chinese War and embarks on a passionate affair with Seki (Kazuko Yoshiyuki), a woman twenty years his senior and married to a hard-drinking rickshaw man. They soon conspire to murder the husband and throw his body down a disused well. Three years later, the husband’s ghost returns to haunt the lovers, thus hastening their downfall. Like much of Oshima’s work the film is based on facts. It also follows Oshima’s defiant stance against Japan’s strict censorship laws and moral codes. However, ‘Ai No Borei’ is less concerned with steamy eroticism than the aftermath of an all consuming passion, namely the devastating effect of guilt. ‘Ai No Borei’ is a straight forward crime of passion story in the vein of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ with the added thrill of an Asian ghost story. Adapted from a novel by Itoko Namura, ‘Ai No Borei’ is also known as ‘Phantom of Love’. Nagisa Oshima was awarded the Best Director Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978. In Japanese with English subtitles.